Heroic binmen find girl's iPad in 150 tonnes of rubbish after little brother chucked it in the bin

Little brothers are the worst: something Zoey Kerr learned the hard way when her sibling chucked her iPad in the bin for annoying him.

But thankfully the seven-year-old has been reunited with the treasured gadget after binmen sifted through 150 tonnes of rubbish to find it for her.

Four-year-old Riley confessed he had put her tablet in the bin as the family prepared to move house.

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Her mother Gillian contacted the council to report the loss but didn’t hold out much hope of the family ever seeing the iPad again.

However, a team at the Viridor waste site in Dunbar, East Lothian, found the device in a shed housing 150 tonnes of rubbish.

Mrs Kerr, 28, explained, “I said to her brother Riley ‘Do you know where your sister’s iPad is?’ And in a very matter-of-fact manner, he told me ‘Yes, in the bin’. When I asked why, he just said: ‘Because she annoyed me’.

“When I reported it to the council and at the Eyemouth recycling centre, I really didn’t think we’d see it again.

“But the Viridor team took the time to find out where we lived to narrow down where it might be and then to search through the rubbish to find it. It has meant so much to our seven-year-old.”

Nine-year-old Jamie had been sharing his iPad with her sister after hers was lost last month.

Barry Falgate, Viridor Dunbar unit manager, said, “Six men worked through their break to find the iPad and they were thrilled to be successful.”

Zoey, who turned seven on March 13, wrote a thank you letter and sent Riley’s £20 Christmas money along with a box of chocolates to the team who found the iPad.

The Viridor workers sent the £20 back but enjoyed the chocolates.

In a letter to Zoey, Chris Loughlin, chief executive of Pennon, the company which owns Viridor, wrote: “When we heard what happened to your iPad we all wanted to find it for you. So, we were very happy when we found it. I’m very pleased it has now made it back home to you where it belongs.

“I have included a voucher for you for iTunes as a thank you for your kind letter. I hope you can use this to download some of your favourite songs on to your iPad.”