A garbage man has surprised one of his elderly customers with a birthday cake during his weekly round to mark her 100th birthday. Ben Bird, promised Mercy a cake for her birthday if she reached the age of 100. So when the big day arrived and coincided with his weekly collection at her home in Kidderminster, he walked up the garden path with a cake – much to the surprise of Mercy. The pair struck up an unlikely friendship after Ben has been collecting her trash for over eight years. Every week Ben would stop to have a chat with her for ten minutes, then rush off to catch up with his colleagues further down the road. But last Thursday, the day Mercy turned 100, Ben hung around for a bit longer to hand-deliver a birthday cake adorned with candles reading ‘100’ and make good his promise.