A BI-LINGUAL binman is littering his language with foreign phrases to help communicate with residents.

Young refuse collector Mark Foster has taken up learning Urdu in an effort to be more effective in his job as he works the streets of Pendle.

He is currently learning the language at night school at Nelson and Colne College, with his bosses at Pendle Council backing his move as part of staff development.

Mark said: "Being on the frontline, I want to provide good customer service, and to be able to communicate with all the people I meet on a day to day basis.

"I am very keen on being able to greet people and thank them in their own language."

Urdu is a popular language of the Indian subcontinent, second only in the number of speakers to Hindi and is the national language of Pakistan.

When written, it flows in the opposite direction to English, from right to left.

Lingual skills are running in the binman's family as his five-year-old son Jordan is already showing a flair for the second language.

The youngster has been asking questions about Urdu and Mark has been passing on his new knowledge.

He added: "Jordan is picking it up at an impressive speed -- he's better at it than I am!"

Mark is already a well-known, friendly face in Pendle as he starred on billboards for the Recycle for Pendle campaign.

Coun Leader Coun Alan Davies said: "Mark is enthusiastic in helping the council in its bid to be friendly and approachable and to communicate with all our residents.

"Congratulations go to Mark and all other staff that are helping towards the council's aim to make all services accessible to everybody in Pendle."