Increasing numbers of divers are heading for Greece following relaxation of the country's diving regulations - and one group of Britons will have done relations no harm by staging a harbour clean-up for their hosts in Crete.

Bert Busby with daughter Jean (right) and grand-daughter Helen (left)

The divers, members of London's Hampstead and Harrow Sub-Aqua Clubs, arrived at the southern Cretan town of Agios Nikolaos and promptly offered to get stuck into all the rubbish that lay at the bottom of the otherwise picturesque harbour.

In just two hours, working at a depth of between 3m and 5m, 18 divers managed to fill 17 large sacks with discarded food bags, bottles, tins and other items.

The mess had been caused by "mostly holidaymakers", reckoned team-member Bert Busby, whose daughter Jean and grand-daughter Helen made it a three-generational effort by joining the clean-up.

A couple of tables and four chairs also found their way back to shoreside restaurants from which they had 'walked'.