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7ft 6in tall order for bed firm!
STAFF at a furniture shop are rising to a giant challenge by manufacturing a bed for the UK's tallest man.
Neil Fingleton, who at 7ft 7ins tall is officially the tallest man in Britain, is getting a bed made by Hartlepool firm, The Sofa Bed Shop.
The company, based in Lower Oxford Street, is also hoping to get the 10ft 6in x 6ft 6in bed into the Guinness Book of Records – as it could turn out to be the biggest bed made in Europe.
Neil, 27, from Gilesgate, Durham, had hunted high and low for a bed across the length and breadth of the country.
But a chance visit to the shop with a friend who was looking for furniture saw him striking up a conversation with shop boss Colin Rafferty, who said the firm could make a custom-made bed to suit his needs.
Neil, who played basketball in the USA at university level for 10 years after being offered a scholarship because of his height, has held the title of the UK's tallest man since January 2007.
He said: "The bed I have now is long enough but not wide enough.
"I was living in the States and playing basketball but never used it and with gaining weight I am wider than I was.
"I went on the internet to find a company that would custom-make a bed.
I didn't have much luck, or the prices were really extortionate.
"By pure chance I came across Colin at the Sofa Bed Shop and he said he could do it. It's quite mad – I was searching the country for months and a small company in Hartlepool could do it.
"I thought it was nice that it was on my back doorstep."
Aspiring actor Neil, who lives with his mother Christine, who is 6ft, and has a brother Michael, who is 6ft 9ins, and a 6ft 2ins sister, Keely, said he may buy more furniture from the shop in future.
The ostrich-skin upholstered sleigh-type bed is expected to be ready next week, and will take three people to make it and five to deliver.
Mr Rafferty, the shop's managing director, said: "It's quite an honour to make Neil's bed.
"I believe it's going to be the biggest bed in Europe. In the past we have made a lot of handmade beds suitable to any size – but this is the biggest!"
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Weather for Hartlepool
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
