Staff at a household waste recycling centre in Harrogate sprang to the rescue when a customer lost a valuable item of jewellery in a drain.
Two members of the team at Harrogate West HWRC spent several hours sifting through the sludge in the drain before successfully retrieving Charles Smithson’s signet ring.
78-year-old Mr Smithson, of Springfield Farm, Killlinghall said:
I was so very grateful to them.
The ring belonged to my father, and has very great sentimental value to me.
I thought I’d seen the last of it.
Mr Smithson accidentally dropped his ring in the drain when he took a load of household waste for recycling. North Yorkshire County Council employees Chris Bullock and Joanne Kearney spent most of the following afternoon emptying the drain and seaching the sludge.
Mr Bullock said:
It was a long job, and we were down to the last scoop of water.
I thought we’d lost all hope of finding it, but suddenly there it was.
County Councillor Chris Metcalfe, Executive Member for Waste Management, commented:
Our staff are always on hand to help, and will always do their best to assist members of the public. In this case, that meant rolling up their sleeves and getting a bit mucky – but fortunately there was a happy ending.
