RICHARD PARR four-year-old Darius Elson-Bird found himself at the controls of a real construction site excavator.Young Darius is believed to have been the youngest "trainee" ever to have taken the controls of 13-tons of plant machinery at the National Construction College at Bircham Newton, near Fakenham.

RICHARD PARR

Not many months after he was playing at home with his toy building blocks, four-year-old Darius Elson-Bird has found himself at the controls of a real construction-site excavator.

Darius is believed to be the youngest 'trainee' to have taken the controls of 13 tons of plant machinery at the National Construction College, in Bircham Newton, near Fakenham.

And the budding real-life Bob the Builder loved his hands-on experience, particularly when his instructor spun the cab completely around on its caterpillar tracks.

Darius was with about 20 of his friends, aged between four and 11, from the King George VI Primary School, Great Bircham, enjoying a visit to the college to see life-size boys' toys in action.

Wesley Hodgson, 10, said he found the excavators very exciting but a little "wobbly".

And Josh Jenner, 10, said he enjoyed having a go at driving the excavator and was keen to train to be a builder when he left school. "I had a toy digger when I was younger but it was good to have a go at driving the real thing," he said.