Bassetlaw MP, John Mann, is supporting Mansfield District Council Street Sweeper Barry Snowdon in his quest to become Council Worker of the Year.

John, whose constituency includes Warsop, commented: "Every city, town and village needs a super hero and Warsop are lucky to have Barry Snowdon."

"On two occasions he has put himself at huge personal risk to help other people. His actions in preventing the huge explosion which would have been devastating needs special recognition."

"Barry is very brave; he deserves to win the Council Worker of the Year competition."

"Warsop will be very proud of him!"

In July 2008, Barry saw a private highways truck containing high-pressure gas bottles and other highly flammable items on fire only yards away from the BP petrol station on Sherwood Street in Warsop.

Running to the rescue, he grabbed a fire extinguisher from the garage forecourt and successfully fought the flames single-handedly, sustaining burns to his arms in the process.

In March 2007, he also came to the rescue of chiropodist, Maxine Kimberley, whose bag had been stolen, helping to chase the thief and held him down until the police arrived, returning the stolen handbag in the process.

Barry's other high-profile supporters include TV presenter Noel Edmonds who celebrated Barry's bravery on his Sky 1 show Noel's HQ.

500 people in Warsop and Mansfield have signed paper voting forms to support Barry in the Local Government Council Worker of the Year competition.

You can vote for Barry by text message: simply text LGATV 9 BarryS to 80039. All text messages are charged at your standard network rate or you can log on to www.mansfield.gov.uk/backbarry, where as well as a link to the voting site, you can also find out more about Barry and the awards. Voting runs until 2 July.