IT was opening day madness as consumers gridlocked roads en route to the new Lidl store.

Customers queuing for the first day of opening for the new £3.5million supermarket caused “utter chaos” in Poole with traffic backed up in all directions.

The brand new ‘loft’ style Lidl was unveiled at Hatch Pond Road with congestion along Waterloo Road to Darbys Corner and in the opposite direction back towards Fleetsbridge.

There were also long delays at Cabot Lane and Canford Heath Road.

Road rage was rampant as shoppers queued impatiently to access the new bigger car park - manned by four car park attendants employed to control the flow of traffic - and take a peek at the store.

However some motorists were so impatient they would mount the kerb to do a u-turn in the middle of the busy junction.

One lorry driver lost his temper and proceeded to drive the wrong way down Hatch Pond Road, from Waterloo Road, and into oncoming traffic pulling out of the car park.

Blocked by other motorists, his stint forced cars and another lorry to pull up onto the kerb and around him, before he sped off further down towards Stinsford Road.

Mike Roberts-Butler, 60 and of Alderney, said: “I joined the queue from the car park that was Darbys Corner. You couldn’t get anywhere near the Lidl carpark.

“Earlier in the year when they shut the old one down they said the new one would be open ready for Christmas - you take it with a pinch of salt but they’ve done it and it’s great for them. It’s absolutely amazing - it looks fabulous.

“But people were going up the kerb and turning round.”

Pat and Dennis Valentine visited the shop after deciding to park their car in Plantation Road and walk having seen the queues.

“It’s funny because the supermarket isn’t that busy,” Mr Valentine said. “But we weren’t going to sit in that.”

One motorist, who asked not to be named, said it was “utter chaos”.

“There was some very dangerous driving coming through from Fleetsbridge,” he said.

“It should have been managed by the police really.”

Jason Rees, head of sales for Lidl, said: “We do have four car parking attendants on site employed to manage the car park and traffic on the road. They will be operating for the foreseeable future.”

The former site was closed and demolished in April.

James Johnson, area manager said: “The site has been redeveloped with another 50 car parking spaces so we have 135 spaces now.

"The site has been increased by 25 per cent with additional customer and welfare facilities. We have increased the staffing levels too by another 30 per cent, creating 30 more jobs.”

In January there will be promotions on selected lines, including fruit and vegetables, which will be discounted by up to 40 per cent.

Carl Wines, store manager, said: “Welcome to the newest, biggest and best store around. Thank you, to our customers, for your patience while it’s been rebuilt and thank you to all the team for their hard work.”