Ah Bisto! Workers rake through rubbish to find £20,000 savings hidden in old gravy tins and accidentally thrown away

Two recycling centre workers spent more than two hours digging through rubbish after a woman realised she had thrown away her mother’s life savings of £20,000 - kept in Bisto tins - by accident.

Kenny McAdam and Tony Scanlon were on shift at the Dalmoak Recycling Centre in Renton in West Dunbartonshire when they were approached by a member of the public.

She had been at the centre a few hours before to dump kitchen rubbish before later realising the mistake – with the money hidden in five old gravy tins.

To save the woman and her family from panicking further, the pair got to work right away and took two hours to find one tub, with the other four being found 20 minutes later.

Mr Scanlon said: “We didn’t know the amount of cash or anything like that.

"If it was £20 you’d probably say I’m not going through all that but obviously she got such a fright that she was down here upset so we knew we needed to.

“We didn’t find it easy.

"It was just a case of going through all the rubbish and finding the bags.

“You’re just delighted for them to get their money back."

Mr McAdam said they were fortunate to find the cash as one of the site’s compactors was due for a service – meaning less rubbish was being crushed than usual on what had been a busy day...

"It was that busy - one compactor couldn't cope with it.

"It could have ended up in landfill but at the end of the day we got it.

"Plus at the same time we're going through all this the rubbish is building up with other members of the public coming in.

He said: “It was a great feeling to think a woman of 85… that could have wiped her family out thinking about dumping that by mistake and throwing her life savings away.

“It was a happy ending to the day for us."

It is not the first time the pair have had to dig around for lost property, with jewellery and car keys among the items thrown away with rubbish, though none of the other finds had got them as much attention.

"It's a strange one to get my 15 minutes of fame at 44 at last," Mr Scanlon said.