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the store room 'Transforms' to help prize winner
19th February 2010
YORKSHIRE EVENING POST:
Casino worker Craig Ryan thought he had hit the jackpot when he won a £50,000 model robot in a competition.
But instead, the out-of-this-world boy's toy has left him with a giant-sized problem.
For when Craig took delivery of the prize, he discovered there were no instructions on how to assemble it.
And so what should be a 13ft tall and 11ft wide space-age marvel is currently sitting in bits and pieces at a storage depot in Leeds.
Craig, a 34-year-old croupier from Oakwood, said: "I've managed to put the head and some of the body together – but as for the rest, forget it.
"I'm not much good at DIY at the best of times, I don't know where I'd start with this!"
Craig's toy story began with the DVD release of sci-fi film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
A props company was asked to promote it by building a version of one of the movie's Transformers – fighting machines that can disguise themselves as cars and other vehicles.
The result was a Transformer based on a London bendy bus, comprising more than 100 bus parts and other sections of synthetic material.
A national newspaper then offered its readers the chance to win the model, called Bendy-Bus Prime.
"I was surfing the internet and found a site with details of some competitions," said Craig, who works at Grosvenor Casino in Leeds city centre.
"I entered them without really thinking and the next thing, I got a phone call telling me I'd won the Transformer.
"I was pretty chuffed – I'm a big fan of science fiction films."
Knowing it would be too big for his terraced house, Craig had the prize delivered to the Store Room storage facility, near Churwell's White Rose centre.
Its Regional Sales Manager, Carl Horsfield, said: "It's certainly an unusual item – and it also makes a pretty good security guard!"
Follow the link below to see the original article on the Yorkshire Evening Post website - and watch a video of Craig tring to assemble his transformer!
www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/videoandaudio/Video-How-do-you-put.6071700.jp