Street cleaning teams on match day Cardiff city centre
From left to right John Sheppard, Paul Anderson, Kirk Pates, one of the street cleaning teams

Rugby fans dump 8.5 tonnes of rubbish on Cardiff streets after one Six Nations match

Council workers spent five hours cleaning up Chippy Lane and The Cardiffian went out with them to see what it was like

AT 5am the day after the Wales v England match Cardiff city centre was full of stragglers stumbling home from pubs and clubs, discarded kebabs and chip shop rubbish.

My guide on this night-time tour was cleaning supervisor Samantha Thomas who was leading a council team ridding the streets of more than 8.5 tonnes of rubbish left behind by rugby fans.

I watched the crews as they turned Caroline Street, otherwise known as Chippy Lane or Chippy Alley, from a dumping ground to a respectable snicket full of restaurants and bars.

Ms Thomas, who has been a weekend team supervisor for four years, said rugby days usually leave more rubbish than other big events such as concerts.

“The teams are really good and they know they have to work hard on days like today. We find the Wales v England match leaves the biggest amount of mess,” she said.

“They go in and clean the streets every single day, which is a thankless task most days.”

This video tells the story of one busy, busy shift.