A BUSINESSMAN with a bad taste in ties forced colleagues to give £200 to charity before agreeing to change his fashion sense.

Work colleagues told David Amos to have a complete tie clear-out otherwise they would boycott management meetings.

The most annoying of his large selection of comedy ties was deemed to be his favourite charity tie featuring lion Courage, from the Children's Foundation's Yellow Brick Road Appeal, which raises money for research into childhood illnesses.

So Mr Amos told his colleagues at the Agency Driver's Register, in Brignell Road, Middlesbrough, he would only dispose of the tie if they paid him.

They raised £200 for the Children's Foundation, a leading healthcare charity in the North-East and Cumbria, and were allowed to burn his tie.

But Barbara Gubbins, chief executive of the charity, came to the rescue.

"When I heard about the burning of David's favourite tie I simply had to send him another one," she said. "This could pave the way for a completely new way of fundraising."