An eBay auction in which the winner gets to press the button to crush the 3-series 1992 BMW car of disgraced banker Seán FitzPatrick has drawn a top bid of €3,150.

The auction on eBay, planned by National Recycling Limited, ended at 3.20pm. All money raised by the unusual auction is to be donated to the Samaritans.

Bidding had reached as high as €5,200 this morning, but the two top bidders contacted the seller to pull out of the auction. The final sale price was €3,150.

National Recycling bought the car for €1,234.56 in an online auction by the High Court’s assignee who is dealing with Mr FitzPatrick’s bankruptcy.

The car was collected from outside Mr FitzPatrick’s home in Greystones, Co Wicklow, on January 14th. The car was liberally coated with grime and leaves and looked as if it had not been driven for some time. It was winched aboard a tow truck as it would not start.

The auction and subsequent crushing may not be the ultimate end of the famous BMW.

Conor Hand, sales manager with National Recycling, said consideration was being given to using the crushed vehicle, baled to a size of about 60cm to 90cm, as an ornament, a souvenir or even a table. “It is just a thought” he said, “but it would probably be hard to raffle it twice”.

Asked whether the bale would be the property of the highest bidder, Mr Hand said the bidder would win the right to crush the car, but the vehicle would go for recycling in the normal way.

Before the vehicle is crushed, fuel and oil and items such as alloy wheels, glass, battery and seats will have been removed.