Rise of the robots....Scrap worker transforms waste into metal models

When it comes to recycling, nobody quite does it quite like Colin Goodall.

The retired lory driver from Outwood has spent his life tinkering and building machines, but after spending time working at the council tip, he decided to make use of the bits of discarded scrap, and began building model robots.

"I've always done it, on and off, but work always got in the way," said the married 68-year-old.

"From when I was 15 or 16, I was always doing up scooters and cars.

"I worked at the tip on Denby Dale Road tip for four years, and some of the scrap that people were throwing away, I just thought 'crikey' that's just disgusting, so I started collecting it.

"I started off making wooden garden furniture out of old pallets and sell them, but everybody was making them.

"I grew up in the 50s and 60s and I've always loved robots, so started making them."

He makes his robots out of old vacuum cleaners, bike wheels, old gas bottles, fire extinguishers and basically "any bit of scrap metal" he can get his hands on.

Once completed, he puts them on display in his garden.

Many passers-by stop to have a look at the discarded waste droids, and if anyone wants to buy one from him, he sells them at a nominal fee charging only the price it cost him to make.

He admitted he would often go hunting around skips for materials, but through word of mouth and his Facebook page, people now often drop scrap off on his doorstep.

He said: "It's a talking point really, most people in Outwood know me for it!

"I just have them in the garden and people always stop to have a look.

"If it was 20 years ago I might have made a career out of it.

"I never advertise them, people on Facebook ask me about them."