FOUR cleaning musketeers have taken it upon themselves to clean up bus shelters and places tarnished by graffiti around Bradford on Avon.

Spearheaded by Councillor John Potter, the former town mayor, Councillor Mike Roberts and residents Joyce Shaw and Richard Craft brought their buckets, brushes, gloves and some elbow grease to tackle the problem.

Slowly but surely the cleaning volunteers, equipped with a graffiti removal kit and a step ladder, are trying to make the town’s bus shelters as spick and span as possible.

“I knew they were dirty but when we started cleaning you realise how filthy they are – it is quite off-putting,” said Mr Potter.

“The state of them was shocking with the amount of compost and dirt. They stink to high heaven. It took us well over an hour to do between the four of us but we got there in the end.

“Presentation is everything really. It makes a big difference to people wanting to use the bus I think. It looks a whole lot better now. We’re making progress one scrub stroke at a time.”

Next up for the grime fighting quartet is a bus shelter on Wine Street and Mr Potter is hoping county councillor Magnus MacDonald will aid their cause.

“The more people we can get involved the merrier,” he said. “Councillor Macdonald will be helping with the next clean up attempt but he doesn’t know it yet.

“Councillor Laurie Brown has a high pressure hose that will come in handy too. Our technique is improving too so maybe we can improve our time.”