THOUSANDS of shoppers flocked to high streets throughout Hampshire as sales fever gripped the south - proving the economic gloom-mongers wrong.

Retailers slashed prices by up to two-thirds yesterday in a bid to encourage people to part with their cash after a lacklustre Christmas.

At one Southampton store people queued all night on the street to bag bargains such as a TV reduced by a staggering £500. More than 3,000 customers also filed through the city's flagship WestQuay shopping centre in the first three hours to get a deal at fashion giant Next.

Experts say consumers were more careful with their cash in the run-up to Christmas amid mounting concern about the rising level of personal debt.

But people defied the predictions of belt-tightening to splash out in the new year sales - said to be the best ever because of sluggish autumn trade.

Meanwhile trading standards officials in Southampton advised credit card holders to switch accounts to lower interest rates if they had problems paying off their bills.

More on Souths Shopping Feaver on page five of tonight's Daily Echo