Flash Sales

Thousands of bargain-hungry shoppers are flocking to high street chains across the country snap up post-Christmas discounts.

With Boxing Day falling on a Saturday, retailers are expecting today to be one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

It is estimated that more than £3bn will be spent by shoppers, with 80% of the British public expected to visit the sales.

Sky reporter Tessa Chapman said the queues at Manchester's Trafford Centre had started forming at 6am as retailers promised discounts of between 40% and 60%.

"The shopping centre is hoping to attract 140,000 shoppers through the door, they have 10,000 parking spaces and are expecting each and every single one to be filled," she said.

"They have got 200 shops here and the vast majority will be open and taking advantage of the fact that for the first time in 11 years Boxing Day falls on a Saturday."

Next and Debenhams threw open their doors at 7am, and Selfridges started trading at its Birmingham and Manchester branches at 8am.

At Selfridges' flagship store in London, hundreds of people had queued outside the shop which opened for business at 9am.

Mary Adonis, 32, who lives in Portobello, west London, arrived at the Oxford Street department store at 2am to get a prime spot.

She said: "I want to look in all the departments, maybe for a bag. I love Gucci."

More than 125,000 shoppers are expected to descend on Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe, Kent.

General manager Andrew Parkinson said car parks were already 70% full by 11am.

"Key to this is that most retailers did not go on sale pre-Christmas," he explained

"Shoppers are therefore travelling to Bluewater to find real bargains, of which there are plenty."

Meanwile, Capital Shopping Centres, which owns 14 shopping sites across the UK, said it was expecting bumper days today and tomorrow.

Commercial Director Trevor Pereira said: "Customers have been flooding through our 14 centres' doors from the early hours today.

"Shoppers have been planning their sale purchases before the VAT hike comes into effect, and as a consequence we are extremely busy."