A quiet residential street in Abergavenny was the surprise 'finishing line' on Saturday for a UK-wide treasure hunt to win a car worth around £43,000.

The competition, which had been launched on Twitter three days earlier by Volvo Car UK, had initially attracted around 20,000 participants.

A resident of Lansdown Road, John Gwillym, set off to the shops at around 10.50am to find a car transporter parked outside his drive, with 'an array of cars parked nearby and a crowd gathered'.

"I wondered what on earth was going on," he said.

"My first reaction was that there had been an accident but the lorry driver explained what it was all about. Then a marketing man came over and shook my hand and thanked me for taking part! If only I'd known..."

A spokesman for Volvo Car UK explained, "The competition concept was designed around bringing the car, an XC90 R-Design, from the factory in Gothenburg, Sweden (Volvo's home town) to a location in the UK.

"The car was the last of that model off the production line and the competition was run on our Twitter channel alongside a website findthexc90.co.uk

"On days One and Two Twitter users were asked to tweet their area name to influence where the car ended up – so the more times #Wales appeared for example, the more likely it was that the car would end up there.

"The final results were then assessed to determine the winning region, before the car was taken to that area for a final treasure hunt.

"The first to find it on Day Three and complete a final task on Twitter (to photograph the car and tweet @VolvoCarUK with the hashtag #givemethekeys ) would be declared the winner.

"Once we realised that we'd received more Tweets from South Wales than anywhere else we started looking for a suitable 'secret' location there and Abergavenny fitted the bill perfectly.

"It's a picturesque town which is approached through lovely scenery - but at the same time it's easily accessible from all over the UK.

'We looked around the town for a quiet road with plenty of parking space and directed the transporter to Lansdown Road.

"We then gave out a series of clues, starting with a vague image of the surrounding hills - which a lot of people apparently recognised immediately - then, more obviously, a picture of a landmark in the town centre, then the 'Welcome' sign and finally the name of the road.

"About 12 people turned up within five to ten minutes of the final clue being given, including one man from Southport.

"The winner was Hamad Zaman of Cardiff who said he'd wanted to win the car for his mum, and had Tweeted 90 times in an attempt to bring the car to Wales!

'It's the second time we've run a competition in this way - and it was a lot of fun. Those who made it to the finish were all very good-humoured about it."

Lansdown Ward councillor Chris Woodhouse said, "I wasn't aware of any of this but I think it's delightful that Abergavenny has been chosen yet again to be in the national spotlight!"

John Gwillym agreed. "It's great that Abergavenny's on the map again. First the Tour of Britain, then the Food Festival, now this."

And Abergavenny will be in the national spotlight yet again next weekend when John, who's a motor sport enthusiast, will be among those competing in the 11th stage of the Welsh Road Rally Championships, run overnight on country lanes near the town.