MORE than 500 shoppers raised the roof of a York supermarket when they took part in a national record-breaking attempt in aid of charity.

Trolleys were stopped in the aisles and the tills remained silent at Asda in Monks Cross as a five-minute sing-along took place, led by pop star Louise, who appeared live at Asda's Leyton store in London while her voice was broadcast across the UK by the in-store radio station Asda FM.

The supermarket chain was attempting to break the record for the world's biggest sing-along, which meant that every Asda store in the country had to have at least 293 people flexing their vocal cords. Asda York spokeswoman Maree Edgar said that 523 people took part in York, meaning the city store achieved well above its target at the event on Thursday.

However, she would not know whether the record was broken until Asda head office had collated all the results.

She said: "At 4.55pm we turned up the radio so everyone could hear and everyone sang the song twice."

Updated: 10:40 Saturday, September 20, 2003