Burglars are not usually good news, but the owner of a warehouse which was broken into is thanking the intruders for saving him the job of cleaning it up.

CLEAN-UP: Mark Johnson with the smiley faces painted by intruders at his warehouse

Mark Johnson, proprietor of The Fireplace gas showroom, in Piccadilly, is expanding his business into the old Durham Pine showroom nearby.

He was dreading the job of cleaning up the covered car park at the back...but revellers broke in and tidied it up to hold a New Year party inside.

Mark said: "It was going to be a mammoth task because there's a hole in the roof and there were dead birds and pigeon muck all over the place."

Mark had inspected the building before the New Year. When he returned on January 1 he found the car park spotless apart from a few smiley faces and rainbows painted on the walls and a neatly stacked pile of personal belongings near the metal shutters at the front. "I was doing some painting in the showroom and by chance came into the car park and saw a couple of lads in their late twenties," he said.

"Initially I sort of said what's the crack, what's going on, and they said they'd known about the place for a few years and the party had been all arranged.

"They'd changed the lock on the front shutters and they gave me the new key.

"I wasn't angry because a good time was obviously had by all."

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