Man reunited with wedding ring after Lichfield railway drop
A man has spoke of his relief after being reunited with his wedding ring after losing it on the railway, a week before his first wedding anniversary.Ben Harris was walking through Lichfield over the late May bank holiday with his wife, Daisy, their 11-month old son George, and friends.After getting covered in greenfly from nearby bushes, Mr Harris said he was taking off his jumper as he walked over the Sturgeons Hill footbridge near Lichfield City station when the wedding ring came loose.He said he watched in horror as it dropped "in slow motion" on to the railway below.
The ring disappeared into the vegetation at the side of the tracks and Mr Harris was convinced the ring, given to him by his wife Daisy on their wedding day just under a year ago, was lost forever.A Network Rail team came to the rescue and after searching through the undergrowth they found the ring and returned it to Mr Harris less than 24 hours later.It was spotted Mark Samson, who was himself just days away from celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary.
Mr Harris said: "I could not believe what happened, it was as if the ring was dropping in slow motion into the nettles below. "I thought it was lost forever and I was absolutely gutted - especially as it was so close to our first wedding anniversary."My wife would have killed me if it had been lost forever so Mark has saved my life! I definitely owe him a beer or two."
Mr Samson, a Walsall-based mobile operations manager with Network Rail's Central route, said it was "like looking for a needle in a haystack" and did not expect it to be found. He added that Mr Harris had done the right thing in not trying to recover it himself, but reporting it to Network Rail.It is the second lost wedding ring that has been found on the railway in the West Midlands area after Eileen Lawrence lost hers at Bloxwich North station in 2018 as she moisturised her hands while waiting for a train. It was found by an eagle-eyed track worker after a search of the tracks the following day.
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