Shoppers besieged shopping centres and supermarkets across south Essex on Monday.

Queues formed outside some stores following the two-day break and many shops reported bumper takings.

On the M25, queues stretched from the Lakeside junction to beyond the A127 as shoppers spent their last day of holiday at the sales.

Traffic jams even formed onto the Mayflower Retail Park on the A127 at Basildon as shoppers queued to park.

Supermarkets shut on New Year's Eve and were closed New Year's Day and Sunday. But after a weekend of merriment and eating, shoppers headed in their thousands to supermarkets to prepare for the return to work.

Kit Akister, manager of Sainsbury, London Road, Southend, said: "We had 25 tills open and customers were queuing two to three deep.

"I would say it is four times busier than on the Monday after Christmas.

"I think it's because people do their main shop at Christmas and that lasts them for ten days.

"Then they come back for their fresh produce, their husbands' sandwiches and because they are sick of eating turkey."

The store said shoppers had splashed more cash than expected during the festive season.

Mr Akister said: "From our point of view Christmas was exceptional and was five per cent better than we expected."

Savacentre in Basildon's Eastgate shopping centre was besieged by shoppers on New Year's Eve.

They returned in earnest yesterday after eating the cupboards bare.

A spokesman said: "It's been busier than normal bank holidays because we have been closed for two days. New Year's Eve was very busy and it's been very similar to that. It has been excellent over Christmas. We have been well above budget."

The Tesco superstore in Gardiners Lane, Basildon, was also packed. A spokesman said: "We were very busy, almost as busy as Christmas week. All the checkouts were open and people are doing a full shop." Shoppers queued outside Somerfield in the Laindon shopping centre before the store opened.

Manager Daniel West said: "Generally we have done very well. We have exceeded expectations and were pleasantly surprised by how busy we were."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.