Denis delighted to be reunited with his phone

Denis O’Sullivan, a retired company director, recently moved house from Carnmoney to the Antrim Road area. And in preparation for the move he was making regular trips to Bruslee to get rid of unwanted items and clutter he didn’t want to take to his new home.

During one visit, he tipped a box of rubbish into a skip and didn’t notice that his mobile phone, which had been in his shirt pocket, had also fallen in.

Realising on the way home that he must have dropped the phone at Bruslee, Mr O’Sullivan said it was “panic stations” as he made a quick return to the recycling centre, where site operative Simon Erwin didn’t waste any time in beginning the search. He sifted through the contents of the compactor before eventually coming across Mr O’Sullivan’s phone under about one metre of rubbish.

A modest Simon said it was just lucky the compactor hadn’t been switched on or the phone would have been crushed.

“We aim to please. We just do our best,” he told the Times.

Thanking Simon for his efforts, Mr O’Sullivan said: “These guys here (at Bruslee) are very good all the time. They do a great job and they’re always very helpful.

“I was delighted to get the phone back. To be without a mobile phone when you’re moving house is just disastrous. The landline was already gone so we were relying on the mobile.”

He added: “The people of Newtownabbey are very well served by this facility and the guys who operate here are very, very good.”