A man has sneezed out part of a toy dart he lost up his nose more than 40 years ago.

Steve Easton, 51, was at home in Surrey in the south east of England, when he suddenly experienced "a very uncomfortable sensation" as the offending object worked its way out of his left nostril.

He phoned his mother, Pat, who immediately realised it was a rubber sucker from when he was seven or eight years old.

Easton told BBC News: "I'm not the first person this has happened to, but 43 years - it's quite out there, isn't it?"

Pat Easton said she had taken her son to hospital when she suspected he had swallowed the toy, but was sent home when it did not show up on X-rays.

She had never known whether he had gotten rid of it naturally or whether it was still inside him, she said.

"All these years later, it suddenly shot out."