CAR parks at Bicester Village were reportedly full by 9am this morning as the annual rush to grab Boxing Day bargains began.

In a now annual tradition for December 26, thousands of bargain hunters from across the country have flocked to the outlet centre to get post-Christmas deals.

And, in a parallel tradition, shoppers have taken to social media to share their experiences of the surreal ritual.

Will Tucker tweeted to say that at 7am this morning, he saw more than 30 people queueing outside  the then-locked gates of Marylebone Station in London waiting to catch the 8am train to Bicester Village to go shopping.

Shortly after 8.30am Stephen Higgs tweeted that he had just dropped his wife off and the centre was already busy:

Twitter user Cagla Ayik shared this surreal photograph of illuminated shop windows against a dark sky as the rush began before the sun had even risen:

And shortly afterwards, Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth tweeted that the car parks were already full, and urged people to use the town's park and ride bus service:

Among those businesses urging people to come along today is the relatively-new Cafe Wolseley, which tweeted about its Boxing Day special offers:

Aamir Idrees said he had already spent an hour queueing at Prada at Bicester Village this morning, only to discover there was a fault with the tills:

Meanwhile Will McCallum realised too late the effect the Boxing Day bonanza would have on his train journey (one assumes he meant to say 'Chiltern Railways'):

Ewan Devney possibly summarised how many feel about the busy rush to grab bargains the day after Christmas with this simple tweet: