Plonkers !

OFF-LICENCE bosses are braced for a massive rush of customers - after a money-saving promotion spun out of control on the internet.

Instead of going to just a few select customers, a 40 per cent off voucher has been downloaded by more than 500,000 people.Their websites are currently crashed !

The voucher entitles the holder to the discount on any wine or champagne in any of Thresher Group's 2000 stores between November 30 and December 10 - up to a maximum spend of £500.

Stores - which include Thresher, Victoria Wine and Haddows - have been inundated by shoppers who reckon they have found the Christmas bargain of 2006.

But bosses pledged to honour all vouchers until the cut-off date.

And they admitted that, while profits could be reduced, they will not make a loss on the offer.

A spokesman said: "We are scratching our heads wondering how we can meet this level of demand. We will honour all the coupons until December 10. But we are now thinking we might sell out of everything. We do have bottles of champagne in some stores retailing at around £100, so to then sell them for £60 will make quite a big difference to our profit levels."

The voucher was originally sent by Thresher to a little known South African winery, who put it on their website.

It was posted last Saturday, but within hours, word of it had spread across the internet.

The spokesman added: "Since then, it has snowballed and has caught us by surprise. Our phones and website have been going mad. So many people logged on to find their nearest shop on the store locator tool the whole thing has been crashing."

A member of staff at a Thresher in Glasgow said: "We are expecting a busy weekend."

The vouchers cannot be used with other in-store offers, including a deal offering three bottles for the price of two.

The voucher can be downloaded here ( as a PDF )