Two hour wait to get served

Many arrived as early as 4am to get a head start on other customers in the sales, which kicked off at stores across the town from Boxing Day.

The Orbital Retail Park in Haydon Wick saw shoppers queuing for up to two hours to be served at the Next store, which opened at 5am.

Some people gave up after seeing the massive queues at the tills, saying nothing was worth waiting that long.

And despite the retail frenzy, a lot of people said they wished they had not bothered.

Comet security guard Stuart Smith said: "It was absolutely manic here yesterday.

"The car park was so full that people were parking on the grass. There were queues to get into the car park all day.

"I spoke to shoppers who had been in Next and they say they had to queue for two hours before being served."

Swindon town centre was equally busy, according to shopkeepers.

In fact some people were so desperate to get their hands on cut-price goods that they even arrived on Christmas Day.

Nick Beaumont-Jones, manager of the Brunel Centre, said: "There were lots of people out on Christmas Day trying to get into the building. They had to be told we weren't open that day. Clearly the Christmas message has not got across to everyone yet.

"A third of the shops in the centre were open on Boxing Day and they were all very busy a lot busier than we expected.

"The fact that Christmas fell on a weekend means that there is a whole week's worth of shopping ahead for people to do so I expect we will get a lot busier."

Kirsty Parker, sales assistant at Dorothy Perkins in Canal Walk, said: "It's been very busy in the store and we've got some really good half-price bargains for people.

"More stock will be going into the sale over the next couple of weeks so it will get busier."

Helen Pearce, manager of Austin Reed in the Designer Outlet Village, said: "It was a lot busier than we expected and we were absolutely packed on Boxing Day.

"We took £8,500 that day which is very good."