Amazon's website crashed today, with several shoppers complaining of an error message they experienced before paying for their items.
Thousands of Brits hoping to escape Royal Mail strikes flocked to the online retailer on their lunch breaks to do their festive shopping and make sure they receive their gifts before December 25.
But at the checkout, they were met with the message: "Sorry, we’re experiencing unusually heavy traffic. Please try again in a few seconds."
It comes just days after Royal Mail confirmed industrial action in the run-up to the Christmas period – with companies such as Currys ditching the company in response to the strikes.
Thousands of small businesses fear losing customs as upcoming strikes will see delays.
Some took it to social media to air their frustration, with a person saying: "Yup, Amazon is STILL down," with a screenshot of the message.
Another user added: "Anyone else's Christmas shopping broken?"
Someone else said: "Is Amazon down? I’ve never seen this before!"
Another shopper commented: "I was about to make an impulsive @amazon purchase, but the universe knew better."
Someone else added: "Never seen @amazonuk unable to cope with the heavy traffic."
Meanwhile, Royal Mail bosses are under pressure to avert a Christmas meltdown after photos appeared to reveal a huge backlog of items from a wave of strikes.
Images said to have been taken in the last few days show mountains of packed mail bags and cages piling up at depots in North West England, South West London and Essex.
More strikes are scheduled for December 9 and 11, with 48-hour stoppages on December 14 to 15 and 23 to 24. Royal Mail said it will deliver as much priority mail as possible on strike days.
A spokesperson for Amazon told The Mirror: “We’re sorry that some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping.
“We have resolved the issue, and everything is now running smoothly.”
