The self-styled “virtual vikings”, who boasted on internet messageboards of “pillaging” the Hamleys website, took advantage of discount codes issued to staff and clients of the Regent Street store.

A computer glitch allowed shoppers to input the three codes, each worth a discount of 20 per cent, simultaneously. One person claimed to have bought a snooker table priced at £13,000 for little more than £5,000.

Until the company withdrew the offer on Sunday, the website had continued to accept a 20 per cent discount code issued to staff, which should have expired on December 13. Internet bargain seekers had also unearthed two other codes issued to corporate clients, also for 20 per cent discounts. When combined, the three codes allowed browsers to get this year’s most popular toys at knockdown rates.

The Lego Mindstorms NXT robot, on sale at £179, could be bought for £107.40. A radio-controlled model of Doctor Who’s sidekick, K9, could be bought for £26.99, rather than the usual £44.99.

Hamleys originally said that it would honour the orders, dismissing the mix-up on Sunday as “one of the downsides of e-commerce”. But, as gleeful shoppers discussed donating a portion of what they had saved to Christmas charities, the retailer announced yesterday that it was cancelling the deal.

Nick Mather, chief executive of Hamleys, said: “Hamleys experienced a technical error on its website at the weekend. This resulted in customers being able to apply discount codes more than once.

“While we would have liked to honour orders made, further and detailed investigation does reveal that multiple use of discount codes contravenes the terms and conditions of the offer. As a result, these trans- actions are fraudulent and we are unable to fulfil these orders.

“We appreciate that at this time of year no one wants to be disappointed and as a gesture of goodwill we are offering those customers the opportun-ity to replace those orders with a 25 per cent discount code.”

The surge in orders after the codes were put on the internet on Saturday afternoon brought the Hamleys website to a standstill. Anyone who logged on yesterday morning, the last day for online Christmas orders, saw messages showing that 12 of the company’s 24 top Christmas toys were out of stock. Hamleys said that it had rectified the problem and now had “an abundance of toys for sale”.

Other companies have seen staff-discount codes appear on the internet. This month the Threshers off-licence chain was inundated with orders after a staff code for a 40 per cent discount was leaked. That the company honoured the voucher, which was downloaded more than a million times, led industry analysts to speculate that it was a deliberate marketing campaign.

£32m: Hamleys' forecast turnover for 2006

Source: Baugur Group

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