CHRISTMAS came early for one determined Aldi shopper – when he camped out for almost six hours to bag a free 48-inch television.

Jim Boyland, 61, had been waiting since 2.30am outside the new store in the Port Glasgow Retail Park, desperate to get his hands on a prized opening day golden ticket.

The cut-price supermarket chain was handing out 100 golden envelopes to the first 100 customers offering a prize haul of televisions, portable DVD players and DAB alarm radios.

Jim, a retired head janitor at Port Glasgow shared campus, said: “It’s brilliant. I was waiting in the car, then other people started to appear so I thought I better start queuing up. There must have been about 120 folk waiting outside before the shop opened.

“I met a guy I hadn’t seen for years and another Port people who live in Greenock that I hadn’t spoken to in ages. It was a good laugh.”

Jim lives in Campsie Road with his wife Joan and their son James, 18. They also have an older daughter, Jenna.

He quipped: “I didn’t know I’d won the TV, but one of the managers came up and said: ‘you deserve it, you’ve been here for hours!’

“It must be worth £400 or £500. I know a lot of the kids who have got jobs in the store through my time at the Port High and they starting clapping when I won it.

“My son has already claimed it for his room though.”

Jim, who is also secretary of Port Glasgow Boys’ Club, says the new shop will hopefully be good for the town.

He added: “The prices are absolutely fantastic. It’s competition for Tesco and hopefully that will keep prices down for locals.

The store had invited children from Port primary schools to create a colourful Christmas design and the winner, Amyleigh Heron, helped to cut the ribbon.

Amy, 11, received a Notebook PC and her school, St John’s Primary, received a £100 donation.

Aldi store manager, Sandy McKelvie said: “The team and I would like to thank customers for coming along to the store opening. We really enjoyed meeting members of the local community, and we hope customers are pleased with their prizes. 

“We’d like to say a big well done to all the children who took part in the poster competition. There were some very creative designs and it was hard to pick just one winner.”

The store has created 25 new jobs, and is the latest in a line of high street names to open at the retail park, including B&M, Watt Brothers and TK Maxx.