I think I know the straight answer to the question, but...

I am looking for a working PAL VCR to digitise some VHS tapes for a friend.

As luck would have it, I binned our old VCR last year after doing the
same for our old tapes, thinking that it would not be needed any more.

I put ads on Gumtree and Freecycle a few days ago, and also searched on
eBay (for local ones), but nothing apart from a few silly-priced ones on
eBay.

I will be in the tip tomorrow and plan to speak to the guys there to see
if they happen to have any.

Failing that, any other suggestions as to where to get hold of one from?
I will only need it for approx one day.