For any others who ordered via CPC/Farnell in the UK.
They finally get some stock allocation tomorrow, so they should be shipped in the couple of days for those of us that ordered on 29th Feb and early March!
They're all part of the same group; however CPC tell me that they are in effect a customer of Farnell which is why they have been in the dark like their clients.
I've pretty much decided that CPC/Farnell will be my "supplier of last resort" due to this fiasco and their failure to explain things.