THE PRINCESS Diana tribute song Candle in the Wind went on sale today but hundreds of East Lancashire music lovers were left disappointed.

Massive demand meant shops in Blackburn, where the compact disc was manufactured, were left without copies of the single to put on open sale.

And storekeepers say people might have to wait until Tuesday before the the charity song is available in East Lancashire.

People who had not already reserved a copy of the Elton John single were being turned away empty-handed from all the major stockists.

The shortage has been created by huge demand across the country along with the speed of the release of the recording.

And all record shops in East Lancashire were rationed as distributors struggled with the unprecedented rush for the single. Wendy Pickard-Flynn, manager of Our Price in Blackburn shopping centre said: "We were told on Friday that we would be getting a reduced number of copies by the distributors.

"All our customers who came in earlier in the week to reserve a copy were all right but there were very few left over."

She added: "I have never known anything like this before, all sorts of different types of people have been asking for a copy.

"Young and old, men and women, by the end of the week every house in the country will have a copy.

"I would like to stress that there will be plenty of copies to go round, people will have to be patient."

Sam Hastie, assistant manager at Andy's Records in Blackburn, said: "We had 200 orders and once we sorted those out there were none left to go on open sale.

"People have been coming in every minute asking for the CD, they want to buy two and three copies.

"We have never known anything like this before. One woman wanted to buy a CD to send out to her son in Saudi Arabia."

Record shops in Accrington and Burnley also ran out of copies of the single hours after opening for business. Burnley's Our Price decided not take orders becuase the demand was so high. Experts predict Candle in the Wind will become the biggest selling single of all time.

Alan Vernon, from Lytham Road, Higher Croft, Blackburn, was one of the first to get his hands on the CD. He came to Andy's Records, Blackburn, with son Vernon, aged 4, to pick up his reserved copy.

He said: "I came down to make sure I would get my copy, I just felt we owed it to Diana."

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