CUSTOMERS desperate to get their hands on the latest must-have designer bag started queueing outside Sainsbury's in Blackpole, Worcester, three hours before they hit the shelves.

The supermarket's allocation of 30 limited-edition shopping bags by designer Anya Hindmarch, emblazoned with the slogan I'm not a plastic bag', went on sale at 8am yesterday morning and sold out in minutes.

Assistant store manager Simon Hughes said people had came from "far and wide" to get their hands on one.

"We handed out numbered tickets to the first 30 in line - some of whom had been there since 5.15am," he said.

"We could have sold them three times over."

Lucky customer Helen Williams, aged 42, from Warndon Villages, was so desperate to own the bag she dispatched three friends to stores across the county to queue for her.

"I had to be in a meeting, so I couldn't be there myself," she said.

"But my best friend's husband went to the Blackpole branch and was lucky enough to be the last in line - customer number 30. Everyone was clapping and cheering him.

"When he told me he'd got the last one I was so ridiculously excited.

"I have a thing for designer bags and have a few Gucci ones. I had to have this one after seeing Kate Moss with it.

The environmentally friendly re-usable cotton tote bag, which has also been seen adorning the shoulder of film star Keira Knightley, costs just £5 but they are in such demand they are selling on eBay for up to £175.

But Mrs Williams said there was no way she would be selling hers.

"It's just for me," she said.

Sainsbury's distributed 20,000 bags across 450 stores and all sold out in record time.

The launch came two days before the first of Sainsbury's Make the Difference days - a series of days, one each month, aimed at encouraging positive action and change across a range of environmental and ethical issues.

The first day tomorrow will see Sainsbury's become the first major UK supermarket to stop giving out free disposable carrier bags in its stores.

Instead, it will give customers an estimated seven million free re-usable Bags for Life, which usually cost 10p, for their shopping.

Like the Anya Hindmarch bag, the company is urging that customers keep and reuse these on future shopping trips, reducing the amount of disposable carriers bags, which are simply thrown away and take centuries to break down in landfill sites.