Two men who met on holiday were shocked to discover their matching ink from 25 years ago.

Alan Robinson and Mark Thompson stumbled across each other while in Windemere and were shocked to find they bore the same Middlesbrough FC tattoos.

The pair never thought they’d see someone else with the same ink, which dates back to the mid-90s.

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Alan, who works in the nuclear industry, 48, told The Northern Echo: “We were in a pub in Windermere on holiday and this guy bent down to stroke the dog.

“His shirt came up his arm and I went ‘Hang on I’ve got the same tattoo!’.

“I couldn’t believe it.

“What’s the chances of us having the same tattoo from back then.

“We sat and had lunch together, it was great.”

The ink is a round crest featuring the Boro lion and the wording “Middlesbrough Football Club” and the year 1986.

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Alan got the tat from iconic Middlesbrough tattooist Sinbad back during Bryan Robson days of Boro.

Alan says he got the tattoo on the way to a match one day when it was a new design.

Sinbad was reportedly one of Britain’s first tattoo artists as one of just 50 professionals trading across the country in the 1960s.