Two recycling centre workers had a slightly different day at work recently, when they were asked to search through refuse bins at the recycling centre in Renton, West Dunbartonshire.
They had been approached by a member of the public who had dropped off some rubbish a couple of hours previous, who was horror-stricken after subsequently finding out that her mother’s life savings had been inside five of the old Bisto gravy tins that she had thrown away.
The two workers proceeded to spend the next two hours searching through the refuse bins to locate the gravy tins, which contained £20,000 in cash.
In a fortuitous stroke of luck, the bin that the cash was found in had actually been due to be crushed by the compactor not long before the tins had been located – but thanks to one of the compactors being serviced, there was a delay to the usual routine.
Whilst this pensioner had been incredibly lucky, we hear of so many instances where cash or other items of value have been inadvertently discarded. This is most common following the death of a family member and it is the relatives who are sorting through their personal and household belongings. A frequent scenario is for cash to be found inside stacks of old magazines and newspapers, but only after the majority of the piles have already been discarded. We also hear of homeowners moving into properties, to find out that that the previous occupant had been stashing cash in the toilet cistern or under the floorboards.
Whilst we would obviously advise against such methods of savings, we do appreciate that some people do not wish to deposit their cash with banks or building societies. However, it is incredibly important that you let someone you trust know the whereabouts of such stashes – otherwise you quite literally might as well just throw the money away!