Scottish Potato grower completes mini adventure

A Scottish farmer travelled over 400 miles to collect a Mini Cooper won at a trade exhibition last year and then promptly gave it away!

Potato grower Jim Mason of St Andrews, who farms in Fife, won the car at last year's British Potato (BP07) event in Harrogate in a prize draw run by Branston Ltd.

The UK's leading supplier of potatoes, which sponsored BP07, enticed growers into completing a short survey by including them in a prize draw to win the Mini Cooper.

Jim's name was first out of the hat but rather than keep the car, he's decided to hand the keys over to his wife.

"It's a wonderful car and I'm delighted to have won it, but I've decided to give it to my wife. It's far more suited to her than me," explained Jim as he collected the keys from Soper Mini in Lincoln. "I drove a Mini myself back in the 70s but now I find a four by four or a tractor is more my style!"

The prize draw was devised by Richard Clark, Commercial Director, at Branston. "We saw BP07 as a great opportunity to find out how confident growers were in the industry, what they grew and their plans for the coming year.

"The offer of a Mini Cooper certainly attracted a huge amount of interest from growers at the event and we're delighted that Jim won. We were more than a little surprised when he first said he was giving it away but we're sure his wife will appreciate her new car."