THEY camped out overnight and queued in the cold but the wait was worth it for those who wanted the best tickets for this year’s York Theatre Royal pantomime.

While this year’s production, Aladdin and the Twankeys, does not open until December 12, more than a thousand tickets had been sold by 11.30am yesterday to people eager to secure the best seats.

Beverley Jackson, 51, from Hillam near Selby waited for an hour-and-a-half to get her tickets. She said: “We wanted front row seats in the circle on the first Saturday. Now I have them in my handbag and I’m over the moon.”

Her friend Julie Sadler said: “The waiting is something we actually look forward to. It’s part of the experience.”

Maureen Smith, 62, also from the Selby area, was hoping to get tickets for the Christmas Eve show. “For the past few years we have been too late,” she said. “We just want to be there around Christmas time.”

For Joanne Madison, 43, the pantomime has been a family tradition for years. “We worked out last year that between me, my mum and my son we have clocked up about 100 pantos between us,” she said.

“I have been coming for 30 years and I first went when I was four. We can’t not come - it’s addictive”

Her mother Barbara, who joined her in the queue, said: “Christmas isn’t complete until we have been to the panto. As soon as we have been then that’s Christmas.”

A spokesman for the Theatre royal said: “Each year, hundreds of diehard Panto fans brace themselves against the chilly March climes to wait outside the York Theatre Royal Box Office ahead of Panto tickets going on sale to purchase in person. Many go so far as queuing as early as 9pm the night before, in order to obtain their perfect seats.”