Shopping centre introduces fast lane for people who can't stand slow shoppers

You know the drill. You sit for hours planning your Christmas shopping at home, deciding to spend a rainy day buying everything in real-life shops rather than just online.

But when you get there, you realise you’ve made a huge mistake. There are people dawdling everywhere, window shopping and taking their sweet sweet time.

There’s nothing to do except for silently expressing your frustration at the slow walkers.

One shopping centre is changing the game. Lakeside in Essex has teamed up with Mastercard to install the Masterpass: a 220-metre fast lane that might just make your day.

Cleverly launching the lane in time for one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year (hello Black Friday), the centre hopes it will help stop ‘slow rage’ incidents.

Of course, it’ll also mean you’re able to snap up those bargains quicker if you’ve done your research.

Getting annoyed at dawdlers is a real problem in our current society. Research by Mastercard found that slow walking by others is the biggest bugbear for over 80% of shoppers.

They also revealed that the average walking speed is 2.85mph with this figure dropping by more than 20% during the Christmas period.

“Retailers are refining their business models to meet the needs of today’s shopper. What technology gives them is speed and convenience, but they really want to see that reflected on the high street,” said Mastercard’s Elliott Goldenberg.

“Some might like to make shopping a social occasion, some want to just click and collect and others might want to browse before buying online.”

According to Mastercard, there are four types of walkers among us: skaters, dodgers, bulldozers and tutters.

Almost a third of the public admit to being skaters i.e. people who try to manoeuvre their way through a crowd gracefully and politely. Slightly more of us (51%) dodge out of the way to avoid slow walkers.

15% of us simply tut loudly when faced with a dawdler while only 11% push their way through the crowds, describing themselves as bulldozers.

Naturally, the Internet has given its opinion on the fast lane with many agreeing that it’s a great idea.

“‘Slow rage’ will cause me to murder someone one day,” commented one Twitter user.

“Best idea ever. They should put it on the Underground too!” wrote another with yet another fan saying: “@intulakeside you are legends. God bless you.”

Other supporters called on their local shopping centres including Kent’s Bluewater and Manchester’s Trafford Centre to make a similar move along with other ‘social shopping’ locations like supermarkets.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Black Friday 2017: Every fashion, beauty and tech deal to know about

eBay gives customers a glimpse at the future of shopping

Dying to put your Christmas tree up? You’re probably a happy person