A young boy obsessed with litter bought a real-life bin lorry on eBay with his mother's credit card for £3,500.

William Bateman, aged five, put in a winning bid for the rusting white truck after his mum left her account open on the computer.

The youngster, who suffers from mild autism, is fascinated by rubbish and dreams of becoming a recycling plant manager.

He has a large collection of toy wheelie bins, high-vis jackets, miniature lorries and packaging.

A real-life rubbish truck would have been the ultimate addition to his store.

But on returning to the computer Fleur managed to persuade eBay to scrap the purchase.

Fleur, from Great Paxton in Cambridgeshire, said: 'He's just completely obsessed with rubbish and bin lorries - and he even managed to buy one for himself.





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'He just went onto my computer and entered the bid as I was already logged into my account.

'I had to beg them to retract my bid when I was congratulated on my win on the site.

'I can laugh about it now but at the time I was so shocked and angry, I couldn't believe he'd done it.'

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William, now eight, is so dedicated to his future career he eagerly watches the bin men in action every week.

The cheeky schoolboy even takes it upon himself to educate his parents' friends about recycling and tells them off if they are not doing it right.

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