Santa’s little drivers: Desperate delivery firms enlist taxis to get gifts out as shoppers blow £136m in final rush

LAST-MINUTE Christmas shoppers will flood Scotland’s high streets today as retail experts predict £136m will be spent by frantic gift-buyers this weekend.

Meanwhile, internet shoppers have pushed delivery firms to breaking point as some resorted to hiring private hire taxis to deliver parcels yesterday.

Sources at one depot near Glasgow said bosses were desperately trying to catch up with orders but four days’ worth of deliveries were still backed up yesterday morning.

One said: “There have been taxi drivers getting brought in the past few nights, sometimes as many as 30 a night.”

Fleets of vans were lined up outside courier depots across Scotland, with staff reporting their busiest year ever, while one firm, Hermes, said it had 100,000 parcels to deliver over the course of the weekend.

With December 25 falling on a Monday for the first time in 11 years, retailers believe that thousands of gift-seekers have opted to leave the bulk of their shopping until the pre-Christmas Day weekend.

Up to one million Scots are expected in stores today.

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, head of policy at the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “We expect last-minute shopping to be busier this year.

“If people have a full week until Christmas they put things off, but we always see a peak building towards Christmas. This weekend is as busy as we are going to see.”

He said the rising cost of food had also left families with less to spend elsewhere, causing fierce competition among retailers.

“Shops get all the best products in for Christmas, and want to sell them at as good a price as possible but they are under pressure to get customers in the door and convince them to spend a bit.

“It’s a balancing act – they want to have good bargains and get people in but they don’t want to make the deals too good because you still want to make a margin on it.” High street stores which offer items online were still accepting orders for customers to collect today.

John Lewis announced earlier in the week that it was extending its Click and Collect service by 24 hours, allowing customers to continue picking up orders until shops close today.

At Princes Square, the upmarket shopping centre on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, around 80% of retailers have started their sales already and are expecting a large number of bargain-hunters through their doors today.

Restaurants in the centre have been swamped with bookings, and one venue has reported having more than 1000 reservations in total this weekend.

Katie Moody, general manager, said: “Shoppers are leaving things later this year and are becoming smarter with how they shop, waiting to get the best bargains.

“Lots of our retailers have already started their sales and we expect shoppers to use the time to pick up great presents at a reduced price.”

At Braehead shopping centre on Glasgow’s outskirts, bosses were expecting male customers to descend on the complex in huge numbers today.

Marketing manager Christine Macdonald said: “If husbands, sons, brothers and boyfriends are nowhere to be seen you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be part of an army of guys frantically doing their gift buying.

“It’s the same every year as they leave it to the last minute, but the staff are always very sympathetic and helpful with tips on what’s best to buy for family and friends.”

Other shopping centres confirmed yesterday was their busiest day of the year, with Glasgow Fort reporting 80,000 visitors and expecting another 50,000 today.

Fort Kinnaird on the outskirts of Edinburgh also welcomed 80,000 visitors yesterday, and will be opening their doors at 9am today.

Customers heading to Dundee’s Overgate Centre have been warned to arrive early, with its 1000-space car parks expected to reach capacity before 11am.

Malcolm Angus, centre manager, said: “Last Christmas the tills rang to the tune of nearly £20m in December and we are hoping with the addition of Frankie & Benny’s, the new Lush Store and Footasylum that we may well exceed this figure.”

At Union Square in Aberdeen, bosses are expecting huge footfall in the final few shopping hours before Christmas, due to the recent freezing weather which caused travel misery for many in the North East.

With some shoppers unable to leave their homes last week, many have been forced to leave it late to pick up presents.

General manager Ryan Manson said that because the centre offered “everything in one place” it attracted people who wanted to avoid jostling with other panic-buyers on the high street.

He said: “We have had a lot of cold weather, so people are able to come down here and don’t need to leave their local area which has proven popular. Sunday is a shorter day – we are still trading 10am to 5pm – so we’re expecting another busy day as more people try to get their presents all done in a shorter space of time.”

One place that will not have a last-minute Christmas Eve shopping rush will be the Sabbatarian island of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides.

Instead, despite winds gusting up to 70mph, shoppers were out in force in Stornoway yesterday, having to do their last-minute shopping a day early.

All supermarkets are due to shut today due to the tradition of honouring the Sabbath, while some hotels, restaurants and a filling station in Stornoway will be open.