The most unusual find whilst on the job!

[John Preston]

Many moons ago I was wiring the heating systems that British gas were installing throughout Ordstall housing estate in Salford, Manchester. It was the type of place where you needed to be streetwise if you know what I mean.

I was working on the top floor of a 3 storey block of flats one particular time and all the work was in the bathroom. A joiner appeared at the bathroom door and asked if he could use the toilet as he needed a poo... I told him politely to do one and to use the flat next door as there was nobody living there and the front door had been kicked in two... like a stable door.

So off he went to have a poo out of my way. Anyway all of a sudden he came running back in with his trollies round his knees shouting "there's a fookin bomb in there!" Obviously I knew more about bombs than he did so I thought I had best go check.

Well bugger me, attached to the header tank was a plastic explosive with wires, battery and a clock!

Needless to say we legged it and undertook a mass exodus of the building. Police, fire brigade and bomb squad turned up and took it away in large lead box....

Never saw the joiner again for some reason!

Anyone else found anything unusual on the job?

 

[Pete999]

Couple of Thou in old fivers

 

[Rpa07]

I don’t think you’ll be outdone on that one John - best I’ve found is old screwdrivers and dehydrated rats! I’ll keep looking though.

Many moons ago I was wiring the heating systems that British gas were installing throughout Ordstall housing estate in Salford, Manchester. It was the type of place where you needed to be streetwise if you know what I mean.

I was working on the top floor of a 3 storey block of flats one particular time and all the work was in the bathroom. A joiner appeared at the bathroom door and asked if he could use the toilet as he needed a poo... I told him politely to do one and to use the flat next door as there was nobody living there and the front door had been kicked in two... like a stable door.

So off he went to have a poo out of my way. Anyway all of a sudden he came running back in with his trollies round his knees shouting "there's a fookin bomb in there!" Obviously I knew more about bombs than he did so I thought I had best go check.

Well bugger me, attached to the header tank was a plastic explosive with wires, battery and a clock!

Needless to say we legged it and undertook a mass exodus of the building. Police, fire brigade and bomb squad turned up and took it away in large lead box....

Never saw the joiner again for some reason!

Anyone else found anything unusual on the job?

 

[Midwest]

Bottles of booze under the floorboards at a girls boarding school, along with some curious electrical items I knew not what the purpose of?

 

[Pete999]

An Apprentice on one occasion, left the little scrotum under the downstairs floor for a few minutes till he started wailing for his Mum.

 

[John Preston]

Bottles of booze under the floorboards at a girls boarding school, along with some curious electrical items I knew not what the purpose of?

Found quite a few of those small electrical items whilst rewiring a council estate. We used to swap them round from one house to another for a laugh.

 

[John Preston]

An Apprentice on one occasion, left the little scrotum under the downstairs floor for a few minutes till he started wailing for his Mum.

Can't do that anymore!

 

[Pete999]

Can't do that anymore!

No I know, mind you I did feel guilty and sorry afterwards, good job he had a sense of humor, and no malice.

 

[Top Cat]

I was working in a terraced house in the roof space and was surprised to see no dividing wall between terraces.
As I moved along I found a pile of dirty magazines, the guy had knocked a hole in the airing cupboard ceiling and hid them there from his wife. I moved them along a bit, I bet he thought his wife had found them!

 

[Squid]

As an apprentice nearing the end of my time I was working at the V+A museum and had access to various places including the store rooms underground, opened one door and found the boots to Tommy's Rock Opera, they where massive.

 

[Squid]

Got in to the lift one day at work and bumped in to Alice Cooper (really nice chap) a few weeks later it was Belinda Carlisle.

 

[freddo]

Found a glass jar with loads of bat bones and a bat skeleton in it the other day.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

found a old box under floorboards on a job once, was all 2 world war stuff, had old grenades in, slightly rusty, rusty gun parts etc... one of hte family vaguely recalled the grandad or uncle saying there was the emergency stuff in there from the war but nobody ever got it up.
being ex forces i took it in garden and called the plod and army took it away for safe disposal. police were not too impressed i took it out to the garden

 

[Squid]

Ahhhh just remembered did a job or my Uncle on a house in Marylebone and climbed in to the loft to come face to face with a WWII Squadron Leaders personal box.

 

[HRM-ELEC]

Removed a down stairs celling while carrying out a referb job, hacking away.. 50+ dirty mags from the 80s came crashing down.