CHILDREN are to benefit from the proceeds of the latest lost property auction held by a North-East transport service.

The sale of items left on Metro trains and unclaimed by passengers was held at Park Lane Metro station recently, with Sunderland Mayor Councillor Peter Gibson and his wife, Betty, looking on.

Coun Gibson chose the Children's Hope Foundation, and Sunningdale School, in Sunderland's Springwell Estate, as the beneficiaries of the sale.

The sale brought in £631 for the charities, and Coun Gibson was presented with a cheque for the amount at a ceremony at Sunderland Civic Centre.

More than 1,200 lots went under the hammer, with this year's most unusual item of lost property, a kitchen sink, was snapped up for just under a fiver.

Four hundred of the items in the sale were brand new, left on Metro trains by absent-minded shoppers.

Happy shoppers snapped up designer jeans for £5, good quality watches for £15 to £20, and bottles of normally expensive perfume and aftershave for about £10.

Nexus auctioneer Greenwell Jewitt said: "I have presided over a few of these auctions now, but this was definitely the best ever."