THE final vehicle to drive around the North-East’s most famous car park was taken for a spin yesterday – weeks before the landmark is due to be flattened.

Demolition work on Gateshead’s Trinity Square car park, best known from the Sixties gangster film Get Carter, is expected to start later this month.

Yesterday, a Nissan Juke was put through its paces around the structure’s concrete driveways from where, in the 1971 film, Michael Caine threw Bryan Moseley from the top level.

Gateshead Council and Spenhill, the regeneration subsidiary of Tesco, invited Nissan to showcase its latest model, which has been designed in the UK and built in Sunderland, to mark the car park’s 40 years.

A date for the demolition is expected to be announced within the next few weeks after Gateshead Council and Spenhill signed a formal agreement to develop the town centre.

Gateshead-born Nigel Sidney, who has worked at Nissan’s Sunderland factory for 23 years, was the last person to drive around the car park.

He said: “There is great affection for the film in the North-East.

“The building has had a huge impact on the area and has been the subject of many debates, so to be the last person to drive around the location is certainly something that will go down in history.”