It proved to be something of a rubbish day for one bin lorry driver who ended up blocking part of Helston town centre when his vehicle broke down.

The Suez lorry was left stranded in Church Street earlier today, putting the road out of action for some hours.

Eventually a recovery vehicle arrived - and the driver was faced with the problem of how to manoeuvre the bin lorry out the ancient town centre.

With the narrow section at the top of Church Street, near the Cross Sreet junction, making towing it impossible, the only choice was to push it the other way.

Falmouth Packet:

Showing some impressive driving skills, he ended up having to push the lorry in reverse, up the steep hill past the traffic lights and around the corner into Coinagehall Street.

The rescue was not without incident, however, as the bin lorry's steering kept trying to direct it into buildings.

At one point the vehicles slipped and crashed into a bollard outside The Dog House in Church Street, uprooting two paving slabs in the process.

Falmouth Packet:

Helston town warden Craig Bowcutt said: "The damage to the pavement is two large granite slabs were lifted up about 40 degrees. It took out the post completely, leaning it over to about 60 or 70 degrees. It's a solid, cast iron post but it was a lot of weight hitting it."

He confirmed that Cormac had been out to cordon off the area of damaged pavement.