Street cleaner stopped from accepting £3K fundraiser cash

A south-east London street cleaner has been stopped from accepting £3,000 raised by members of the public to send him on holiday.

Bromley Council contractor Veolia said Paul Spiers, 63, who works in Beckenham, could not accept the cash raised through a GoFundMe campaign because its agreement with the council forbade it.

However, a travel agent intervened by selecting Mr Spiers as its holiday competition winner for a free trip to Portugal.

A Veolia spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was aware of the competition and had no objection to Mr Spiers accepting the prize.

The fundraising page was created by Lisa Knight, a Beckenham estate agent manager.

Ms Knight said she and Mr Spiers became friends through their mutual love of Elvis Presley, which he often played from a speaker on his dustcart.

She explained she got the idea for the fundraiser after Mr Spiers “let slip that he wanted to save up to go to Portugal [for his birthday] because he had only been once, which his brother paid for, on his 60th birthday”.

“That’s the only time he’s ever been abroad,” she added.

But after the gesture was blocked by Mr Spiers’ employer, Veolia, a travel agent launched a competition to win a £3,000 holiday to Portugal, with very narrow criteria for entrants.

Posting on X on Tuesday, the company said the terms and conditions of its competition stated applicants must “love Elvis Presley, be aged between 62 and 64, be loved by the local community, be a street cleaner in Beckenham and have the surname Spiers”.

A Veolia spokesperson said: “We are always happy to hear from members of the public who want to recognise our teams.

“Unfortunately on this occasion, we were not made aware of the fundraising and were therefore unable to work together to find the most appropriate way to recognise Paul.

“Veolia has a number of recognition schemes across the UK that reward our colleagues for exceptional services to the community and Paul will be the recipient of Bromley’s Employee of the Quarter – an internal financial reward to recognise his hard work and dedication.”

Money from the fundraiser will now be donated to Cancer Research UK, Mr Spiers’ charity of choice.

Ms Knight said the response from the public had “been overwhelming” and “mind-blowing”.

“I’m so proud to live in a place that has a community like this,” she said.

“I’ve always known it was a special place.”