TEN years ago, Vectis auctioneers in Thornaby, near Stockton, were preparing to put the Corgi Citreon 2CV car under the hammer.

The model was made to commemorate the release of For Your Eyes Only in 1981.

The car which features in the film is yellow, but the model version up for sale is 23-carat gold plated.

The car was expected to fetch between £2,200 and £2,600 at auction.

The die-cast model has a red interior and an opening bonnet and is five inches long. The rare car was one of 12 made as a prize to model retailers for those who sold the most Corgi cars in a year.

Andrew Reed, cataloguer and auctioneer at Vectis, which specialises in toy sales, said: "This is a rare opportunity for real enthusiasts to collect a special stand-out piece."

"We are expecting a lot of interest from Corgi enthusiasts and James Bond fans alike."

An Eastern European extortionist incurred the wrath of a Dragon after using Twitter to threaten the safety of his daughter.

Duncan Bannatyne, the multi-millionaire star of BBC's Dragons' Den, himself turned to the social networking site to issue a £30,000 reward for any help which will lead to the arrest of the man responsible.

The threats were sent to Mr Bannatyne's personal Twitter feed from a man purporting to be called Yuri Vasilyev.

He demanded £35,000 to prevent him from hurting Mr Bannatyne's 26-year-old daughter, Hollie.

Durham Police confirmed an investigation had been launched looking at the messages received by Mr Bannatyne.

The threats prompted Mr Bannatyne to call on his 370,000 Twitter followers to help unmask the man.

Finally, damage to a fire hydrant caused a 30ft jet of water in Richmond. Onlookers took pictures as engineers worked to stop the spray at the corner of Fontenay Road and Darlington Road.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said the jet was caused by damage to a third party fire hydrant.

He said: "We fixed the issue to stop the jet and will return later to repair the damage."