A MONSTER spud measuring 9in by 6in and weighing in at more than 3lb has been discovered in Waterfoot.

Greengrocer Steve Taylor sold a bag of Ormskirk potatoes to Cordey's Bakery for use in their home-made pies and owner Tony Cordey found that the huge potato filled most of the bag.

Although record books put the heaviest potato at nearly 8lb, Steve said: "I have sold a lot of potatoes over my 12 years as a greengrocer, roughly a ton a week, but I have never seen a potato like this -- it's a good one. Potato is very dense and this would create one hell of a baked spud. It would probably take half a ton of cheese to fill it!

"I reckon if you tried to cook it it would take 30 minutes in the microwave, or several days in the oven." One of Steve's assistants at his Bacup Road shop, Caroline Lord, 20, of Top Barn Lane, Newchurch, used to use his shop scales for weighing her daughter, Chelsea, who is now nine months old.

She brought the tot along to see the heart-shaped potato, but wasn't prepared to volunteer to peel it.

Tony Cordey has been a baker in the town for 25 years. He said: "I've never seen a potato so large. It would have made quite a few pies and pasties."

Steve's shop is no stranger to unusual fruit and vegetables because a few years ago he discovered a tomato which resembled a duck -- complete with head, neck and bill!

Have you got a bigger potato? Contact or newsdesk on 01254 678678 or let_editorial@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk

Picture: "Well, don't expect me to peel it," says an astonished Caroline Lord, shop assistant at Steve's Fruit and Veg in Waterfoot