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Leading safe manufacturers contacted by The Times said that they had seen a big increase in demand. Many predicted that fears of meltdown in the banking sector would mean a further rush before Christmas.

One company said that sales had increased by a quarter, while another said that its staff had received calls from panicking investors who now wanted to keep their savings locked away at home.

Russ Reader, the managing director of Leigh Safes, which makes, fits and sells safes, said: “It’s simple: if there’s a lack of confidence in banks, people buy and fit European and insurance-approved safes and put the contents on their home insurance.

“We’ve seen a 25 per cent increase in sales and inquiries over the last four weeks, in particular for higher-grade safes that insurance companies approve for larger sums. It all started with the troubles at Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.”

Gunnebo, which owns the Chubb-safes brand, one of the biggest safe manufacturers, saw a 15 per cent increase in sales in September.

Anthony Neary, a partner at Safe Shop, an internet-based sales company, said: “We’ve had three recent calls from people saying that they want to take their cash savings out of the bank and put it into a safe. One was withdrawing £50,000, another £10,000 and the other £4,000. I was staggered. But the last week has seen a sea change in public opinion. There’s no question that people are thinking about it.

“In a month or two I expect a dramatic increase in the sales of residential-user safes.”

Robert Phillips, the managing director of Safe Options, said he had had calls from people claiming to have lost confidence in the banking system and wanting underfloor safes fitted.

The increase in sales of domestic safes is also thought to be linked, in part, to those who had heeded warnings of a potential collapse in the housing market and either sold buy-to-let properties or their own homes and moved into rented accommodation to live off the interest from the wealth they had amassed during the property boom.

Safes are built to comply with a “Eurograde” requirement – the higher the grade, the larger the sum an insurance company will insure cash stored within it.

A spokeswoman for Which?, the consumer organisation, said: “As for where is safest for your money, the first £50,000 of your savings with a financial institution is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Which? would advise anyone wanting to protect larger sums of money to spread their savings across a number of banks and financial institutions, so that there is no more than £50,000 in each one.”