A RADIO station has admitted it acted "stupidly" after attempting to secretly bury thousands of pounds worth of gold on a North-East racetrack.

Galaxy 105-106 sent its marketing manager Andy Saxton to hide £25,000 worth of Krug bullion - the prize in a forthcoming competition - at Sedgefield Racecourse after darkness fell on Tuesday evening.

But a groundsman inspecting the County Durham track after a day of racing came across Mr Saxton and ordered him to fill in the hole he had dug.

The treasure was buried at another secret location early yesterday morning.

The Tyne and Wear-based station issued an apology to the racecourse last night and said it had paid for the damage caused.

Mr Saxton, 27, from Durham City, said: "We are playing this game starting next week and I needed somewhere to bury the gold.

"The reason we didn't ask for permission was that we wanted as few people as possible to know where the treasure was. We have held our hands up and said what we did was daft.

"The fact that we were doing this on a racecourse just makes us look stupid. We are embarrassed by it."

Head groundsman Mark Davison said he came across the men on the home straight at 8pm.