Greville Baghurst has set up a neighbourhood watch with a difference - to keep an eye on his dustbins.

He has run out of patience after six of his waste bins disappeared in about a year.

He has just bought himself two bins to replace others that have recently disappeared.

Mr Baghurst, 34, a business analyst, is now going to extraordinary lengths to make sure they stay put.

He has enlisted the help of residents in his street, Henry Burt Way in Burgess Hill, to report anyone acting suspiciously and is keeping watch with his binoculars.

He said: "To lose one bin is a misfortune but to lose six is more than carelessness."

He and his wife Carolyn are now including replacement dustbins, costing £9.99, in the household budget.

The first bin went missing in November 1999. It was a windy night so he thought it had blown away.

A few weeks later exactly the same thing happened on a clear, still night.

When another bin went missing he thought something was up and started putting the bins in his garage.

Each time the bins would remain for a few weeks and then disappear shortly after they had been emptied.

Searches down the road and checking with neighbours to see if the dustmen had returned the wrong bins to the wrong house proved negative.

Greville said: "Nothing else has gone missing from my house, it is only the bins just after they have been emptied.

"It has become quite a joke round here. Neighbours say, 'Oh, you are not looking for your dustbin again?'

"It is a complete mystery. I have not noticed any gardens stacked with bins or my bins outside any other houses in the neighbourhood."