CHARITIES are to benefit from a wash and brush-up with a difference.

A tanker cleaning firm on Teesside aims to raise £5,000 for Comic Relief this month.

Workers at the South Bank yard of Tanktainer Thurroclean already scrub out the insides of approximately 50 tankers a day, an average of 277 a week.

With their eyes set on donating £1 per tanker to Comic Relief, the Teesside workers aim to create a record for the number cleaned by taking on at least five times as much work each week.

The firm is appealing to tanker operators across the area to help by sending them their fleets to clean.