A FORMER landscape gardener who swapped trimming hedges for fringes found himself a cut above the rest in a hairdressing competition.

The mature student at Darlington College of Technology was beaten to first place by a hair's breadth in a competition sponsored by national chain Salon Services.

Jason Scott, of Newton Aycliffe, took the top honours - a pair of cobalt Roseline professional hairdressing scissors - in the competition at the college.

But the judges were most impressed with David Crowther, of Evenwood, who had the courage to switch careers at the age of 36, after working in landscape gardening for the past ten years.

"I know, I've gone from cutting grass to hair, but I was looking for a new challenge in life," said Mr Crowther, who is on the adult fast-track NVQ Level 2 hairdressing course.

"It is really interesting and I was delighted to get the runner-up prize of some ceramic straighteners."

Sixteen hairdressing students had 90 minutes to shampoo, cut and style their model's hair, and were marked on the overall look.

Salon Services area manager Chris Stroud said: "A lot of the students have managed to get good jobs fixed up, and to think they have been able to achieve so much in the past year is amazing."