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Car Park Rage Driving Festive Stress Levels

Forget notions of people chilling out this Christmas: 87% of Britons say their stress levels soar during the Christmas countdown and - with car park rage hitting one in four festive shoppers (24%) – a growing number of Britons are in a blinding rage before they even arrive at the shops, according to research from money saving site Savebuckets.com.

At a time when there have been a number of bleak predications about quiet high streets in the weeks before Christmas, the new research suggests many families are hitting the shops this Christmas despite the fact it is taking a huge toll on their health and sense of festive goodwill.

The Savebuckets.com poll asked 2,000 festive shoppers what aspects of Christmas they find stressful.

• Retail Rat Run: Fighting their way around over-crowded shops and putting up with long check-out queues drives most people round the bend. Of note this year, the public’s dislike of supermarket shopping (52%) is now almost on a par with general present shopping in a busy mall (54%).

• Empty Shelves: Around one in three people (32%) get infuriated when the shops don’t stock the presents on their loved ones’ wish list. With many top items already not available or in short supply, like the Nintendo Wii, women get into a much bigger flap than men worrying what to buy people for Christmas (48% compared to 38% of men) and stressing what to do if the items are out of stock (36%).

• Pet Hates: After the shopping and parking experiences, around one in five Brits get stressed about dealing with difficult people. With the party season upon us, 17% of people get fed up having to go to Christmas parties with people they can’t stand. A further 17% get wound up by inevitable family arguments and 10% say their blood boils at the prospect of having the in-laws round.

• Money to Tight to Mention: With credit crunch fears mounting, particularly on the back of savebuckets.com research that one in five people are still paying for last Christmas, the new research reveals that money matters are worrying a growing number of people before the Christmas season even arrives. More than one in four (26%) are worried they don’t have enough money to pay for Christmas, 13% fear starting 2008 in debt and 7% are worried their children will ask for presents they can’t afford to buy.

Marc Ames, Marketing Manager of Savebuckets.com commented: “It is clear that stressful shopping experiences, worrying about not being able to find the right presents, and financial worries on the cost of Christmas are really getting to shoppers this year. “With one in four Britons worried about how they will pay for Christmas this year, Savebuckets.com helps people cut the cost of Christmas by up to 30%. We save people a whole load of time and money and this year we hope to help cut people’s festive stress levels and ensure they don’t start the New Year with a financial hangover.”

Some savings on top 10 gifts recently available on Savebuckets.com:

· Lost Season 3 DVD Box Set - £38.99-£80.00 (51.3% saving)

· Men’s Joop Homme Aftershave EDT 75ml - £19.47-£35.00 (44.4% saving)

· Panasonic TH42PX70 Plasma TV - £749.00-£1,149.00 (34.8% saving)

· Extras Season 2 DVD Box Set - £14.98 - £21.99 (31.9% saving)

· Women’s Angel Perfume EDP 25ml by Thierry Mugler - £36.00-£49.00 (26.5% saving)

· Apple iPod Nano Silver 4GB (with colour screen) - £88.11 – £116.73 (24.5% saving)

· Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera LX2 - £228.00-£299.00 (23.7% saving)

· Navman S90i Sat Nav - £249.99 - £299.99 (16.7% saving)

Top causes of stress:

For more information or to speak to a spokesperson from Savebuckets.com, please contact:

Rosie Dodd / Guy Bellamy

FD Consumer Dynamics

Rosie.Dodd@fd.com

020 7269 7112

Footnotes

* According to research conducted by YouGov for Zopa in October 2005, the average Briton spent £548 on Christmas in 2004.

** Research from uSwitch.com, published October 8^th 2007, www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/newspapers/sunday_times/britain/article1289981.ece

Notes to Editors

Research was conducted between the 5^th and 8^th October 2007 on behalf of Savebuckets.com by YouGov amongst a GB representative samples of 2010 adults.Savebuckets.com is a free to use online comparison shopping service, which will helps shoppers to find the product they want at the price they want.The site currently searches around one million products from a wide range of shops, including high street brands and lesser known online shopping sites.Savebuckets.com also includes a ‘My Price’ function which notifies shoppers by email when the price of the item they are searching for drops to within their budget.Savebuckets.com is the trading name of Save Buckets Limited, a registered company in England and Wales.