“It felt like a bit of an overreaction, everyone in the queue was just chatting politely”Police arrived at the queue(Image: MEN Media)

Customers hoping to get their hands on a luxury watch say they were told to ‘go home’, as hundreds of hopefuls joined a queue that began to snake through the Trafford Centre.

The watch only on offer today (August 9) is a limited edition ‘Mission to Earthphase’ Bioceramic MoonSwatch – a collaboration between Swatch and luxury watchmaker, Omega.

It celebrates the day of the full Sturgeon moon expected to wow stargazers this evening

And this morning, hundreds spent hours the Trafford Centre queuing for the limited edition timepiece, which is only available at Swatch stores.

The watch is going for £335 a pop, and features an illustration of loveable cartoon characters, Snoopy and Woodstock.

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Keen shoppers in the queue were outside the mammoth shopping centre’s Swatch from around 7am, the Manchester Evening News understands.

Hundreds came out to queue for the watch featuring beloved cartoon characters(Image: MEN Media)

Swatch staff say they counted the number of people in the queue to figure out how many would get the limited number of watches in stock, and where the cut-off in the line was.

Any hopeful customers who arrived after that were told they stood ‘no chance’ and to ‘go home’, a Swatch manager told the M.E.N.

Eyewitnesses claim they were told by Trafford Centre security and Swatch staff that if they did not leave, ‘the next people who would ask us to move would be the police’.

Some customers were left baffled after police officers arrived at the long line.

One customer in the queue said: “Shortly after 10am, some security guards from the Trafford Centre and a Swatch worker walked along and said we’d have no chance of getting the watch.

“A few people left after that, so I stayed in thinking it might have given myself a slight chance, but about 10 minutes later they asked us to leave the queue, and told us the next people who would ask us to move would be the police

.

Some at the start of the queue had been there since 7am(Image: MEN Media)

“Police turned up and just chatted with security and Swatch staff.

“It felt like a bit of an overreaction, everyone in the queue was just chatting politely and I didn’t see anyone being rude about the wait. Someone said people had been there since 7am to get one.”

The Swatch store manager, Litin Jain, told the M.E.N. that Trafford Centre security is obliged to tell Greater Manchester Police, which operates a team on-site at the shopping centre, whenever there are more customers than expected.

Mr Jain said this is a ‘contingency’ measure.

Mr Jain added that Swatch staff had been down the line after around 9.15am to ‘inform’ unlucky Snoopy fans ‘to leave’ as they ‘just won’t have chance to get the watch’ if they were past a certain point in the queue.

Queues at Swatch in the Trafford Centre for an exclusive watch(Image: MEN Media)

However, he pointed out that Swatch cannot make people leave, and that many held out in the queue anyway.

The store manager denied that any Swatch staff warned customers that they would be spoken to by police.

Mr Jain added that there was one person in the queue ‘making a scene’ in a back-and-forth with Trafford Centre security, but this exchange was dealt with.

Mr Jain, as of this afternoon, said that the queue for the shop was still long.

Police at the Trafford Centre visited the store as part of their daily patrols, spoke to Swatch staff and not members of the public, the M.E.N. understands. Police were not called out specifically to the Swatch queue.

The Trafford Centre has been contacted for comment.

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