A STUDENT whose final project was delayed by foot-and-mouth disease baled himself out when he towed his life and time-saving invention to campus yesterday.

Heads turned in puzzlement when Mark Leonard pulled up in a tractor at the University of Sunderland to have his design marked.

Tutors, impressed by the quality of his work, gave it their seal of approval, passing him with flying colours.

Mark, 27, has created a bale carrier with spikes that fold out of harm's way when the tractor is on the road. He should have completed his BSc in product design management in the summer.

Mark's design was on the drawing board last year but, as he was about to begin production, a farm neighbouring his grandfather's, near Hartlepool, was struck down with foot-and-mouth disease.

Mark said: "Because of the quarantine, I faced the choice of either not being able to leave the farm, where my device was being made, or leaving.

"I decided to continue theoretic work at Sunderland and was given dispensation to complete constructing my device later."

"Most machines that collect bales of hay have only one spike to pick up and carry the hay.

"Some can carry more, but the spikes do not fold away, making them potentially dangerous on the road, two-metre spikes can do a lot of damage.

"It is a design that has attracted a lot of attention and I am in the process of having it patented."

Tutor Bryan Attewell said: "He built much of it himself and did an excellent job. Not only is there the safety aspect to the design, but it will save farmers a lot of time."