POST Offices are selling stamps at Christmas levels with demand rocketing by more than 500 per cent ahead of Monday’s price hike.

A first-class stamp will go up from 46p to 60p and second-class from 36p to 50p after regulator Ofcom lifted some price controls.

The cost of franked and bulk mail for businesses will also increase, though the exact amount depends on the weight and amount of what is sent.

The Royal Mail has added to the stampede by limiting supplies in order to stop retailers profiting at its expense from the rise.

Himanshu Patel, the manager of the Old Town Post Office, in Victoria Road, has experienced a rise in demand or more than 500 per cent.

He said: “We have had businesses buying thousands of stamps at a time and pensioners buying hundreds, purely because of the price increase.

“It really started about three weeks ago and our supply chain has been under pressure.

“We are running low and there are no more books of 100 second class but we will fulfil all our back orders by Friday.

“We have orders amounting to 15,000 stamps for our business customers.”

Mr Patel said one business customer had bought 5,000 stamps in one go.

Graham Clarke, the sub-postmaster at Ashton Keynes Post Office, said: “There has been a considerable surge in demand but we have plenty of stock to cope with it.

“People are planning in advance and buying their Christmas stamps now.

“They want to make savings and if you think that you can save £14 on a book of 100 first class stamps it does make sense.”

Mr Clarke added: “We are experiencing Christmas trading levels, which is four times the usual amount.

“People are buying whatever they can get hold of, whether it be sheets of 100 or books of 50.”

Demand at Walcot sub-Post Office was also up 300 per cent, with staff ordering in extra supplies and advising customers buying in bulk to make savings on Christmas mail.

Ofcom has said that price changes need to be made because the future of the UK’s universal, six-day-a-week postal service was at severe risk as people switched to using text messages, emails, and online messaging.

But critics say the increase in stamp prices – the biggest annual increase in percentage terms since 1975 – will force people to send fewer letters.