A water cannon truck used by police to control rioting during the Troubles has been sold for more than £3,000.
In need of restoration, the 26-tonne fortified police vehicle dates back to 1970 and has spent the past two decades outside a museum in Humberside in England.
Used by the RUC to disperse rioters, it is thought to be the only known example of its kind still in existence.
Military equipment specialists Allsops of Bolton, which bought the 1970 Foden Pyrene at an auction, have now sold it online.
The winning bid of £3,100 was one of 12 placed for the RUC vehicle, but it remained unclear last night who bought it.
The Lancashire-based company deals with specialist vehicles, from classic and vintage up to modern-day.
It restores old military vehicles, often from the Second World War.
The firm had bought the water cannon last year, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it had only arrived at their premises at the start of this year.
Jonathan Allsop said they had initially bought the truck on "impulse".
"We were buying other stuff at auction and we have the equipment to move it," he told the Press Association.
"It was an impulse purchase.
"I had never seen one before."
Water cannon was used by the RUC during the early days of the Troubles to quell disorder.
It was later abandoned, but in 2000 a modern version of the vehicle was deployed in Portadown during the Drumcree dispute.
Rioters had thrown bricks, petrol bombs and fireworks at police blocking their way to the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road and set fire to police Land Rovers.
More recently water cannon was deployed to tackle serious parade-related violence in Ardoyne in north Belfast.
Mr Allsop said the old water cannon truck no longer runs and his company currently had too many projects on to be able to tackle the restoration.
"We have had a lot of enquiries, a lot of people have come forward and told us about the engine," he said.
"It has restoration potential and to be quite honest it should be restored."
