Farmer's famous joke to be auctioned off

The timely sale will take place on Friday (April 9) after Roy Smith of Blades Farm in Easingwold, North Yorkshire decided to sell up, claiming he is fed up with the bureaucracy and red tape swamping farming.

The famous slurry tanker – which also has ‘Bank of England Think Tank’ written on the other side – has amused motorists on the B163 between Stillington since 2001 but will now be up for auction at the dispersal sale.

Mr Smith and his wife Audrey are handing the 73-acre farm back to their landlords and moving to a house in Easingwold.

Their main business was dairy until foot-and-mouth in 2001. Since then, they have kept going with a bit of growing and a few sucklers.

Mr Smith painted the slogans on his 900-gallon slurry tanker in exasperation at the old Ministry of Agriculture”s handling of a series of crises leading up to foot and mouth, under the unlucky leadership of Nick Brown. He added the Bank of England jibe a little later.

He said: “I”m leaving the slogans on the tanker because I guess there”s a good chance of finding a bidder who still feels the same.”

The sale will be held at Blades Farm, Stillington Road, Easingwold, YO61 3ES, on Friday from 5pm. For more information, click here to visit the George F White website.

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