Shoppers are preparing to hit the shops again today, for the third day of this year's post-Christmas sales.

Thousands of people across the region flocked to the shops over the weekend, keen to grab the best of the bargains, with some stores slashing prices by up to 80pc.

National chains revealed major reductions in what has become an annual post-Christmas tradition. Department stores such as Debenham's offered reductions of up to 60pc, clothing stores H&M and River Island had reductions of 70pc and 50pc respectively, while sports supplies shop Sports Direct offered reductions of up to 80pc.

When Next on Hayhill in Norwich opened its doors at 6am Boxing Day, more than 300 people were part of a queue that stretched as far as City Hall.

The first person in the queue was a 24-year-old mother of two, Chelsea, who began queueing at 1.30am.

She said: 'I need clothes for my children so I joined the queue as early as I could - I even brought a chair.'

Bargain hunters were also out in force on Sunday, with the Castle Mall shopping centre's car park completely full by 11am and queues outside of a number of shops.

Paul McCarthy, general manager of intu Chapelfield, said: 'These are some of our busiest days of the year and all our stores seem to have traded very well.

'We welcomed lots of friends and families through the doors and many of them left with lots of bags and big smiles on their faces.'

Emily Moore, store manager of Pandora jewellery shop in Chapelfield, said: 'People were queueing up to get into the store from around 45 minutes before we opened Sunday morning. It was a busy weekend'

First Furnishings Superstore Sale on Baker Street, Gorleston, started 10am Boxing Day with around 50 people queuing for the doors to open.

Proprietor Ian Howkins reported a brisk mornings trade with the special door buster offers snapped up in minutes.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country there were an estimated 22 million bargain hunters in the shops, with a forecasted spending of £3.74 billion.