Street cleaner packs bags to Portugal after getting birthday surprise he thought might never happen

• Tap above to watch video report by Sangeeta Kandola

A street sweeper is packing his bags to Portugal after getting a birthday surprise he thought might never happen. Paul Spiers has been keeping the streets of Beckenham in south east London clean since 2017.

He's so popular locals set up an online fundraiser to raise money to send him on a trip abroad for his birthday.But his bosses said he couldn't accept the gift because of the terms of his contract. Luckily a holiday company stepped in and created a competition only Paul could win."I'm over the moon!" Paul told ITV News London."I'm very grateful. So I'm very grateful."I'm just doing my job - my everyday job but they [residents] seem to appreciate it a lot."

The GoFundMe page which raised more than £3,000 was set up by local resident Lisa Knight."Me and Paul have a special connection because he always listens to Elvis and I'm named Lisa-Marie and it's just followed on from there," Lisa said."I thought it was sad the people of Beckenham never got to use their money towards what they wanted it for," she added.When Paul thought his holiday dream was over he suddenly won a holiday competition to Portugal with On The Beach worth £3,000.His empoyer Veolia said: "We are delighted that Paul can travel to Portugal for a well-deserved holiday thanks to his competition win. To make sure he can go and enjoy his holiday whenever he chooses we are giving him an extra week of paid leave to enjoy."

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