A PEN used by the Queen during a visit to the region is expected to go up for auction for a third time.

The Cross silver fountain pen was initially put up for auction shortly after the Queen's golden jubilee tour stopped in Darlington Market Square, where she used it to sign a commemorative book.

However, when the organiser was taken ill, the event was delayed, and eventually rescheduled for the Friends of Darlington Memorial Hospital's summer fete, on Saturday.

But after the auction failed to produce a sufficiently high bid, a local businessman decided he would try to find a way to use the pen and a certificate of authenticity to raise more cash.

Alasdair MacConachie, chairman of the Darlington Partnership, is making efforts to get a better price for the pen, which belonged to Darlington registrar Dawn Whitear.

It had been hoped Saturday's auction would raise a large amount of money for the hospital's Save Our Sight Appeal, to buy a retinal camera for use at the Bishop Auckland and Darlington hospitals.

The pen also comes with a photograph of the Queen using it to sign the commemorative book.

"The highest bid we had wasn't much more than the value of the pen when it was purchased," said Ms Whitear.

She revealed there had been a bid of about £150.

No details have been made available yet on how to make new bids.