A bottle of wine is on offer for anyone who can locate the town hall’s elusive cherry picker.

The tongue-in-cheek offer was made by housing campaigner Brain Potter, after he found out no one from Islington Council could tell him where the new cherry picker, bought for £82,800 in May, was kept.

He said: “It’s ridiculous, they bought it half a year ago for more than £80,000 and not only have they never used it, they can’t even tell me where it’s kept. So I thought I would organise a treasure hunt.

“I’ll give a bottle of wine to anyone who can take a picture of the council cherry picker and send it to me on Islington.leaseholders@hotmail.co.uk”

Despite trying to track down the elevated platform for more than a month, Dr Potter has been unsuccessful. The latest message from a council officer read: “Following our earlier conversation, I have been unable to identify who can inform me of where this cherry picker is located.”