STREET sweepers' bosses believe they can beat the 'dirty street' tag.

Figures analysed by the GMB trade union said Warrington had the third dirtiest streets in the north west - with 27 per cent dirty at any one time.

But the council recently spent £70,000 on five new street cleaning machines - which can do the work of six people on foot.

They range from the small, nimble Scarabs to the huge, lumbering Johnson 600.

The streets are currently running at a dirty figure of 25 per cent - and the inner areas of town are the problem.

The Environmental Services Department hopes to hit the 18 per cent figure by 2008.