With its array of pulleys and levers and great clouds of belching steam this contraption may at first appear to be one of the fantastical machines conjured up by the great cartoonist W. Heath Robinson.

But it is in fact a perfectly roadworthy Land Rover, whose petrol engine was taken out and replaced by its owner with a steam-driven engine.

So efficient was its conversion from petrol back to the steam age that Frank Rothwell now uses the car for his daily commute.

It has taken an estimated 400 hours and £24,000 for Mr Rothwell to strip out the 50-year-old Land Rover’s petrol engine, repair the mildew encrusted bodywork and install the steam engine

But then, as Mr Rothwell says of his project, it keeps him out of the pub.