Road cleaner stopped from accepting £3K fundraiser money

Getty Images A typical image of a street cleaner in London, wearing a red and white uniform and carrying a broom.Good photos

Mr. Spears doesn't get a free journey till a journey agent intervenes by deciding on him because the winner of a trip contest.

A south-east London road cleaner has been stopped from accepting £3,000 raised by the general public to ship on vacation.

Paul Spears, 63, who works in Beckenham, stated Bromley Council contractor Veolia couldn’t settle for cash raised via the GoFundMe marketing campaign as a result of its contract with the council prohibited it.

Nevertheless, the journey agent intervened by deciding on Mr Spears as the vacation competitors winner for a free journey to Portugal.

A Veolia spokesperson stated Native Democracy Reporting Service It was conscious of the competitors and had no objection to Mr Spears accepting the prize.

The fundraising web page was created by Beckenham Property Agent Supervisor Lisa Knight.

Ms Knight stated she and Mr Spears grew to become associates via their mutual love of Elvis Presley, who typically performed from the audio system on his dustcart.

He defined that Mr Spears “had give you the thought to boost funds with out letting it slip that he needed to save lots of up for a visit to Portugal. [for his birthday] As a result of he was solely as soon as on his sixtieth birthday, his brother paid for it.

“That was the one time he was overseas,” he added.

However after the gesture was blocked by Mr Spears' worker Veolia, a journey agent launched a contest to win a £3,000 vacation to Portugal.

Posting on X on TuesdayThe company stated in its competitors phrases and situations that candidates “should love Elvis Presley, be between the ages of 62 and 64, be liked by the area people, be a road cleaner in Beckenham and have the surname Spears”.

Joe Coughlan/Local Democracy Reporting ServiceJoe Coughlan/Native Democracy Reporting Service

Veolia stated its contract with Bromley Council prevented Mr Spears from accepting fundraising cash.

A Veolia spokesperson stated: “We’re at all times delighted by the general public wanting to acknowledge our groups.

“Sadly on this event we weren’t knowledgeable of the fundraising and due to this fact had been unable to work collectively to search out probably the most acceptable strategy to acknowledge Paul.

“Veolia has quite a lot of recognition schemes throughout the UK that reward our colleagues for distinctive service to the group and Paul would be the recipient of Bromley's Worker of the Quarter – an inside monetary reward that acknowledges his exhausting work and dedication.”

The cash raised will now be donated to Most cancers Analysis UK, Mr Spears' favourite charity.

Ms Knight stated the general public's response had been “overwhelming” and “heartwarming”.

“I'm very proud to dwell in a spot with a group like this,” she stated.

“I at all times knew it was a particular place.”

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