A DARING council duo stopped a town centre bin from igniting after an “arsonist” set light to a rucksack.

Tim Young (Lab), deputy leader of Colchester Council, was on his way to the town hall, in High Street, at 7am on Monday when he spotted a bin with smoke billowing from it.

After rushing to the town hall to find help, he was joined at the scene by a council employee.

The pair tried to extinguish the fire, but were initially unable to do so.

The council worker, who we have agreed not to name, then bravely reached into the smoke and pulled out the backpack.

Inside, the pair found toilet roll and a pair of socks, which had been set alight. There was also a lighter in the bag.

Mr Young, pictured, said: “I was out quite early in the morning and I was walking through High Street at Bills and I saw this bin with smoke coming out of it.

“I didn’t really know what to do.

“As bad as it sounds, I knew in this day and age you have to alert someone when a rucksack is smoking in a bin in the middle of a town which is about to get very busy.

“I didn’t really think it would be worth bothering the fire service or the police, but I had to alert somebody, so I went into the town hall to get a jug of water.

“We threw it into the bin, but it was still smoking.

“Then [the council worker] did something very brave, she actually reached in and pulled out the rucksack and we were able to put the fire out.

“I would never have thought about doing that. I thought it was very brave.”

Mr Young reported the incident to a town centre police officer.

Essex Police were contacted for a comment and for an update on their investigation, but no response was received.