Teenager Gordon Brown's £3 rent cheque bounced at university

London, Dec 17 (ANI): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown found it difficult to manage his expenses while he attended university, it has emerged.

Bill Paterson, 63, warden of Goschen House where Brown stayed at Edinburgh University, disclosed that he was the only student whose weekly rent cheque for 3 pounds bounced.

The Bank of Scotland stamped "refer to drawer" in red ink on the cheque. Paterson, whose name was wrongly spelt as "Bill Patterson" on the cheque, is now thinking of auctioning it off on eBay.

"It was the one and only time anyone had ever bounced a cheque on me," the Telegraph quoted Paterson, as saying.

He added: "He was supposed to have made the cheque payable to the university but when he wrote it out to me I thought the easiest thing to do would be to pay it into my account and then write out a cheque of my own to the university.

"When it bounced I took it up with Gordon immediately and I recall to this day his breathtaking excuse. 'Oh dear,' he told me, 'I must have used the wrong chequebook.'

"There were not a lot of students at the university who had even one chequebook, let alone two."

Paterson's wife, Kate, believes this is the best time for them to auction off the cheque on eBay.

She said: "I think if we are to get anything for it we had better do it now or never...After a few months it might not have much value."

Brown had gone to Edinburgh University at 16 years of age in 1967. (ANI)