A LUCKY Bridgwater man has avoided a £1.5k-plus fine after returning a library book - nearly 43 years after it was due back.

Chip Chorley took the edition of Exploring Bridges by Geoffrey Williamson back on Friday after he discovered the dusty tome at the bottom of an old box in his attic.

And had kind Bridgwater Library staff not decided to let him off the late fee, he could have been looking at a whopping bill of £1,602.44.

"My wife had it out when she was doing a school project when she was ten years old on bridge building," the 52-year-old told the Mercury.

"I was cleaning out the attic recently and came across the book I looked inside at the return date - it was May 20, 1963. I thought I would take it back and they laughed about it when I got there."

Ros Holman, team librarian, said it was the most out of date book staff had ever seen returned.

"I think it's quite nice that he has brought it back - it's very public spirited of him," she said.

"We aren't going to charge him anything, we're just glad to have it back."