A mystery man has won an online bid to buy a chocolate bar which went out of date more than 20 years ago.

The anonymous man from Kirkcaldy has now paid for a delivery driver to make the 200-mile round trip to Peterhead to collect the Mars bar which was found in a box of Christmas decorations.

William Knight from the north-east town attracted a legion of online followers after putting the decades-old confectionery up for sale.

The 63-year-old taxi driver found the bar – which has a sell-by date of February 1996 – while he was putting his Christmas decorations away.

The treat was discovered in a box alongside a commemorative tin of Cadbury’s chocolate marking the Queen’s coronation in 1953 and a collection of coins.

Just for a laugh, Mr Knight decided he would try to sell the Mars bar and posted a cheeky advert on Facebook asking for £5.

The social media post said: “Mars bar sweetie, best before date 1996.

“This is a very rare old sweet and I know there are collectors of old sweet memorabilia.

“A one-off bargain, only a fiver, get in quick before it’s gone.”

Since the social media post went live, Mr Knight has had thousands of views and hundreds of messages from people keen to get their hands on the bar, which originally sold for 26p.

He said Mars bar fans have “gone nuts” ever since he published his advertisement on an online sellers group.

Mr Knight said: “I thought I would do it just for a laugh.

“Within about half an hour I had 800 hits and lots of messages from people wanting to buy it.

“You wouldn’t believe all that. It has just gone nuts.

“The guy from Kirkcaldy has gone mad for it. He is even sending a courier company to come and get it.

“Maybe the nostalgia of it appealed to him.”