A VINTAGE motorbike, bought for £5 in a deal for a new tyre 50 years ago, has sold for £5,000 at an auction.

The 1926 AJS 800 was the pride of a collection of old bikes that was put together by Fred Peadon, of Wearhead in Weardale, who died last year aged 75.

Mr Peadon got the AJS from a man in Nenthead in the early 1950s in a deal for a new bike tyre, which cost him £5. Rubber was in short supply in those days.

Over the years he kept the bike and 12 others in his collection in the peak of condition.

The AJS 800 was expected to fetch £4,000, but instead it realised £5,000 when it was sold by Tennants, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, at the weekend.