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Phantom Cleaner Keeps Town Tidy
Oddly Enough - Reuters
Phantom Cleaner Keeps Town Tidy
Fri Jul 19,10:49 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - He masks his face with a scarf, wears a black raincoat, and only strikes at night.
But far from being a criminal, Kettering's "phantom street-cleaner" has become a celebrity in the central English town where every night he secretly sweeps up a dirty shopping precinct.
"No one knows who he is. It's a total mystery, even though he's been caught on camera once," Kettering council spokeswoman Sarah Smith-Petersen told Reuters Thursday.
For weeks now, shop owners at Kettering's Brambleside estate had been turning up in the morning to find their street mysteriously spotless even though the local landlord had ended regular cleaning arrangements.
Locals' suspicions of a mystery "Good Samaritan" were confirmed last weekend when a security camera caught a tall man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and scarf over his face while cleaning with a broom and black bags soon after midnight.
With a touch worthy of history's most famous criminals, the man left notes on each rubbish-bin saying "Keep Brambleside tidy -- best wishes, the Phantom." Taking care not to be identified, he also waved at the camera before making his getaway.
"I wanted to see who it was and when I saw the broom I was sure we would be able to identify him, but the scarf and hat made it impossible," said Pauline Tregidga, manager of the One Stop Shop, who sifted through hours of video to find the grainy black-and-white shots of the mystery cleaner.
"He's a good cleaner. It's a real pleasure to see the streets looking so good again. I think I might leave out a bag of soap and some water, so he can do my windows as well!"
Oddly Enough - Reuters
Phantom Cleaner Keeps Town Tidy
Fri Jul 19,10:49 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - He masks his face with a scarf, wears a black raincoat, and only strikes at night.
But far from being a criminal, Kettering's "phantom street-cleaner" has become a celebrity in the central English town where every night he secretly sweeps up a dirty shopping precinct.
"No one knows who he is. It's a total mystery, even though he's been caught on camera once," Kettering council spokeswoman Sarah Smith-Petersen told Reuters Thursday.
For weeks now, shop owners at Kettering's Brambleside estate had been turning up in the morning to find their street mysteriously spotless even though the local landlord had ended regular cleaning arrangements.
Locals' suspicions of a mystery "Good Samaritan" were confirmed last weekend when a security camera caught a tall man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and scarf over his face while cleaning with a broom and black bags soon after midnight.
With a touch worthy of history's most famous criminals, the man left notes on each rubbish-bin saying "Keep Brambleside tidy -- best wishes, the Phantom." Taking care not to be identified, he also waved at the camera before making his getaway.
"I wanted to see who it was and when I saw the broom I was sure we would be able to identify him, but the scarf and hat made it impossible," said Pauline Tregidga, manager of the One Stop Shop, who sifted through hours of video to find the grainy black-and-white shots of the mystery cleaner.
"He's a good cleaner. It's a real pleasure to see the streets looking so good again. I think I might leave out a bag of soap and some water, so he can do my windows as well!"