A SKIP hire firm which uncovered £2,000 in a black bin bag could keep the loot if no one comes forward to police to claim the haul.

Mark Hanson, from Quicker Skips on Clifton Street, Burnley, said employee Kevin Ball thought he had cleared his credit card from Christmas after finding thousands of pounds worth of £20 notes.

Mr Hanson said they have found the odd £10 note in their skips which people have thrown out – but nothing quite like this before.

He said: “Kevin saw one of the notes on the floor near the bag and he decided to investigate and found quite a considerable amount of notes.

“They were not in a great condition with some them moth eaten and cut in half. Also a lot of the notes were wet.

“We thought it might have been from a robbery but the police have told us it was not from proceeds of crime so if it is not claimed after 28 days then we can have them back.

“We don’t know how it has come to us but it could have been somebody clearing out a family member’s house who has died as some elderly people don’t trust banks and keep it under their bed.

“Or it could have been someone doing a project and dug up the bag thinking it was rubbish.

“I don’t know what we can do with the notes or whether we can match the codes up and give them to the bank.

“It is one of the weirdest things we have found and Kevin thought he was going to be able to pay all his Christmases at once with the amount that was there.”

Mr Hanson said any detective work to find the owner would have been like finding a needle in a haystack.

He said: “We process a number of skips in the yard but we don’t know if it was one that has come in after Christmas or if it was before we went off.”

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: We got a call at 8am on January 5 for reports that some cash had been found in a bag.“The haul had an estimated value of £2,000 and it is not clear where it came from.

“The money has been taken away by police to store and try to find out where they came from.”