RECORD shops across East Lancashire today reported a slow start to sales of Band Aid 20's charity single, Feed The World.

Despite stocking up on extra copies of the Christmas classic, record shop bosses said that the single's first day on sale had been disappointing.

Kevin Thompson, manager at Townsend Records, Great Harwood, said: "We have ordered ten times the number of copies than we would normally do for a new release but, as yet, sales have not taken off.

"However, we are expecting a big rush towards weekend as people realise it is now on sale and still expect it to do well."

A spokesman for Blackburn's HMV said: "It has not been as massive as we had initially expected but we hope sales will pick up soon.

"Even though things have started slowly we still expect it to be a top Christmas seller."

The song is a cover of the 1984 Band Aid hit and will continue to raise funds and awareness for problems in Africa.

Half a million copies were produced at Deluxe Global Media Services, Blackburn, before being distributed to music shops across the country.

Daniel Webb, the entertainment specialist at Woolworths Blackburn, added: "We sold a few copies but it has hardly been flying out of the store. It is steady at the moment and we predict it to get busier throughout the week."