THESE watches were valued at £20 but one Swindon woman paid six times that amount when she bid for a blind lot at a one-day sale held in Swindon.

Customers arriving at the sale had been handed leaflets by Trading Standards officers about offers that may be too good to be true.

The company promised electrical goods, luxury items and furniture at bargain prices on the condition that customers take pot luck when they bid for the items.

But the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, ignored the leaflets and went into the sale.

She said she was led to believe she would be buying a DVD player. After paying her money, she was shown what she had actually bought the two watches and was not given a refund after complaining about her purchase.

Carla Doughty, trading standards education officer, said: "We did have a Trading Standards presence at the sale and managed to deter a lot of people from being ripped off by buying things in blind bids.

"We would advise people to be very careful about one day sales and never to part with their money unless they know exactly what they are getting or where they can track down the vendors at a later stage."