A LITTLE girl who was left in tears when she missed out on getting a model balloon at a fair finally has a smile back on her face

Five-year-old Carrie Goold had been queuing for more than half an hour with her mother, Wendy, in the hope of getting an inflatable monkey from a balloon modeller at Darlington's three-day markets event last week.

But her wait ended in disappointment when balloon man Ian Lowe packed up his equipment and headed home.

Mrs Goold, who lives in Bowen Road, Darlington, said, "Carrie was so upset.

"We had waited for so long and she was really excited. But the man packed up and left before her turn came.

"She was in floods of tears; absolutely heartbroken."

The Northern Echo contacted Mr Lowe after Mrs Goold wrote to the newspaper about the incident.

Mr Lowe offered to return to Darlington and made Carrie the biggest inflatable monkey he could manage by way of an apology.

Mr Lowe said: "It was never my intention to upset anybody.

"I was more than happy to come back and make the little girl the balloon she wanted."