Vinyl shops in Oxford and Witney saw their biggest queues ever – with some customers camping overnight – as they celebrated Record Store Day.

Truck Store in Cowley Road and Truck Witney took part in the international annual event on Saturday along with around 260 other independent record shops across the UK.

The event, which was conceived in 2007 to entice music lovers back into record shops, is marked with limited edition releases, in-store events and live concerts in shops up and down the country.

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Gary Smith, who owns both stores, has taken part in the event since it first began.

He said: “Back in the beginning, it was just a few records on a little table and it’s just grown and grown.

“We had the biggest queues yet. But we managed to make sure everyone was happy and got what they wanted.”

The most popular releases this year were The 1975 - Live With The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Taylor Swift’s Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.

The first queuer at the Cowley Road store arrived at 7:30pm on Friday evening - and spent the night without a tent - while Witney’s first customer came at 3am on Saturday.

More joined the queues at around midnight while the bulk arrived at 7am before the doors were opened at 8am.

Hundreds joined the queue outside the Witney store, which stretched back through the Woolgate Centre, while Cowley Road was lined with people waiting to buy their records.

Cowley store manager Carl Smithson, 41, said: “It was probably the busiest day ever.

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“Everyone who got up in the early morning seemed to get what they wanted. We have regulars who turn up who have been coming for years. They all know each other.”

A DJ played throughout the day and Steve Mason, lead singer and one of the founding members of The Beta Band, signed records in the late afternoon.

Mr Smithson said: “We have been doing it since we opened in 2011 and it’s been getting bigger and bigger each year.

“Over the last few years, with the pandemic, we haven’t been able to do events around it, so it’s great to get back to the way it was.”

The Cowley Road store sold out of Taylor Swift and The 1975 vinyl’s, while the Witney store was left with just a few Taylor Swift’s.

Anything unsold will be put online at 8pm on Monday evening.

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Mr Smith said: “There were some really big releases and a lot of publicity. Everyone was in a good mood to come and celebrate and come and support their local independent record store.

“It’s good because it reminds people that there is a good community shop and place to come where you can meet like-minded people. People make friends with each other in the queue.

“We had people from Bristol, and there’s a couple who come to Oxford every year from Ipswich because they don’t have a record store there.”