HUNDREDS of people in High Wycombe queued in the streets on Friday night to be among the first to get their hands on a copy of the new Harry Potter book.

Both WHSmith and Ottakar's bookshop opened their doors at midnight to let the eager Potter fans get their hands on the sixth title Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in JK Rowling's hit series.

At WHSmith in High Street people banged on windows to try to get the staff, all dressed in capes and witches hats, to open up a few minutes early.

Jasmine Kershaw, a supervisor, estimated 600 people queued outside.

She said: "We were very busy and it was really successful. The last time we opened at midnight was for the last Harry Potter book, so this is quite rare."

More than 200 parents and children waited outside Ottakar's in White Hart Street, with more arriving as the night progressed.

Up to 100 copies of the book were sold.

Ian Smith, store supervisor at Ottakar's, said: "It went very well. I was a bit unsure what to expect, but it was good."

It is estimated 300,000 people across the country waited outside bookstores for the clock to strike midnight on Friday.

Bloomsbury, the publishing company behind the Harry Potter series, announced 1,777,541 copies of the latest book were sold in the UK within the first 24 hours of going on sale.

Worldwide sales of all Harry Potter books has topped 265 million.