Chinese man buys £9,500 van with loose change

A Chinese man has paid for a new van with 100,000 Yuan (£9,500) of loose change that he amassed over a number of years.

Businessman 'Mr Zhao' went to a dealership in Jining, in northern Shandong province, and presented staff with a huge stack of notes – none worth more than one Yuan (10p).

It is not uncommon for buyers to pay cash for cars, but Mr Zhao appears to have taken the practice to a new extreme. According to BBC News, additional staff members had to be called in and worked extra shifts to help count the mountainous pile of cash.

It is thought that Mr Zhao accumulated the stash of notes through many years of serving customers at his printing business. As many of the notes were faded or damaged, the job of finding a dealership willing to accept the money was not an easy one.

''I held onto the money waiting to see if they would accept it so that I could buy the car. The manager of this dealership decided to accept my cash, so that was really helpful to me,'' BBC News quoted Mr Zhao as saying.

Videos on Chinese TV show Mr Zhao delivering sacks of notes to the dealership, with staff members charged with the unenviable task of counting it all.

It took workers several hours to count all of the money, but the dealership eventually confirmed that Mr Zhao had provided the exact change.

''Our finance department originally had three or four people counting the money, but that was certainly not enough,'' a dealership employee told reporters.

Hilda Nicholson, Leeds, Vauxhall Corsa

Michael Morgan, Swadlincote, Mini Cooper