SS1

iTrader: (3)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7599639.stm


A stunt in which £20,000 of petrol was given away in north London to promote a computer game has been criticised as "irresponsible and dangerous".
Traffic was gridlocked outside the Last Stop garage in Finsbury Park as drivers queued for £40-worth of free fuel each.
The promotion began at 0630 BST and ended about four hours later.
Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said: "Whilst a lucky few might have got free petrol, hundreds of residents have faced misery".
The Liberal Democrat said: "Trying to recreate Venezuelan-style fuel riots on the streets of London is completely irresponsible and downright dangerous.
"Hundreds of local residents have faced misery on their daily journeys this morning.
"They deserve an apology for being the victims of such an ill thought-out media stunt."
Queuing cars
The stunt was by Electronic Arts, to promote the Mercenaries 2: World in Flames game.
Security staff brought in to control the traffic and deal with rowdy customers had to calm down one resident who waited 10 minutes to get out of his driveway.
Another angry resident who lives near the garage, but did not want to be named, said the stunt was "totally irresponsible".
She said: "What an extraordinary thing to do. I can't believe they've been allowed to do it.
"This area is usually very quiet but look at it now, there's cars queuing everywhere. It's just creating unnecessary problems."
A queue of about 40 cars snaked its way from the petrol station as more and more customers arrived for their free fuel.
Car horns sounded repeatedly as drivers on the other side of the road got snarled up in the congestion.
'Genius idea'
But customers filling up for nothing were very happy.
Prince Davis, 37, who queued patiently for a quarter of an hour for free petrol, said: "This is a genius idea, whoever thought of this should be promoted.
"I'll definitely be buying the game, you're never too old to play computer games."
Louise Marchant, from Electronic Arts, said the scenes of queuing mimicked aspects of the game. She explained: "It's set in Venezuela, you play a mercenary and fuel is used as a currency."

madmack99

bloody hell

Chip

iTrader: (3)

If that had been better advertised in advance, that area would have been REALLY gridlocked.

Cheap publicity for them now though, 20K for so much coverage, marketting brilliance!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

if you find the other thread where it was put up at the time, you will see my post about the granny who wanted 3 hours and could only get £30 worth of fuel into her motor who said "i'm a pensioner, what else am i going to do"

and beleive me, at about 9.30, it was very well publicised on the radio traffic bulietins

mark

and i dident have tax on the car to go down there

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

genuis! - i wouldnt have been pleased if i was a local resident

but seriously, its very clear marketing - the coverage the story has got would have cost ALOT more than £20,000 odd quids worth of petrol

marketing brilliance at its best

dojj

iTrader: (3)

they were done and dusted in 4 hours

Ginge !

was on my road too pmsl

was some sort of playstation promo. when i heard about it we sent all the work vans down there,,, was 20 quids worth of fuel but kept the bird chatting and got 30 quid chucked in

SAME I FILLED MY CAR UP THE DAY BEFORE !!!

still aint got a clue why it was done though, the petrol station has just been done up a few months ago,, before that it wa a proper pikey petrol station

Ginge !

btw traffic wasnt that bad at all, i managed to get to work ok,,, infact it was a customer who told us about it,,,,, wich considering its on the other side of the junction cant have been that bad, its ALOT worse when arsenal are at home,,,, ALOT worse !