A London street cleaner whose bosses banned him from accepting money raised by the community for a holiday was able to go on his dream trip after a clever ruse was created.
On a typical day, Paul Spiers cheerfully sweeps streets in Beckenham, a leafy London suburb, while listening to Elvis Presley. The 63-year-old’s joyful spirit is so infectious that the community he cares for raised around £3,000 ($4,000) so he could fly off to his dream vacation to Albufeira, a seaside town in Portugal.
Unfortunately, there was some bureaucracy getting in the way of the community's generous gesture - Spiers’ bosses wouldn’t let him take the money due to a council policy, reports the BBC. That’s when a British travel company called On the Beach came up with a clever solution. It launched a one-of-a-kind sweepstakes (pun intended) with some very specific eligibility requirements: the winner must love Elvis Presley, must be aged between 62-64, must be loved by the local community, must be a street cleaner in Beckenham, and must have the surname Spiers.
Soon after, Spiers got the green light from his employers to use the “voucher” to go on his trip and subsequently jetted off to the sandy beaches of southern Portugal, happy in the knowledge that his community has his back. “I didn’t know I was appreciated,” Spiers said. “I thought I was coming here to do my job.”
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