ONE man fund-raising machine Alf Hales has raised £400 to help victims of flooding in York.

The Little Lever pensioner is well known for being first with his collection tin in a crisis.

Mr Hales, aged 79, was touched by TV pictures and newspaper reports of homes washed out in York.

Now he is hoping to hand over the cash from his Yorkshire Distress Fund to the Mayor of York.

He said: "I'm hoping to get the Mayor of York to visit Bolton so he can accept the money on behalf of the people.

"I've collected it all myself and I hope it will help."

Mr Hales, from Booth Road, has single-handedly raised cash for a number of appeals when crisis has struck abroad.

But this was his first major appeal to help people involved in a natural disaster in England.

He has raised money for a Red Cross relief mission on the Kosovan borders, the Red Cross earthquake relief appeal in Turkey.

Mr Hales has raised money for the Princess Diana Memorial Fund and in memory of the St James' pupils who died in a coach crash in the Alps.