LUCKY motorist Flori Mudd is looking forward to refuelling for free for the next year, after being named the winner of a competition run by The Northern Echo.

Mrs Mudd, 79, can now fill up the tank of her Nissan Micra free of charge after collecting the tokens printed in The Northern Echo last week, and being selected from the thousands of entries as the winner of the Win Petrol for a Year contest.

The pensioner, from Newton Aycliffe, was presented with vouchers worth £1,425, which can be used at any Morrisons petrol station during the next 365 days.

Mrs Mudd has been driving for more than 50 years. She and her husband, James, are looking forward to spending days out without having to worry about the price of fuel.

"I'm very pleased, it was a nice surprise when I found out," she said. "I'm the main driver now, after my husband had an operation on his knee, so I'll be able to take us out shopping a lot and go on some nice days out.

"But since I found out I've won, all my grandchildren have been phoning up, they all want the petrol vouchers. I'm sure I'll let them have some."

Carol Bellinger, The Northern Echo's promotions manager, said: "This has been the most popular competition we have run all year. We had thousands and thousands of entries and I was delighted to hand over the £1,425-worth of vouchers to our winner."