HUNDREDS of shoppers queued from the crack of dawn to get their hands on some bargains in the post- Christmas sales.

About 300 shoppers were lined up outside the Next clothing shop, in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, before it opened its doors at 5am on Monday for its first day of trading after Christmas.

A similar number of bargain hunters were waiting outside Marks & Spencer, in Queen Street, well before it opened.

With VAT set to rise from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent next Tuesday, shoppers told the Oxford Mail they were splashing out on expensive items to beat the tax increase.

Stacey Williams, 19, from Iffley, bought a new laptop computer on offer at a discount of £70 from Currys, in the Clarendon Centre. She said: “We just came to have a look and didn’t expect to buy anything until we saw the prices.

“We also thought we would buy before the VAT increase. There are big queues around, so it’s now or never.”

Silma Knowles, 46, from Marston was on the hunt for a new television ahead of the tax rise.

She said: “We’re going to shop around, because from what I can see, the retailers are competing with each other to offer bargains in the sales.

“We want to get it before the VAT goes up and I think everyone’s thinking like that so they don’t have to pay more.”

A spokesman at Next said the store had been “ransacked” by shoppers, who sprinted inside as soon as its doors opened.

The shop was offering 50 per cent or more off items in its sale. The spokesman said figures for the post-Christmas sales were “up on last year”.

Sales at Witney’s Woolgate Shopping Centre were also reported to have benefited from the presence of a Next store, which opened in August.

Mark Sharman, the manager of independent record shop Rapture, said post-Christmas sales were up 25 per cent on last year.

Mr Sharman added: “We’ve been busy with people cashing in their tokens and buying stuff with their Christmas money.

“Next helped when it opened for its first day of trading and when we see shoppers around, we’ll open the doors early.

“Virtually all the empty shops in Witney and the Woolgate have been filled now and that’s definitely made a difference on last Christmas.”

Woolgate Centre manager Rodney Hartnell said footfall at the centre was up 23 per cent on the same time last year.

Bicester Village also reported customers lining up before its shops opened their doors on Boxing Day and again on Monday, and reported a 50 per cent increase in international customers since last year.

Spokesman Miranda Markham said: “Visitor numbers post Christmas have been very high.

“Many of the customers were Far Eastern tourists and the closure of many London stores will have attracted them to the region.

“Snow had severely hampered shopping during the run-up to Christmas and the imminent VAT increase has also been a factor in encouraging spending.”