SHEFFIELD'S Meadowhall is amongst a group of giant shopping centres lobbying the Government to change Sunday trading laws in time for next year's Christmas sales.
Tens of thousands of shoppers were turfed out of shopping centres across the UK this Sunday because the law only allows six hours of trading for outlets over 3,000 square feet.
Boxing Day falls on a Sunday next year - so retailers will now lobby the Government to relax the law so shops can open longer during the sales bonanza vital to bolster recession-hit sales.
Meadowhall, Trafford Centre in Manchester, Bluewater in Kent and Westfield in London are among those leading the call for the Government to change the laws in the New Year, says Trafford Centre operations director, Gordon McKinnon.
He said a number of big individual retailers were also looking at how to resolve the situation for next year.
The Sunday Trading Act was introduced in 1994 to allow shops to open legally for the first time in England and Wales.
Small shops can open all day but bigger shops are restricted to six hours of business between the hours of 1000 and 1800.
The resulting legislation has been seen as a compromise between commercial interests and those who wanted to keep the Sabbath special.
But Mr McKinnon explained: "Next year Boxing Day falls on a Sunday. It is going to be an absolute nightmare unless something is done.
"This Sunday we had 20,000 people in the centre before the shops were open and at 6pm we had to close with 30,000 still inside.
"Turning people away in the current economic climate is just lunacy.
"The Government could take a real positive step to support the hard hit retail sector to eliminate this ridiculous situation on Sundays.
"Over the years shopping on a Sunday has got more and more important.
"The Sunday trading restriction is a piece of regulation that is not required in the modern day.
"Hour for hour, Sunday is the busiest day of the week for us. The demand is there, as illustrated for everyone to see yesterday across the country."
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