The invention concerns an upright vacuum cleaner comprising a cleaning head portion supporting an upright portion which includes a collector for vacuumed detritus, the cleaning head portion being provided with wheel means which allow the cleaner to be moved and directed over a floor surface by a user holding a handle provided at an upper region of the upright portion, wherein a lower region of the upright portion is structurally attached to the cleaning head by a tubular conduit in which air-entrained detritus can be conveyed from the cleaning head to the collector, and wherein the tubular conduit is provided with a swivelling connection in which a first tubular member associated with the upright portion engages with a second tubular member associated with the cleaning head portion, so that a male end of one of the tubular portions is seated co-axially in a female end of the other, and wherein the tubular portions are retained in engagement by an elongate flexible locking member which is accommodated in an annular circumferential channel formed between the seated male and female portions, the channel being defined at least in part by raised or depressed constraint features.