A BLACKPOOL businessman will not make a fortune from the sale of a resort landmark after multi-million pound bids were dismissed as hoaxes.

A wave of international publicity had pushed bidding for Brian Bateson's Vulcan bomber, for sale on internet auction site, eBay, into the millions.

Any hopes of a massive payout were dashed when the price dropped to just £10,000 when a flurry of bogus bids were cancelled by the auction house.

But Mr Bateson, who owns the Blackpool Air Centre, blamed 'local idiots' for the inflated bids and says he fears they may have put off genuine buyers.

"A lot of genuine bidders have been contacting me by telephone rather than using eBay," said Mr Bateson: "You only had to look at what else the idiots were buying to see they can't afford a plane."

Bidders will now have to prove to Mr Bateson that they can afford the plane before joining the auction, which ends on Saturday.

One bidder told the Citizen he was prepared to pay more than £7.5 million - an eBay record - but his 'dream' of moving the former cold war nuclear bomber to Spain appears to be over.

The Citizen spoke to the man before his bid was blocked. He refused to give his full name but described himself as a 24-year-old Manchester based businessman.

"I'm determined it will be mine," said the man, identified only as phil24corsa: "I'll probably tinker with it myself and obviously get some engineers to look at it. I suppose it's selfish, but it would just be purely for personal use."

An eBay spokesman said: "eBay emphasises that once a user places a bid, it acts as a binding contract, and the user that placed that bid is obliged to honour it.

"eBay has contacted the seller of the Vulcan bomber to advise them to use eBay's pre-approved bidder protection, recommended for expensive or high profile listings.

"This prevents any hoax bids. Pre-approved bidder means that sellers can vet bids and create a pre-approved bidder list for their items."

Hoax bidders would be given a warning, the spokesman added, and if they put in three hoax bids on different items, their account would be suspended.

But Mr Bateson, who is selling the plane, a landmark since 1983, in the hope of creating space for the expansion of Blackpool airport, said he had no idea how the auction would end .

"I don't know what's going to happen," he added: "It doesn't close until Saturday. Life is an education."