THE Olympic torch went out for the first time during the London 2012 relay, organisers have confirmed.

The torch was attached to the side of Para-badminton star David Follett's wheelchair in Great Torrington, Devon, when the flame went out shortly before 10am.

A spokeswoman for Locog said: "The flame went out due to a malfunctioning burner. It is not uncommon for a flame to go out and this can happen for a number of reasons, for example, in extreme winds."

A replacement torch was brought out from the convoy of vehicles and was lit from the mother flame.

"We keep the mother flame in specially designed miners' lanterns so if the flame does go out for some reason on the relay we relight it from the source of the flame," the spokeswoman added.

Some of the Olympic torchbearers have started to cash in on their once-in-a-lifetime privilege by selling their torches on eBay.

Before the first day of the relay was completed, the gold torches appeared on the online auction site.

A torch used during the relay on Saturday is currently attracting bids of more than £30,000.

Other torchbearers have pledged to donate the proceeds from the sale to charity.

Sarah Milner Simonds, from Burnham-on-Sea, who is selling her torch to raise money for the project she represents, said she had received a bid of more than £150,000.