COUNCIL workers have renewed their appeal for residents to watch what goes in their bins after an incident in which a refuse lorry caught fire.

Quick-thinking refuse collectors spotted flames coming from the back of the lorry, and dumped the contents into a field outside Nunnington, near Helmsley.

Ryedale District Council commercial services manager Phil Long said a major incident had been prevented.

"Thanks to the bravery of the driver a serious situation was averted," he said.

Firefighters extinguished the burning rubbish before it was loaded on to a lorry and taken away a week ago.

Mr Long said it was likely the fire had started because hot ashes had been dumped in the wheelie bin. "Common sense is the watch word, you need to ensure ashes are cold before they go in the bin," he said.

Mr Long said in the past refuse collectors had found live gun cartridges and a distress flare among rubbish left out for them.

"The problem is that when a vehicle collects from so many properties, we can't trace it back to a particular household."

Mr Long said that if anyone was in doubt about what should go into their bin, they should ring the council depot on 01653 694023.

Updated: 09:23 Friday, January 24, 2003