Boxing Day sales: Shoppers queue around the region to get their hands on a bargain

Queues poured from stores as shoppers sought out cut-price items, on what is one of the busiest retail days of the year.

It is expected around one of in three Britons will head out today, according to statistics from Barclaycard, which is up from 23 per cent last year.

In Wolverhampton, stores were busy in the Mander Centre. Queues snaked around the entire store of JD, while a queue at Pandora spilled out of the shop entrance.

There was also queues in Next at St John's Retail Park, and on the car park outside motorists competed for parking spaces.

But despite the anticipation of large queues and long waiting times, not all shoppers were put off from coming to town.

Husband and wife Yow, 43, and Thao, 31, from Bedford, said: "We haven't found the queues too bad (in Wolverhampton). We were planning on going to Birmingham but we changed our mind."

Mark Mason, 36, was out shopping with his family in Wolverhampton. They are from Spain but visiting England at Christmas.

He said: "The queues aren't too bad. We haven't been affected but I have seen some long queues in shops."

But Toni Cotterill, aged 29 from Finchfield, said: "I went into River Island (in the Mander Centre) and the queue was long in there. I was completely put off from shopping so I went back out."

Shopping centres across the Black Country were anticipating bumper crowds today, like Bentley Bridge in Wolverhampton, Merry Hill in Dudley, New Square in West Bromwich, and the Crown Wharf and the Saddler Centre in Walsall.

Stafford's Guildhall and newly established Riverside complex are also braced for heavier crowds.

The larger crowds this year have been driven by shoppers 'feeling the squeeze' and wanting to ease their budgets with bargains, according to the Barclaycard poll.

Paul Lockstone, managing director at Barclaycard, said: "Last year, Black Friday overshadowed Boxing Day sales as many retailers struggled to maintain consumer interest in what has become a month-long discounting event.

"This year, however, value-seeking consumers appear to be more eager to buy cut-price items across both sales periods as they try to combat rising prices."

Meanwhile in London, thousands of people descended on Oxford Street, where stores were selling items with up to 50 per cent off.