Petrol Giveaway Causes Chaos

The computer launch of a computer game never really hits the headlines, but the games producers Electronic Arts come up with the perfect way to get their new game Mercenaries 2 in news, but at the same caused chaos on the roads of North London.

The promotion was the giveaway £20,000 ($40,000) worth of fuel, they took over a filling station decorated it in camouflage and even had girls wearing combat gear and sporting mock machine guns to greet drivers who wanted to fill up the their tanks with £40 ($80) worth of fuel.

Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Lynne Featherstone, said: "Trying to recreate Venezuelan-style fuel riots on the streets of London is completely irresponsible and downright dangerous.

"Whilst a lucky few might have got some free petrol, 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."

The game itself is set in Venezuela following a military coup where fuel has now become the country’s currency.

Prince Davis 37, who queued patiently for a quarter of an hour for his 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."

Whether people liked the game or not, they were queuing up for free petrol from the early hours, unfortunately this has also caused chaos on the roads with gridlock occurring around the filling station.

 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."

She denied the promotion was irresponsible, saying: "We've got security on hand to make sure that traffic is going one way. "Petrol prices are very relevant at the moment so we are hoping to start everyone's weekend in a positive way."

Source [Metro]