A MUCH-LOVED bear has turned up safe and well after an appeal in the Advertiser.

Avid Bath rugby fan Martin Burton, 48, of St Andrew's Ridge, was heartbroken to find Claverton the bear disappeared last week.

Mr Burton, who had accompanied Claverton to Bath games at home and abroad for ten years, had been taking business exams in the Pilgrim Centre when he discovered the bear's disappearance.

A delighted Mr Burton said: "He was found by a traffic warden in the Brunel multi-storey car park where I had parked.

"The warden, who doesn't want to be named, realised he wasn't an everyday kind of bear and took him to his boss who happened to be a Bath rugby fan.

"He'd read the story in the paper and so knew to call me. The story had the required effect it's absolutely terrific."

Mr Burton, who lives with his wife Jeanette, 39, had put up £25 to anyone who could secure Claverton's safe return. However, because the traffic wardens would not accept the money, he has decided to donate it to the Evening Advertiser-backed Swindon Cancer Appeal, which aims to raise £600,000 to find two full-time nurses working from the Great Western Hospital.

Mr Burton is due to pick up Claverton named after the university campus he attended in Bath today.