HE BOUGHT it for a fiver - but now Beatles fan Dave Whitehead reckons his Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album could be worth thousands.

Dave, 57, a lift engineer from More Hall Close, Clifton Moor, York, bought the picture disc in 1975 from a second-hand shop in Hull.

He returned home to discover it had a design fault and played side two on both sides.

"I said to my wife it was a load of scrap and I put it in a box for years," he said.

But years later, Dave was told the disc could be a valuable collectors' item among Beatles fanatics and was even offered £200 from a record dealer in Liverpool.

He said: "If the fault is a complete one-off I'd like to think it could be worth thousands. I sent an airmail letter to the EMI headquarters in Hollywood to find out if there were more records made like this, but received no reply."

Sgt Pepper is one of the best-selling albums of all time in the UK and boasts such hits as Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and a Day In The Life.

Peter Hope, shop worker at Cassady's secondhand records, on Gillygate, York, said: "I don't think it would be worth thousands but it's an unknown quantity and has to be tested in the market place. Misprints are known to be collectable."

If you have an unusual record please contact Matthew Woodcock on 01904 653051 ext 304.