BLACK Friday queues formed outside stores across the region with many retailers opening at midnight to take full advantage of what has become one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

In Darlington, queues for video game retailer Game stretched to the doors of the Cornmill Centre ahead of the store opening at midnight on Thursday.

Sixteen-year-old Kieran Renwick, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, was one of hunderds who stayed up late to grab a bargain.

He said: "I couldn't believe how many people were out and about - it was crazy but then some of the discounts were huge."

One person who bagged a coffee machine at a knock-down price tweeted: "After the absolute carnage that is black Friday in a tesco extra in the North of England, I walked away with a £100 coffee machine for £30."

​Officers from Cleveland Police attended Tesco Extra stores in Stockton and South Bank, in Middlesbrough, just after midnight after hundreds of shoppers gathered in the hope of bagging a bargain.

A force spokesperson said: “We have had reports from stores and CCTV cameras of in excess of 500 to 700 people at each of the large Tesco Stores at Stockton and South Bank, as well as smaller groups at some town centre shops.

“With these numbers comes extra traffic and on occasions heated exchanges between customers and occasionally towards staff. Officers have assisted the store management to ensure everyone stays safe.

“If you are heading out for some bargains this morning please be patient, act responsibly, drive considerately and keep your belongings and new purchases safe.”

Elsewhere, in the country police were called to a four supermarkets in London amid fears of crowd surges as the doors prepared to open for one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Calls were made by both Tesco and would-be shoppers as people gathered at the Glover Drive store in Edmonton for Black Friday sales.

Police also attended Tesco stores in Willesden and Surrey Quays and an Asda in Capital Way, Edgeware, just before the doors opened at midnight.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: "Officers have worked with store staff to ensure that sale-goers were able to enter and exit the stores safely.

"No persons have been injured at any of the locations as a result of the overcrowding."

They said no arrests had been made and officers were preparing to "withdraw" from the locations in the early hours of this morning.

Elsewhere shoppers described scenes of "carnage" as people scrambled for the best deals.

Online customers also faced queues as websites dealt with heavy traffic.

One person tweeted: "There's a 37 minute wait to access Currys & a queue to enter Tesco Direct."

Many customers took to social networking sites to complain after finding other websites, including the Game, Amazon and Argos sites, had crashed.

Originating in the US, Black Friday - the first Friday after many workers get their last pay cheque before Christmas - has become a major UK shopping day in recent years.