WHILE some people enjoy DIY or gardening in their spare time, one man has an unusual hobby that has taken him around the world.

For the past seven years Arthur Parsons, of Shermount Avenue, Fulwood, Preston, has been a fanatical phone card collector.

Over the years he has picked up thousands of the used cards from Britain and other countries and now stores his vast collection in about 20 photograph type albums.

But the father-of-three is aiming to pull together a world record collection of phone cards -- something that has never been done -- and is calling on people to donate their used cards.

"To obtain a world collection is a huge task which will probably take an entire lifetime," said Arthur, one of Britain's 100,000 collectors.

"My friends always bring me a card or two from their holidays although it's getting harder and harder to continue collecting phone cards as they have stopped being produced, particularly in the UK, with the advent of mobile phones."

Arthur, 54, a workshop technician in fabrication and welding, at Preston College, became interested in collecting phone cards while holidaying in Crete.

He spotted a laminated card in a phone booth and was drawn to it because of the colourful butterfly picture featured on it.

A year later he returned to Crete and was amazed to find a stack of abandoned phone cards in another phone kiosk. It was at this point Arthur hit upon the idea to start his collection.

Since then Arthur, who has five grandchildren, has accumulated thousands of different phone cards from the 232 countries where the products are issued.

The unique cards often come in sets and vary from country to country. They are uniquely identified by various optical bands of different widths and lengths, notches, plastics and metal strip markings.

To help Arthur in his phone card quest call 01772 716861.