TEENAGERS have come up with an engineering project which could save manufacturers thousands of pounds a year.

Students from Wolsingham School and Community College, in Weardale, took part in the Young Engineer for Britain regional finals.

Year 12 pupils Helen Ginsberg, Nick Simpson, Jamie Stansfield, Sharon Smith and Mark Robinson worked with engineers from GlaxoSmithKline's Barnard Castle plant.

The group designed and built a sensor that would alert operators who work on a machine to print expiry dates on antibiotic medicine bottles when an ink spool was running out.

The system has the potential to save more than £50,000 a year within the sterile antibiotics manufacturing centre at the plant.

The team won the Class C group prize.