Shoppers looking to secure a Tesco Christmas delivery slot have been left frustrated this morning, with complaints of the site crashing and a queue of 100,000 people at 6am.

Delivery Saver customers were told they could book a slot from 6am on November 15, but some complained that the queue was opened before the advertised time.

Posting on Twitter, one customer said: “I logged on at 5.59 (am) to get ready only to find over 135,000 in the queue already.”

By 6.13am, users were posting screenshots that showed the queue was up to 180,000 people.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Others complained they spent time waiting in the queue only to be kicked out: “Hey @Tesco just sat for half an hour in your xmas queue and as soon as I reached the front of the queue I got kicked out and now the wait is an hour.”

Another said: “I was 38,000 in the queue and the app ‘refreshed’ itself and now I’m number 178,000. You’re having a laugh.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re currently seeing a high number of visits to our website and Groceries app and some customers are temporarily having difficulty logging on or placing orders.

“We’re really sorry about this. There are still slots available for both home delivery and click & collect over the Christmas period and we’re working to get things back up and running as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we recommend that customers use our website to place their order.”

Change for Tesco Clubcard holders

The struggle comes one day after Tesco Clubcard holders were issued an urgent reminder to act by the supermarket.

Clubcard members have previously been warned to use their delivery codes before the November 14 deadline in an email sent out to shoppers in October about imminent changes to the delivery saver code scheme.

As things stand, Delivery Saver codes are worth three Clubcard vouchers for people who use the scheme, but from this month that will no longer be the case.

Customers can redeem Tesco Clubcard points to save on deliveries instead, for every 50p in Clubcard vouchers, shoppers can claim £1.50 in reward partner codes which include the cost of any delivery plan.

News of the changes were shared on the Scrimping on a Budget Facebook page where shoppers reacted to the change.

"Gutted! One of the main reasons I use Tesco," said one Facebook user.

Another added:  "I got the email too.. glad I stopped using Tesco.. I always used Clubcard for saver"

Tesco has around 19 million Clubcard members across the UK.