Lost wallet returned to owner 30 years on

A WALLET which had been missing for more than 30 years has been returned to its owner – complete with its original contents.

Containing an old £1 note and a handful of coins, the wallet was found down the back of a seat in a carriage undergoing restoration at the North Norfolk Railway.

Train driver Michael Massey turned detective to track down its owner, equipped only with old documents carrying the name “Derek B Gamble” and an out-of-date address in Rugby, Warwickshire.

The 70-year-old retired teacher eventually found someone of the same name living in Northampton and made contact. It turned out he had found the owner’s son who made arrangements to reunite the wallet with his father.

Mr Massey said: “He doesn’t remember losing it, but thinks it must have been when the carriages were on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough.”

Mr Gamble senior, who’s in his 60s and lives in Northamptonshire, said: “I am pleased and not a little surprised to be reunited with my wallet. Its contents bring back memories of what my family and I were doing 30 years ago.”

Mr Massey came across the wallet while organising an exhibition about commuting in the 1950s and 1970s being held at Holt Station, Norfolk.

The wallet was returned to Mr Gamble while he was on holiday in Norfolk.