A couple of years ago, Penguin UK lost serious business - to the tune of 15 million pounds - because of distribution problems. Now the same fate may affect HarperCollins, as the Telegraph finds out, as the company has been trailing a distribution system at its Glasgow depot since January. As a result, book retailers have warned that supply problems at could mean shortages of titles in some stores. "The system wobbled. The fear is that it will collapse," said one retailer.

The retailers warn that the system will come under increased pressure in the run-up to Christmas as volumes being shipped to retailers increase. The problems are said to centre on multi-pick orders, the majority of which are sent to smaller booksellers. But HarperCollins is more sanguine about its prospects. "It is business as usual. We delivered 2.7m books last week. We are achieving our service-level agreements. We are putting a lot of stock in the market," said Keith Mullock, chief operating officer at HarperCollins. "All distribution centres have problems." Well sure, they say that now, but if it turns out to be a disastrous Christmas for the publishing house, there might be a drastically different statement made after the fact...