Bargain hunters splashed out millions of pounds on festive presents in Shropshire – with some even failing to take a break by shopping on Christmas Day.

Tills were jingling throughout the Christmas and New Year holiday in the county. Shropshire traders fell into line with national trends, which showed that consumer spending during the final two weeks of December was higher than in the same period of 2008.

Barclaycard Payment Acceptance, which processes credit and debit card transactions for 88,000 UK retailers, said consumers spent a total of £4.09 billion on their plastic between December 19 and December 31, up from £3.99 billion for the same period of 2008.

The busiest day was December 23, when people spent £497 million on last-minute Christmas shopping.

Break

Post-Christmas spending totalled £1.68 billion as people hit the sales, up from £1.64 billion in 2008.

December 29 was the busiest day post-Christmas, with transactions worth £376 million processed.

On Christmas Day, more than 700,000 transactions worth £24 million were proc-essed, peaking at 12.08pm when 32 transactions a second were being handled.

In Shropshire, major stores were busy as people rushed to buy last-minute presents before returning for post-Christmas sales.

Staff at Next, in Telford Shopping Centre, said they were rushed off their feet. A spokeswoman said: “We had people in and out before Christmas and it’s been really busy since the sale started. People seem to be immune to the recession at the moment.”

Online retailers account-ed for £9.5 billion of turn-over on Christmas Day, up from £8.1 million in 2008, a 17 per cent increase.

Marc Pettican, head of sales at Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance, said: “Our retailers have seen an increase in turnover compared to the same period last year, with over £4 billion being spent.

“We’ve also seen a stronger post-Christmas performance as shoppers take advantage of the sales and consider the effects of the VAT increase.”

By Andy Richardson