A TOY robot expected to fetch about £10 at auction shocked its Kidderminster owner when it went for 150 times that amount.

The 39-year-old battery-operated Cragstan skirted robot, which is 12 inches high and had been kept in its original box, fetched £1,500, including buyer's premium, at Booth Mansion in Chester last week.

Its owner was a 45-year-old Kidderminster man who did not want to be named. He was given the "radical robot" for his sixth birthday - when it would "probably have cost something like seven shillings and sixpence".

The robot was included in 750 lots gathered by auctioneers Halls after being spotted by William Lacey, of the firm's Kidderminster office, when he visited the owner's house.

The owner said: "I was shocked when Mr Lacey said he would take the robot for sale because I thought it was only worth about a tenner.

"You can imagine my amazement when I heard how much it had sold for."

He had played with the robot until the age of 10 and kept it boxed for 35 years since, meaning it was still in excellent condition.