THE Mayor of Bolton today pledged to carry the town's condolences to Germany in the wake of the Concorde disaster.

Cllr Alan Wilkinson will pass on the sympathies on behalf of the people of Bolton when he visits our German twin-town of Paderborn this weekend.

Cllr Wilkinson is travelling to the northern German city after an invitation to attend a festival to celebrate a local saint.

The 100 passengers on board the plane were all German nationals.

He said: "It is a tragedy for the whole of the German nation. It is not clear to me if any of the dead people were from Paderborn. But it's going to have an impact on a lot of families.

"I intend to pass on our condolences to the people of Germany."

The disaster has shocked the three Bolton MPs.

Dr Brian Iddon, Bolton South, said: "It is very sad indeed. These planes have had impeccable safety records so it comes as an even bigger shock. My thoughts are with the families affected by this great tragedy."

He said that fellow MPs in the House of Commons were also deeply shocked as the news broke and added that the Government will be given all the facts in the disaster.

And he would also demand that MPs are given a full briefing on safety checks being done on the British Airways Concordes.

Concorde has taken hundreds of Bolton people on special flights after Bolton's Mr Concorde, Derek Gaskell, booked the plane to raise cash for charity.

Derek hit the headlines when he gambled £48,000 of his own money in the 1980s to charter Concorde for a day to raise money for neurosurgical research fund he set up after his wife Dorothy suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Andrew Dickson, of St Andrews Travel, arranged two Concorde flights for Mr Gaskell and one for his own commercial purposes.

He said: "More people have travelled on Concorde from Bolton than any other town in the country."