MIKE Parkington is set to make a clean-sweep in Europe.

And his company is looking to take the specialised world of road and pavement sweeping by storm.

Yesterday his Pathfinder Cleaning Machines firm, based at the Moss Industrial Estate in Leigh, handed over two appliances to a firm in Antwerp, Belgium.

Now Bolton man Mike - described by his Business Link adviser David Lord as a 'crazy professor' - believes the European market is about to open up to the revolutionary device.

Mike formed his clean-sweep company in 1995 after selling a whole range of products from kit cars to caravanettes and pick-up trucks.

And after just five months, the first machine was being produced.

Now, a five-strong workforce assemble the Pathfinder range from parts supplied by 40 companies throughout the country. The machines have a £13,000-£22,000 price range.

David Lord, on a medium-term contract with the firm, says he expects the company to soon have to switch to new premises.

He said the Antwerp order was won just before Christmas after Mike took a machine on the back of a trailer to an agent in Holland.

"That's a mark of the enthusiasm of the man for his product," said David.

Already 30 of the sit-on machines are in service in this country including Bolton. Others are destined for the seaside resort of Newquay, the South-east and Royal Mail.

Mike's revolutionary design means the Pathfinder is suitable for work in shopping malls and arcades and block-paved pedestrian areas.

Yesterday, the Mayor of Wigan, Cllr Ken Pye was at the hand-over of the firm's first export order.

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