A North East music legend was spotted on the Metro as he made his way to collect an award.

Gordon Sumner, better known as Sting, was spotted taking a trip on the Tyne and Wear Metro to receive his Freedom of North Tyneside award at the Exchange 1856 building in North Shields.

The icon posted a picture with a story documenting his trip as he went to collect the award from his borough.

But all did not run smoothly as Sting's friend Simon Astaire revealed in a social media post shared by Sting himself that the singer almost didn't make it to his award presentation on time when they got on the wrong train.

"A visit to Newcastle to celebrate Sting picking up the freedom of North Tyneside - he has received many accolades in his life, but this was important to him as it came from his hometown - we decided to take the tube (metro) to the event so that he could show me his local station and the route he took to school every day.

There was a little concern from home that we weren't going to make the award ceremony which was silly because I had taken control of the adventure! I admit there was one minor hiccup, though, when we discovered we were on the wrong train going in the opposite direction!

Quickly put right by getting off and going to another platform- it was a wonderful day."

He said the award brought him "full circle" to the place where his dreams began.

Customer Services Director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “It was fantastic to see that Sting chose Metro on his most recent visit back to his native North East England.

“He was here to collect the Freedom of the Borough of the North Tyneside, so hopped on the Metro in Newcastle city centre for the short journey up to North Shields. 

“He may even have noticed he features in the Famous Faces artwork at Monument Metro station alongside other iconic figures from the region.”

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The former frontman for the band The Police forged a successful solo career following his work with group, and has sold over 100 million albums from his combined work.

He has won countless awards globally including 17 Grammys and four BRIT Awards.

He also became a Fellow of the Ivors Academy earlier this year.