'Elvis' celebrates 40 years cleaning the streets

Martin Beck, a fan of Elvis Presley, said he had no plans to hang up his blue suede shoes any time soon

A council street cleaner dubbed "Elvis" by his colleagues is celebrating more than 40 years in the job and says he has no plans to retire any time soon.

Martin Beck joined what was previously known as Humberside Council in 1978, aged 18, and was assigned the job of emptying the bins around Cleethorpes.

Following the creation of North East Lincolnshire Council in 1996, he transferred to the street cleansing team in Grimsby.

“I’ll keep going here until I’m at least 90 if I can, nothing will change my mind on that," he said.

'Happiest I have ever been'

Mr Beck, who is now in his 60s and a self-professed Elvis Presley fan, described his role as "by far the best job in the world".

"I’m the happiest I have ever been," he said.

"I was at a bedding shop for about a week and a pop factory in Grimsby for a month too, but I became bored of them all.

“I went on to get a six-month trial with the council and have been here ever since."

"Everyone here is great and we all get on with one another."

He said as well as the job keeping him fit, he also enjoyed the interaction.

“Some people come up to me just to say how good a job I’m doing and that I’m keeping the town clean," he said.

He added he had no plans "to stop anytime soon".

“If I could do this for 24 hours a day every day I would. I just love the job and everything it involves," he added.

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