IMAGINE the shock if Bruce Springsteen and Justin Timberlake were spotted keeping Saddleworth’s streets clean!
Instead, four-wheeled tribute versions to the music legends will be out and about doing just that following Oldham Council’s ‘name the road sweepers’ competition.
More than 100 entries were received and all were clean. Among suggestions were: Clean Elizabeth, Basil Brush, Street Wise, George Brush, Dustin Bieber and Sweep Caroline.
In the end the two names were chosen to adorn the 10.5 tonne Johnston Sweepers which travel across the borough cleaning roads, pavements and ‘Backstreets’ – making sure they aren’t ‘Filthy’.
Marie Rowe came up with a name that was ‘Born in the USA’ – Bruce Springclean while Phil Humphries, suggested Dustin Timberlake.
Councillor Arooj Shah, Oldham Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “We’d like to congratulate Phil and Marie for coming up with the names, which will hopefully make a few people smile.
“We treated the competition as a bit of fun, but there is also a serious side to it.
“We wanted to raise awareness about the work our Environmental Team do – cleaning up our borough because people continue to drop litter, costing taxpayers every year.
“If people did their bit and put their waste in a street bin, or took it home with them, then Oldham would be a lot cleaner and greener, and recycling rates would increase.”
Recently, Oldham Council agreed to invest an extra £600,000 into street cleaning annually.
To find out more about how you can do #yourbit and get involved visit https://www.oldham.gov.uk/cleanstreets