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A toy hoarder and Star Wars fanatic has become owner of Britain’s biggest private collection of Lego, totaling a sum of two million bricks.
Darren Smith began his infatuation for Lego at the age of five when he received a Lego set for Christmas off his parents.
Receiving his first set in 1981, it took Darren almost 22 years to confess his love for Lego.
He even has a converted loft and large garage devoted specifically for his unlimited assortment of Lego.
The data analyst has amassed 2,000 Lego sets including cowboys, pirates, police, Spiderman, Indiana Jones, astronauts, Vikings, as well as cars, bikes, helicopters, footballers, farm animals and Harry Potter.
He particularly favourites Star Wars Lego figures, C3PO and Darth Vadar.
With more than 2,000,000 bricks, he has obscured former British record of 5,000,000 by Phil Traviss, 50, from Yarm in North Yorkshire.
Darren’s collection valued at £50,000 is stored in his three bedroomed home and wife Claire, doesn’t seem to mind “too much”.
Darren said: “I love Lego. The colours and the shapes are timeless. Some people might think it’s sad but everyone wants to see the collection.
“The wife doesn’t mind me having all the Lego in the garage and the loft but she goes mad when it gets into the rest of the house.
“Storage is an issue but I just keep on collecting. Lego produce about 200 new sets each year and I want them all.”
Claire said that her husband’s collection is “‘gradually spreading” around their home which is now “over run”.
She added: “It drives me mad. His collection is unbelievable. He is completely obsessed. He is always talking about Lego.
“Sometimes he spends large amounts of money on Lego when really he should be treating me”.
As well as collecting individual Lego figures and bricks, Darren also builds large models including a 5ft Lego Winnie the Pooh and a 3ft Piglet.