Small Beer

Reward for honesty is small beer

A Gateshead supermarket worker has been rewarded with a crate of beer - after paying back an extra £800,000 he received in his wages.

Stephen Foster, who works for the Co-op at Birtley, discovered the error when his girlfriend looked at his monthly payslip, reports the Daily Telegraph.

She saw he had been paid an extra £1.4m, meaning that an extra £800,000 - after deductions - had been paid into his bank account.

However, Mr Foster decided not to spend the money and instead contacted his employers to arrange repayment.

The Co-operative have now rewarded his honesty with a crate of Budweiser beer.

A friend of Mr Foster said: "I had a chat with Stephen, who showed me the payslip. You could see the deductions for tax on it.

"But he didn't touch a penny and made sure he gave it straight back."

A Co-operative spokesman said: "Due to a error in our wages department earlier this month, Stephen Foster, an employee at our Birtley regional distribution centre, received a monthly salary payment of £1.4 million.

"This was somewhat higher than he would normally expect, but thanks to his honesty and that of his girlfriend, the money was back with us within 12 hours of it being paid to him.

"We were surprised and concerned about our mistake but not by Stephen's exemplary behaviour, which is typical of him."