Veolia has said it will "match" the donations from fundraiser that initially aimed to send a beloved Beckenham road sweeper on a trip to Portugal - and instead give the money to charity.

Despite the original plan for the funds, contractor Veolia - Paul Spiers' employer - informed Paul that he could not accept the gift due to contractual obligations with Bromley Council.

The contract does not permit its staff to accept any “monies or incentives” outside of agreed pay structures, according to a spokesperson at Veolia.

Instead of receiving the donations, Veolia has said it will “match” the amount raised as of Friday, August 9 and will be donated to a “charity of his choice”.

The GoFundMe page, set up by Lisa Knight—local resident and branch manager at John D Wood & Co. on Beckenham High Street—attracted over 200 contributors and raised more than £3,000 for Paul.

Lisa created the page after seeing Paul work through the intense heat of the heatwave.

Paul, who mentioned he hadn’t been on holiday in 60 years and dreamed of returning to Portugal, received this special fundraising effort in celebration of his 63rd birthday.

A spokesperson for Veolia said:" We are truly grateful for the support and recognition shown by the community to Paul, who alongside a hardworking street cleansing team, does a fantastic job keeping Bromley's streets clean.

“We are always happy to hear from members of the public who want to recognise our teams.

“Unfortunately, on this occasion, we were not made aware of the fundraising and were therefore unable to work together to find the most appropriate way to recognise Paul.”

Veolia has said it has a “number of recognition schemes” across the UK that reward its colleagues for exceptional services to the community.

“Paul will be the recipient of Bromley’s Employee of the Quarter - an internal financial reward to recognise his hard work and dedication”, a Veolia spokesperson added.

However, holiday provider On the Beach has since confirmed that Paul, 63, has won himself a holiday in a competition launched by the package holiday company.

On the Beach launched the competition yesterday morning (August 13), and fortunately for Paul, the terms and conditions were “extremely specific”.

A spokesperson for On the Beach said: “The competition stated that, to win, you must love Elvis, be between the ages of 62 and 64, have a surname of Spiers, be a street cleaner in Beckenham and be loved by your local community.”

Paul, out of the millions of people living in the UK, was the only one to fit the terms of the competition, meaning he has secured a £3,000 On the Beach holiday to Portugal.

The competition win now means Paul, who has been cleaning the roads of Beckenham in south east London since 2017 has secured a £3,000 On the Beach holiday voucher.

Paul is encouraged to contact On the Beach directly to claim his holiday voucher, where colleagues will be “more than happy” to help book him his dream holiday.