With property prices still soaring, a canny buyer might have thought these two police boxes would be a bargain-buy to turn into cosy little homes.

But the unassuming brick buildings fetched £163,000 - more than double their reserve prices - at auction.

Bidding for the boxes at the De Vere Grand Hotel reached fever pitch with four bidders trying to out do each other.

When the auction finally finished, one box at the junction of Stanford Road and Ditchling Road, Brighton, went for £92,000 while the other in Margery Road, Hove, just off the Old Shoreham Road, fetched £71,000.

A businessman has bought them for storage and office facilities and possible future development.

The boxes were put in the catalogue by Hove Auctioneers Clive Emson to sell for between £30,000 and £50,000.

The success surprised Sam Kinloch of Clive Emson's Hove office.

He said: "We were very surprised at the price they fetched. But immediately the catalogue came out, it was clear there would be a really massive response.

"At first it was people who wanted to knock them down and redevelop, but then it was realised this might be more difficult than at first thought.

"We then had inquiries from people who wanted to use them for offices and storage as they already had this usage.

"They have been bought by someone who wants to use them for office and storage space".

Businessman Mark Radcliffe, 48, of Kingspan Waste Re-cycling, which runs a depot in Moulsecoomb Way, Brighton, was one of those bidding for the police boxes.

He said: "I wanted to use them as satellite offices.They are ideal for small offices and have parking facilities, which are at a premium in Brighton and Hove. I decided to stop bidding when prices reached more than £70,00O.

"We were all surprised bids went so high."

The boxes were released by Conservative-controlled East Sussex County Council on the instructions of the Sussex Police Authority.

Police records show they were built about 50 years ago and used as bases for beat policemen and stop-off points for patrol cars.

They all have running water, phone lines and other facilities, but the small frontage is thought to make it difficult for developers to knock them down and build homes on the site.