Orkney shop orders more Easter eggs than population

The store was left with more than 700 Easter Eggs

An order blunder by a shop on the Orkney island of Sanday has left it with hundreds of Easter eggs - far more than the population.

Only 80 were needed, but 80 cases were mistakenly ordered by Sinclair General Stores.

It now has 720 chocolate eggs for an island population of about 500 people.

Embarrassed shop owner Dan Dafydd is now raffling off 100 of the eggs to one lucky winner, in aid of the RNLI.

Dan Dafydd does not feel too smart about what he did

Mr Dafydd described his feelings of "embarrassment and shame" when the large order arrived.

Speaking on BBC Radio Orkney, he said: "The rest of the staff were chuckling and finding it very entertaining.

"I was doing our Easter egg orders and was looking at doing 80. Having put the order through I thought nothing more of it.

"But when it arrived in store it turned out I'd ordered 80 cases of Easter eggs, meaning I had 720 rather than the 80 required."

Mr Dafydd said their Easter egg stock now out-numbered the population of Sanday.

"I don't think conventional means is going to get rid of them," he said. "We've been thinking outside the box a little bit.

"We're doing a 'guess the number' square to win 100 Easter Eggs, with proceeds going to the RNLI."

He added: "If you won them you'd probably just give them all away, but a couple of customers were pretty set on the idea of trying to eat all 100."

Homes are being sought for all the eggs

The RNLI said it wanted to say thank-you for the fundraising idea.

‘We’re eggstremely grateful to Dan at Sinclair General Stores in Sanday for this incredibly generous gesture after a rather unfortunate delivery of 720 chocolate eggs," the lifeboat charity said in a statement.