Shoppers were out in force in Bradford to take advantage of the Boxing Day sales.

Drivers were queuing to get into Forster Square retail park today, despite not all of the retailers opening due to it being a Sunday, and shops that did were restricted to ‘six hours’ trading laws.

Despite that, some stores had queues forming before they opened and found they had stock running low by the end of the day.

The post-Christmas sales are expected to be the busiest for years as shopper try to snap up bargains before the VAT increase from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent on January 4.

Stephen Lees, store manager at Boots at the Forster Square retail park, said today had probably been the busiest day of the year.

He said he was expecting another delivery tomorrow after nearly selling out of stock.

He said: “It has gone fantastically well, better than we could have expected, really.

“Footfall has been huge. They were queuing to get in. I think a lot of people thought all the sales were going to start on Monday. A couple of shops have held it back a day or so but it’s been quids in for us.

“We have sold the vast proportion of our stock that was left. In terms of footfall it has probably been the busiest day of our year.”

James Leighton, assistant manager at TK Maxx, in Forster Square, said: “The car park is absolutely rammed. We are on target and we have quite high plans.”

He said the sales took off in the afternoon and he said it was ‘looking good’.

Meanwhile Paul Harrison, manager at clothing chain Peacocks, said trade had got busier throughout the day, but it had not been as busy as last year.

He said: “I think that’s to do with the six-hour trading.”

He said a lot of shoppers went to the retail park early today but left because the shops were shut, not realising they would be open later.

The sales fever was expected to continue today with some big high street names like Next starting their sales with dawn openings.

Meanwhile, the majority of retailers predict a decline in business in 2011, a survey by a leading trade association showed.

The British Retail Consortium said two thirds of retailers responding to its Retail Prospects for 2011 survey said they expected retail sales to worsen compared with 2010.