Hundreds of thousands of Boxing Day bargain-hunters put aside concerns about tightening household budgets to take advantage of discounts of up to 75 per cent on everything from bras to beds.

The House of Fraser store at Lake-side, Essex, rang up sales of £1,000 a minute in its first hour as thousands of people made a grab for cut-price clothing and furniture.

The car park was already packed with hundreds of cars by 7am yesterday and the M25 was as congested as a weekday rush hour, with shoppers clogging the approach roads.

In Oxford Street, Central London, there were people queueing outside stores from 4.30am. Selfridges said that 8,000 customers had gone through its doors in its first hour and 120,000 people were predicted to pass through before it closed.

Land of Leather said that it was on course to sell 30,000 sofas in one day. Meanwhile, 3,000 products a minute were being rung up at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre in North London.

The picture was similar around the country. In Birmingham, 27,500 people poured through the doors of the Bullring shopping centre in the first hour of trading. Some 500 people queued outside Selfridges to pick up bargains that included a Fendi black leather Spy bag that was reduced by 75 per cent from £1,080 to £270.

At the Trafford Centre, near Man-chester, 500 bargain-hunters were queuing outside Next at 5am, with 10,000 shoppers queuing in the centre by 9am for sales that started an hour later. In the eight weeks leading up to Christmas the centre attracted six million visitors, an increase of 3 per cent on the same period last year. It expects to have a further 750,000 shoppers through its doors this week.

At Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh, 800 people were said to have been queuing before the doors opened at 10am.

The retail surge, which is forecast to beat Boxing Day records, comes as an economic slowdown and high interest rates put pressure on disposable incomes.

Many shops had introduced preChristmas sales in an attempt to drum up business and were concerned that the tactic could backfire by reducing Boxing Day demand.

Shops have responded with even deeper price cuts and people have turned out in huge numbers to take advantage of the discounts. By the end of today, half a million people are expected to have gone shopping in the West End of London, and retail centres in the rest of the country are also predicting record numbers.

However, shoppers’ enthusiasm has given retailers a new worry as there is a danger that shoppers are splurging now before shutting their wallets in 2008. Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis, said: “We are still optimistic about seeing some sales growth next year, but it will be slower than in previous years.”

Bargain-hunters in Oxford Street said that the Boxing Day sales were the best in a decade but admitted that they would not continue spending into the new year.

Clive Hatchard, chief financial officer of Land of Leather, said: “People are valuing their Boxing Day bargains more than normal and there is a concern that they will stop buying next year.”

Nearly all retailers were offering discounts of 50 per cent or more on many items.

Selfridges said that it was halving the price of Chloé brand women’s clothing as well as Alexander McQueen and Dolce & Gabbana menswear. John Lewis, which has a sale starting today, has gone a step farther by introducing an entire range of cheaper products that will be available for the sale period only.

Marks & Spencer and Fenwick also start their sales today and retailers are hoping that the 27th is even busier than the 26th.

Tom Nathan, general manager of Brent Cross, said: “Last year, we reported record sales on the 27th, with a spend of up to £800 per second, which we expect to beat this year.” Britain’s biggest online retailers lag far behind their American competitors when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to a survey by a US consultancy. The average score for Britain’s top 30 retail websites, including John Lewis, Amazon and Tesco Direct, is almost 11 per cent lower than the equivalent rating on the other side of the Atlantic. Asda/Wal-Mart’s rating is nearly 16 per cent lower.

ForeSee’s first survey of the British online sector ranked Play.com, the Jersey-based retailer of DVDs, CDs, books and gadgets, first, above Amazon, with an average rating of 76 out of 100.

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