An Amersham pensioner has hailed a team of dedicated bin men for sifting through piles of rubbish to find his car and house keys after he mistakenly dropped them into a giant recycling bin.

When the 79-year-old, who asked only to be named as Derek, lost his keys in the paper bank at the Rickmansworth Road car park last week, he accepted he may never see them again – fearing the search would be like hunting for a “needle in a haystack”.

The situation was made even more problematic as he had parked quickly and blocked another vehicle in, assuming his trip was only going to take a matter of minutes.

However Derek’s wife enlisted the help of a kind-hearted passer-by, who quickly drove her home to collect the spare set of keys so their car could be moved.

Holding on to a glimmer of hope, the couple returned home and contacted Chiltern District Council's (CDC) waste disposal team – who said they would do their best to find the runaway keys.

Two days later the couple received a phone call to tell them the near impossible had been achieved – and the car keys had been located by Serco’s waste team who sifted through piles of rubbish retrieved from the paper bank.

Derek said they were both “overjoyed and stunned” following the news, and he believes he accidentally dropped the keys into a bag which was then thrown into the recycling bin.

He said: “We spoke to the people responsible and they said they will have a look but can’t make any promises. I thought it was good they were going to have a go.

“When they rang to say they had found the keys I was overjoyed, stunned. I think what had happened was I went to put the keys in my pocket and actually put them in the bag. We were so thrilled, they went beyond the extra mile, they were superheroes.

“We went and collected the keys and left a reward for the teams. Everyone who helped was so wonderful, from the lady who dropped my wife to get the keys, to the council and the waste recycling teams.”

Spokesman for CDC, Connie Primmer, hailed Serco’s waste team for going “above and beyond” to help Derek and his wife.

She said: “Fortunately, the waste crew were happy to help and as soon as we got the call, they made it their mission to find the keys.

“It just goes to show how our fantastic waste crews are willing to go above and beyond to help out and we are very pleased they were able to make someone’s bad day a lot better.”