New petition calls for shops to be shut on Boxing Day

A petition has been started in the UK requesting that shops be shut on Boxing Day.

The day after Christmas is one of the biggest days in retail each year with thousands of people waking up in the early hours to queue for the sales.

With huge discounts on offer it's no surprise that the bank holiday has become so popular for bargain hunters across the country.

But Ian Lapworth has had enough of the high street madness and is calling for the government to rethink the decision to allow shops to open on Boxing Day.

Lapworth started at Change.org petition called: 'Stop shops opening on Boxing Day!"

The petition states: "Shops, especially supermarkets, do not need to open on Boxing Day.

"Whilst not everyone may see Christmas as a religious holiday, it should be respected as such, and retail workers (who work so hard on the run up to the big day) given some decent family time to relax and enjoy the festivities like everyone else.

"Most retail workers are on the go up to Christmas Eve, then back on Boxing Day. Sometimes they have no choice. We managed 30 and 40 years ago...when shops were sometimes shut for a whole week.

"Let's get back to the way it was. Forget making money for one day, let's concentrate on making more memories with the ones we love."

At the time of writing, the petition had received a staggering 108,217 signatures and is well on its way to a target of 150,000.

A similar petition was launched last year on the Parliament UK site.

The call to action was titled 'Force close Retailers on Boxing day! Greed keeps many having to go to work!'

It stated: "Retailers ram boxing day sales down your throat, but it is important to remember that retail workers have families too and would probably appreciate an extra day of xmas with them. Rather than having to return and work ridiculous hours listening to people complain and shout about their returns!"

The petition gained 27,525 signatures having run for six months.

The response from the government stated: "We do not believe it is for central Government to tell businesses how to run their shops or how best to serve their customers. Therefore we are not proposing to ban shops from opening on Boxing Day."