A GAP-year student who toured London with a camera – dressed as a photo booth and asking people what their favourite facial features were – has won £5,000 in a competition.

Ben Shorter, 19, beat 160 other film makers to the prize after winning the contest organised by a new mobile phone network.

His two-minute film entitled Ben Hires a Photo Booth, came top of an online poll, with 79 per cent of the vote.

The sim card-only phone network giffgaff launched the competition where people borrowed a costume and had to undertake a set task and video it.

Other stunts included being a human hand-dryer, a busker, or an Action Man figure.

Ben heard about the contest when a friend sent him a link to the giffgaff website.

In his video, which has been watched more than 3,700 times on the YouTube website, he captures the best facial features of Londoners commuting along the south bank of the River Thames.

Mr Shorter was helped by friends Tom Howes, 19, Cath Graves, 19, Daniel Evans, 19, Katie O’Connor, 19, and Gary Caplehorne 29.

Ben said: “To win this is simply amazing – I haven’t won anything before.

“My mum didn’t believe it, even when I showed her the cheque she thought it was fake.

“It was a good day out even though it was really cold. Our hands went numb.

“I’m going to buy a new computer and camera and save the rest for university.”

Ben, a former King Alfred’s school student from Adkin Way, Wantage, plans to study sports science at London Metropolitan University.

He added: “There is a whole community on YouTube that I’m a part of and one of the people gave me the link.

“I saw the photo booth and thought it was cool.

“I sat down with my friend Gary and we came up with the idea together.”

The film took less than two hours to film in December.