£320,000 for Concorde nose job

IT could be seen as the ultimate indignity for what was, until a week ago, the world's fastest passenger plane.

Bits and pieces from Concorde were laid out for display on Monday as they were auctioned off at Olympia, in West London.

Among items under the hammer were one of the plane's nose cones, a captain's cockpit seat and a machmeter - the instrument that told privileged passengers they were flying at twice the speed of sound.

As might be expected at such a unique occasion, the bidding soared almost as fast as Concorde itself.

And the highlight came when the nose cone went for £320,000, ten times more than expected. It was bought by Hungarian-born businessman Ferenc Gaspar, 45, who lives in New York. He said: 'I don't think I have paid a lot. I think it's very cheap. I expected to pay as much as £1m or more.' He also successfully bid for the machmeter.

Some items went for many times their asking price. A single turbine blade, expected to fetch £50, sold for £2,000, and a grey wool blanket went under the hammer for £1,200 after being expected to raise £60.

A captain's seat went for £26,000, a hostess's trolley for £5,500 and a set of cutlery for £3,200.

The total - helped by Gaspar's huge offer for the nose cone - came to £763,700, way past the £500,000 auctioneer Bonhams anticipated.

Of that, £500,000 has been pledged by BA to national charity Get Kids Going!, which gives disabled youngsters the chance to play sport.