Staff at a recycling centre helped out a man who lost his wedding ring.
Wedding rings
James Ross was dropping off some cardboard to be recycled at the centre in North Shields when the ring fell off his finger and vanished into a container.
He frantically alerted a nearby employee who was able to shut down the machinery as staff searched for the ring.
Ross said: "It was a container where you push the rubbish through an opening. It was very cold. My hands were cold and, as I was shaking out the box, suddenly the ring was just gone. I don't know if it caught the edge of the box, but my heart just sank."
Staff member Jordan Cooper was delighted to reunite Ross with the ring after a desperate search.
He explained: "It was like looking for a needle in a haystack as there was a huge mound of waste to search through and we had the added difficulty of ensuring we kept our distance and followed the COVID guidelines. We were just about to give up when I spotted it, I was over the moon."