A GARAGE owner and his team took centre stage at the weekend when they auditioned their remote-controlled robot for a spot on a cult television programme.

Mr Anthony Hobson, the proprietor of Tallentire's garage at Bowes, joined forces with electronics expert Mr Chris Tipping, also of Bowes, and engineer Mr Reuben Gibson of Appleby, to produce a mechanical monster capable of taking on the house robots in the popular BBC-2 show Robot Wars.

The trio, known collectively as the Loggerhead team, were at Newcastle's Telewest arena, where they were drawn against a professionally-built robot from Leicester called S3, thought by many to be the top contender for the fifth series, which begins filming soon.

Loggerhead began building its robot in January, incorporating a five-ton hydraulic ram that provides power for its fearsome jaws and aluminium armour plating, which proved to be strong enough to hold off S3 until the final minute of the bout.

Members also paid tribute to the help given by Mr Nick Kitchen of E5 Hydraulics and Mr Gerry McDonald of Smiths Grove Works.

Although they did not win, Mr Hobson believes they may have done enough to be awarded an invitation to take part in the show, and hopes to hear by next Monday.

"We were very chuffed with our performance," he said. "We made a good show of ourselves and did substantial damage to an experienced team. We are absolutely delighted, and thrilled at the great reception we got."

He pointed out that some 3,500 robots had been entered for just 94 places, so to get chosen was a big achievement.

"This model is just mark I," Mr Hobson added, "We have already identified where we can make improvements next time round."