TUCKED up in bed, with no school to worry about, Crispin Terry was expecting a little peace and quiet - especially at 6am.

But the silence of his school holiday slumber was shattered by the clattering of bins and the roar of a wagon's engine.

Annoyed by this premature dawn to a new day, ten-year-old Crispin fired off a letter of complaint to the council.

Far from dismissing his concerns out of hand, bosses at the authority wrote back to offer the youngster an "if you can't beat them, join them" offer.

And yesterday, having been kitted out in a luminous jacket and steel toe-capped boots, Crispin hit the streets of North Yorkshire to do a little refuse collecting himself.

Rising at the crack of dawn - and with the necessary bacon sandwich eaten - he joined the Hambleton District Council workers collecting the rubbish in his home town of Osmotherley, on the North York Moors.

Crispin's mother, Bobby Terry, said: "He was not happy at being woken up on his school holidays by the noise of the bin men and wrote to ask if they could please be a bit quieter next time.

"I must admit I did not even expect a reply, but they wrote back and said they were very sorry and if he would like to know how everything works, they would be delighted to show him."

Crispin's working day began at 5.45am, when he helped collect the garbage in Northallerton and Osmotherley.

He was then given a further insight into environmental services work, hopping on a street cleaner in Northallerton and taking a trip to the council tip, in Ripon.

Mrs Terry said: "He is now writing them a thank-you letter. He is full of beans and was delighted with the whole day."