Window cleaner Anton McLaghlin has scaled the heights of York for the last 17 years. ALEX LLOYD talks to him about his latest, and most unusual, job - making Flying Scotsman sparkle.

WINDOW cleaning is not a job for the faint-hearted.

The combination of dizzying heights with ladders and soapy water sounds like the perfect recipe for disaster to most mere mortals.

But for York man Anton McLaughlin, it's all in a day's work as owner of AC Cleaners, the window-cleaning firm he set up with his brother 17 years ago.

Beginning with just a small domestic round, he eventually bought out his brother and these days his six-strong team deal with contracts everywhere, from Brighton to Glasgow.

"You have got to be pretty good with heights," he confirms.

"A lot of firms lose out on contracts because they do not take out insurance to work on the taller buildings, which is very high. You may as well be a part-time skydiver."

As you would imagine, Anton, who lives in Stockton Lane, has seen a few unusual - and sometimes uncomfortable - sights during his career, which has included cleaning stained glass at York Minster and hotels such as the Dean Court Hotel and The Churchill.

"I have encountered some embarrassing situations, which I wouldn't like to divulge," he confessed.

"It is more embarrassing for the window cleaner, to be honest, because you can't go anywhere. At least the people you interrupt can leave the room."

One of his most unconventional jobs has been to clean the windows of Flying Scotsman since its arrival at the National Railway Museum (NRM), in York.

"It is a dusty, smoky sort of train, so it needs a great deal of cleaning," he said.

"It takes two days minimum. There are 11 carriages to do - it's bigger than you would imagine. You are also quite high off the ground.

"I definitely think it is the most unusual contract we have had."

The cleaning contract sees a team of three men work with a variety of pressure washers and a hard surface cleaner to keep the legendary locomotive in pristine condition.

The NRM saved Flying Scotsman for the nation earlier this year, and it has been running twice-daily trips between York and Scarborough on Tuesdays to Thursdays for the last few weeks.

The team has been cleaning it on a weekly basis between each run, but Anton, 40, has yet to take a trip on the world-famous steam train.

"I have not been on Flying Scotsman yet," he said.

"But I was really impressed with it so I am going to go when it is next running in a couple of weeks' time."

Updated: 10:31 Saturday, August 28, 2004