A FRANTIC weekend of shopping has been taking place as bargain-seekers sought out slashed prices on the busiest retail day of the year yesterday.

Tills were ringing across Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch as a last minute surge in Christmas shopping saw residents join in what has been termed “Panic Saturday” – with 15 million people expected to shop nationwide.

“It’s manic in the centre,” said one assistant in a Poole Dolphin Shopping Centre store, where on Saturday shoppers were reported queuing to get into full car parks.

With stores such as Marks & Spencer and Beales staging pre-Christmas sales to entice shoppers to part with their money, there were even discounted Christmas cards on sale for the canny consumer to stock up on.

While high street shopping was expected to peak on Saturday – with an estimated £2.24million a minute being spent – supermarkets have it all to look forward to. They expect tomorrow to be their busiest trading day of the year.