Millions in valuables lost down nation’s plugholes

MILLIONS of pounds of jewell­ery, cash and mobile phones are lost down plugholes and toilets each year, a survey has found.

The AA’s Home Emergency Response service has revealed that more than a third (34 per cent) of the 1,234 people surveyed admitted they’ve lost something down the plughole or loo, including mobile phones, jewellery, cash and keys.

Jewellery is the item most likely to have been stuck in the u-bend.

Fifteen per cent of respondents said they’d lost a treasured piece, worth a pricey £175 on average.

Mobile phones and toothbrushes are second most likely to have met a watery grave, with almost one in ten saying either of these belongings had gone astray.

As well as being inconvenient, losing keys can be costly, as the one in 20 respondents who’d lost them spent an average of £58.25 replacing them.

Other items lost to the drain included make-up, children’s toys, household tools, socks and underwear.

Tom Stringer, head of the AA’s Home Emergency Response service, said: “It’s surprising what will fit down a plughole!

“Luckily, about three-quarters of those who’d lost something down a drain had managed to get it back.”

Women were the unluckier gender, with four out of ten saying they’d lost an item compared to 28 per cent of men.