A woman accidentally bundled her mother’s life savings into a Foleshill clothes recycling bin – and had to call out the fire brigade to get it back.
Crew commander Ian Jones
She had gathered up a bag of clothes to help her mum clear her house – but it was only after dumping the bag in a bin, in Broad Street, Foleshill, that she realised her terrible mistake.
Among the belongings was a wad of cash – her mum’s entire life savings.
The panicked family contacted the emergency services and crews from Coventry Fire Station, in Radford Road, went out to help at 8.15am on Sunday.
They used cutting equipment to remove part of the metal clothes bin.
After the family dug through the bin they discovered the bag of clothes, and after a few minutes the mother was reunited with her cash – understood to be thousands of pounds.
Crew commander Ian Jones said: “It was definitely an unusual call out.
"We had to cut off the flap where you put the clothes in and we lifted it off.
“It took a little while but we eventually found her things in one of these bags.
"She was most pleased when her life savings were discovered – that’s probably an understatement.
“I think the mother was moving out of the area so they were having a really big clear out.
“The daughter thought she was being helpful by putting these bits and bobs in recycling bags for her, then she discovered what had happened.”
It could have been worse, it could have been the winning lottery ticket?
