TWO bin men had a pleasant surprise while out collecting refuse last week near Blackburn Road.

Mark Mcmorrow and Krishan Patel were carrying out their work as usual when they noticed a couple of cards left on top of a bin, with two young girls waving and smiling at them from the window.

One of the hand-drawn cards read "To the bin men, thank you for emptying our bins everyday! Stay safe." The front of one card featured a drawing of a bee and said: "Bee happy bin men."

Mark explained how the cards helped them get through their shift.

Mark said: "We were just doing the bins on that road. The cards were left on top of the bins with some rocks on top of them, and the girls were in the window waving and smiling at us.

"We waved back at them and it brought a tear to my eye. It really cheered us up, makes it worthwhile. To do the job that I am doing, people are really appreciating it now.

"It is really challenging. It’s a lot harder right now, there’s more stuff in the bins and we need to be careful with social distancing, we have to be wary about all of that. But when people wave and smile at us it gives us a boost.

"I’ve brought the cards home with me today as we weren’t in our usual wagon, but tomorrow I’m going to put them in the windscreen.

"They put a big smile on our faces. It gives us a good feeling and a boost inside us.

"It’s a role reversal of what happens normally, nobody usually likes bin men, but now it’s nice to be appreciated.

"We’d like to say thank you to the girls who sent the cards, it gave us the support we need. Bolton Council have gone out of their way to safeguard us too and they've handed out masks and wipes to keep everything clean."