The tale begins in February when BMRA member, NelsonStanley, based in Poole received the scrap metal from a shop clearance.

A local town centre branch had recently closed, and they needed to hand back the shop by the middle of the month. A clearance company sold Nelson Stanley all the metal like the racking and signs. Among the items was a large safe. 

Peter, a director at Nelson Stanley who oversees the ferrous yard, did ask the clearance company to ensure that the safe had been emptied and the shop fitters said that everything of value has been removed before the shop was handed to them.

Fast forward a month or so and Peter began processing the scrap in the yard. Buried in the middle of the heap was the safe, standing 5ft high and 3ft wide, battered and damaged but still not open. Peter double checked the safe and wanted to open it prior to processing, making it easier to shear and bale, and making sure any nasties, which unfortunately get thrown in with the scrap by members of public, didn’t cause problems. After ripping it open with the crane, paper started to pour out of the safe. 

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he climbed down to take a look. It was full of National Lottery scratchcards, other charity scratch cards, theatre tokens and quite a few wallets containing people’s identification and bank cards. 

After it was all gathered up, it was estimated at least £10,000 pounds of scratch cards plus other bits and pieces were in the safe, not counting the  things destroyed and damaged when the safe was opened.

Nelson Stanley got in touch with the retailer who put them in contact with the Group Data Protection Manager who arranged for all of the items to be collected. The manager was very relieved that a breach of their GDPR had been contained. 

Jane of Nelson Stanley said: “One hates to think what an unscrupulous person could have done with all the identity documents, and whilst we would have loved to have sat and scratched all the scratch cards, how sick would you feel to find all those prizes and realise none of them could be claimed?” 

Thanks to Nelson Stanley for sharing this story. What is your most unusual find? Let Kate know via email, [email protected].