A Slough bin man has warned someone could have been killed after he was nearly hit by a flying gas cannister left in a bin.

Shocking video footage shows the moment when Tom Conway narrowly avoided disaster after the cannister flew out of the back of the lorry having been left in a bin on Marcia Road in Cippenham last Tuesday, May 14.

He told the Observer: “Me and my colleague Ray were out collecting missed bins. When we got there we saw nothing out of the ordinary – we put the bins in, put them back and then the cannister came flying out.

“It came out at speed and Ray shouted for me to duck. If it weren’t for Ray it more than likely would have hit me.”

Mr Conway – who has been a bin man for 13 years and is now a supervisor – says he was out collecting bins with one other crew member. He says if it had been a full crew ‘the story could be different if that got them in the face or the back of the neck. Someone could be dead'.

He explained that difficulties getting down streets due to parked cars ‘is the main cause of missed bins around Slough'.

Councillor Gurcharan Singh Manku – responsible for bins – called on residents not to put gas cannisters out with their rubbish.

He said: “Gas cannisters of any sort should never be placed in a domestic bin and can be disposed of for free at our recycling centre.

“The crew was lucky as it was only their quick reflexes that saved them from potentially serious injuries.”