A York Press front-page scoop about a boy who walked into a bank 19 hours after it closed for the weekend became BBC online’s “most read” story.

The paper’s exclusive was about five-year-old Oliver Pettigrew, who found the door of a bank in Easingwold, North Yorkshire, unlocked and walked in while his dad was using the cash machine outside.

The daring duo walked right up to the bank vault before dialling 999 and awaiting police. Oliver was given a £10 reward by the multi-national bank HSBC.

The story was followed up by national and regional newspapers, including The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Express, and the Metro, the Yorkshire Post and The Northern Echo, as well as local BBC radio, the BBC and a host of international news websites.

And according to the BBC News website, it was the most read news story around the globe between about 9am and 12.30pm on Thursday, outdoing stories about Britney Spears’ parents’ fears for her life and an Al Qaeda training video.

Kevin Booth, editor of The Press, said: “It is one of those local stories that just captures everyone’s imagination. As soon as we saw it, we knew it would go everywhere.”