Scores of shoppers across Oxfordshire queued from dawn to get the latest must-have celeb eco-statement - a shopping bag by designer Anya Hindmarch.

The limited edition designer bag, which carries the message "I'm not a plastic bag", went on sale for £5 at Sainsbury's, Heyford Hill and at other Sainsbury's stores throughout the county.

Thirty lucky customers who queued up yesterday were given tickets to get their bags, which went on sale at 8am.

Within an hour, more than 20,000 bags were sold at 450 Sainsbury's stores across the country and even models Twiggy and Erin O'Connor put in requests for them.

Julie Livett, 53, from Sycamore Road, Botley, was first in the queue at Heyford Hill after arriving at the store at 4am.

The Oxford Mail receptionist said: "I've been planning this for about two months. It caught my eye when they started going on eBay for hundreds of pounds but I'm going to keep mine.

"It was worth getting up so early. Normally I wouldn't be able to afford something by Anya Hindmarch."

The bag shot to fame after a host of celebrities, including model Kate Moss and actress Keira Knightley, were photographed clutching them.

The plan to sell the bags in 450 stores across the UK was developed by Ms Hindmarch and the global social change movement We Are What We Do.

No more bags are being made for the UK market, so some of them could end up on the auction website eBay. In the past, the canvas bags have gone for as much as £175.

But yesterday shoppers at Sainsbury's insisted they would be hanging onto them, although they think they are too nice to put their shopping in.

Lorna Caldicott, headteacher at Peers School in Littlemore, was near the front of the queue after arriving at the store at 6.30am.

She said she would be using the bag to illustrate an assembly talk for year 10 pupils this week about how their actions could help save the planet. "We have been talking a lot about how small things like not using plastic bags can make a big difference," she said.

"The bag is a fashion accessory but for me it is also a useful teaching tool.

"Each person uses an average of 167 plastic bags every year, and they take years to break down in landfill.

"Britain is a bit behind other countries and I think it is good that Sainsbury's is highlighting this."

Lydia Coles, 20, an art history student at Oxford Brookes University, said: "I'm not here to save the planet, I'm here to get a great bag.

"I won't be putting my shopping in my new bag because it's too nice, and I'll probably still carry on using plastic bags."