Potter mania takes over

Updated 23.32 Fri Jul 20 2007

Keywords: Royal Mail, Harry Potter, JK Rowling

Potter mania has been building across the country and now the pressure is on to get the much anticipated book delivered on time.

One in 43 homes in the UK have pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows making it an instant best-seller before it has even hit bookshelves.

Royal Mail will have to deliver around 600,000 copies of JK Rowling's seventh and final instalment by Saturday to keep legions of Potter fans happy

Royal Mail will have to deliver around 600,000 copies of JK Rowling's seventh and final instalment by Saturday to keep legions of Potter fans happy.

The order is so large that the postal service has had to draft in 180 extra trucks and an additional train service to distribute the books from retailers' warehouses to 1,400 delivery offices across the UK on Friday evening and early Saturday morning.

Westminster is the UK's number one Harry Potter hotspot with an average one in every 15 homes in the London borough pre-ordering.

Meanwhile, one online retailer has been taking great care in keeping details of the new Potter story under wraps until its official release date on July 21.

Amazon has had to call in extra staff at its top secret distribution warehouse, after receiving 2.1 million pre-orders for the Potter publication from across the world.