WATCH: Dancing Wolverhampton binmen become TikTok sensation amid coronavirus lockdown
Binmen in Wolverhampton have become an internet sensation by dancing their way across the city during the coronavirus crisis.
The key workers have been raising a smile for residents shut up at home by dancing throughout their rounds across the Penn and Bradmore areas.
And they have soon become a hit online – attracting hundreds of thousands of views across social media through their co-ordinated performance.
WATCH the performance here:
Jack Johnson, who carries out the routines with fellow binmen Henry Wright and Adrian Breakwell, said the reaction had been "absolutely brilliant".
He said: "I go on Tik Tok and I started making a few funny videos due to boredom and our manager, Claire Demmel, saw a video and asked whether I could do one with the binmen.
"I agreed because we wanted to make people happy and put a smile on their faces.
"People ended up filming it and the reaction has been absolutely fantastic – it really warms our hearts to hear people saying we've cheered them up.
"We're all very surprised about how it's gone down, it's all been mindblowing – absolutely brilliant."
The routines – including a dance to The Weeknd's Blinding Lights and Will Smith's Men in Black – sometimes take hours to plan out, due to ideas being thrown around.
The group now plan on doing a performance to James Brown's I Got You (I Feel Good) song – and are hoping people will join in.
The 36-year-old, who has been a binman at the Hickman Avenue depot for 11 years, said: "It's gone really crazy – on Tik Tok especially – and we've got some more lined up
"We were thinking – if we can – of incorporating some people like dancing behind us.
"Obviously following the social distancing guidelines, but it's the main idea we had."
And the team are doing their best to remain upbeat despite the current crisis by taking photographs of pictures and drawings left on bins thanking them.
"In the office, they put up the messages we send in – like photographs of drawings and pictures we see," he said.
"It's really nice and it makes us feel warm inside."
The binmen are now aiming to raise money for Wolverhampton hospice Compton Care after seeing the appeal in the Express & Star, with a £1,000 target being set.
Jack added: "Adrian saw a piece in the Express & Star about Compton Care saying they only had around two weeks of PPE supply left.
"But nothing is really going to them because New Cross Hospital is short as well – and that's fine but we want to help Compton Care out.
"It really means a lot to the people of Wolverhampton."
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