A beat-the-clock promotion at the new Clockwork Orange shop in the Junction One designer outlet near Antrim town proved too much for anxious customers who began rowing over their place in the queue in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A spokeswoman for Junction One said extra security was deployed at the centre but police had to be called after fights broke out.

"Numbers queuing at Clockwork Orange started building much earlier than expected and the centre called the PSNI as a precaution to assist with crowd control, " she said.

Around 2,000 people descended on the centre in the hope of being first into the store when it opened at 5am.

Clockwork Orange was offering a beat-the-clock promotion where the price of an item was based on the time of purchase, so when some customers tried to skip the queue, tempers frayed.

"Over-enthusiasm in the early hours caused one arrest to be made, " said the Junction One spokeswoman. "But overall the crowd had been very good-humoured."

It is thought large numbers of the crowd had been drinking before they arrived. One man was arrested for disorderly behaviour.