Spud Man mania gridlocks village

Social media star's charity fundraiser draws big crowds on his first visit to Wales

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE Countryside and Tourism Editor

FOR a few hours, an entire sea side village in Gwynedd ground to a standstill. The sun was out, the beach looked welcoming, but that wasn't the reason: people had travelled for miles to queue for a jacket potato.

Places traded for a reported £5 as spud lovers waited their turn in Dinas Dinlle, near Caernarfon. It was worth it: a local mum wailed she was “gutted” when queue security told her the potatoes had run out.

All were there to meet a dad-of-nine with a pink mohawk and to have the privilege of being served a jacket potato from his van.

Ben Newman, aka Spud Man, happens to be a TikTok sensation with a huge social media fanbase.

He was in Dinas Dinlle not to cultivate his following but to support a good cause.

As a former kidney dialysis patient at Royal Derby Hospital, he was keen to back a fundraising cause centered on a unique dialysis facility at Dinlle Caravan Park.

In 2008, the hospital's trust set up a dialysis treatment unit in a static caravan at the park.

The idea was to facilitate holidays for dialysis patients who would otherwise struggle to leave home for more than a day or two.

Health officials came up with the idea after discovering many of their patients visited Gwynedd on holiday. The scheme is massively popular but the old static caravan is now showing its age.