Bargain-hunters hit the sales

Bargain-hunters began queueing at 4.30am on Oxford Street in London for the Boxing Day sales, and retailers reported improved sales on last year.

Many chains opened their doors early and offered bumper discounts to lure in shoppers low on confidence after months of financial uncertainty fuelled by the Northern Rock crisis.

Half a million shoppers were expected to brave the west end of London, while department store Selfridges said they had had their best ever start to a sale.

At the Lakeside shopping centre in Essex, cars flooded through the barriers in their hundreds from around 7am.

The centre's branch of House of Fraser reported takings of £1,000 a minute, with footfall figures up nearly a third on last year as shoppers rushed to take advantage of discounts of up to 75% on clothing.

Richard Dodd, from the British Retail Consortium, said: "Today is much busier than Boxing Day last year as more stores have started their post-Christmas sales early, rather than waiting till tomorrow.

"It's clear that retailers are going to have to offer bumper sales to tempt customers in, because finances are under strain this year.

"A lot of customers are reluctant to spend and there are worries about how their finances are going to stand up."

Selfridges' Oxford Street branch saw 9,000 customers come through the doors in the first hour of trading alone, and expected to have dealt with 120,000 by close of business at 9pm.