A Department of Sanitation employee who worked alongside Naomi on Monday told People magazine: "I was helping her out with something. She’s a very nice lady. She’s normal. She was just cleaning up the place like everybody else. She talked to us."

Naomi could scrub dirty toilets - Mar 20 2007
Supermodel Naomi Campbell may have to scrub dirty toilets as part of her punishment for hitting her maid on the head with a mobile phone, it was revealed as she started her community service.

The catwalk star turned up for the five-day stint at New York’s sanitation department wearing sexy Christian Louboutin stiletto ankle boots but carried combat boots that she changed into for work.

Inside the huge garage building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the style-conscious beauty was given a new look: a fluorescent orange and yellow tabard, heavy-duty work gloves and a turquoise dust mask.

She was also handed a mop, broom, shovel and rubbish bin on wheels ready for her new role.

Naomi’s boss for the week vowed she would be treated no differently from the rest of her four-person team.

"If they’re dirty, she will be cleaning toilets," sanitation department deputy chief Al Durrell told reporters.

And the penalty will be tough if Campbell cannot stomach the menial work she is given.

"If anyone refuses to perform a task they are basically sent back to court and they deal with the judge," Mr Durrell said.

The south London-born 36-year-old’s tasks will include sweeping the garage floor and the department’s offices, mopping locker rooms and cleaning windows.

"We do have plenty of work for her to do over the next five days," Mr Durrell explained.

Naomi gets some street style - Mar 19 2007
Naomi Campbell is ditching her trademark style as she starts her community service - and worse, she clocks on at 8am.

The supermodel is swapping her Manolos for a mop as she begins five days at New York’s sanitation department as punishment for hitting her maid on the head with a mobile phone.

The catwalk star has been allowed to do her cleaning duties behind closed doors to avoid the media scrum that surrounded Boy George when he swept the city’s streets in the summer.

But she will still have to walk in from the road in full view of the cameras.

Once inside, Naomi, who was sentenced for hurling a mobile phone said to have been a jewel-encrusted BlackBerry which bashed housekeeper Anna Scolavino on the head, will be issued with an orange reflector vest and a pair of work gloves.

She is free to choose the rest of her outfit but sanitation department deputy chief Albert Durrell has advised the 36-year-old that jeans and trainers would be best.

Glamorous footwear by the likes of Manolo Blahnik was not a good idea, he added, and she should also wear a baseball cap or bandanna to protect her hair.

The Streatham-born beauty, who will also have to surrender her BlackBerry and mobile while she is working, has reportedly pledged to auction off her cleaning clothes to raise money for Nelson Mandela’s charity.

Naomi pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanour charge of reckless assault.

Naomi to auction off cleaning clothes - Mar 14 2007
Naomi Campbell reportedly plans to auction off the boots and jeans she wears as she mops floors in New York to raise money for Nelson Mandela’s charity.

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