Channel Tunnel Boring Machine

The channel tunnel was officially opened in 1994 by the Queen and President Mitterrand and represents one of the last century's finest engineering projects.

In 2004, Reclamet's Tony Wilkinson successfully outbid nearly 200 competitors on eBay, to acquire the very last Tunnel Boring Machine for nearly £40,000.

Reclamet dismantled the 580 tonne machine, affectionately known as Big B6, at Eurotunnel's old exhibition centre near Folkestone.

A set of teeth from the machine were auctioned off in support of the Cancer Care Appeal at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) hospital in Margate.

Weighing in at a whopping 5 ½ pounds, each tungsten carbide tipped tooth helped we Brits bore our way over 30 miles, through millions of cubic metres of chalk and soil, to northern France.