Staff at Wigan firm retrieve £1k from skip

Employees working at Ainscough Recycling, on Miry Lane, helped return the money to an elderly client - who had accidentally thrown it out in a bag.

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Dedicated staff rifled through the contents of the entire skip after they received reports that the woman - living at a borough address they have chosen not to disclose - had lost £20.

It was then that they found a whole bundle of notes mixed up within the rubbish.

Company spokeswoman Naomi Myers said: “There was more than £1,200 in total and she didn’t realise she had lost it.

“The driver went to collect the skip and she asked him not to take it yet.

“He told her it would be easier to empty the skip than try to rummage through it.

“We all went out and made sure we were standing outside in case anything got missed.

“When the bundle of notes was found, no-one could believe someone would be able to lose that amount of money.

“It is one of the weirdest things we have found.”

Unfortunately staff were unable to hand the money back personally due to the woman’s vulnerability but the company immediately alerted the council, who organised collection by a social worker.

“It just shows how honest the staff are,” said Naomi.

“Anyone could have just put anything in their pockets but they had absolutely everything out of those bags and she got every penny back.”

This is not the first time the skip collectors have discovered unusual items in their haul.

Employees have reported that the most unusual item ever found in one of their giant containers was a loaded gun dating from the Second World War.

The lethal firearm was found during a routine skip collection and was estimated to cost around £7,000.

Staff contacted police who came to make the weapon safe, which had contained a full barrel of bullets.

The gun was then taken away to be destroyed.