Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever put your trousers in the washing machine and then remembered there was a large bank note in your back pocket?
When you rescued your trousers, did you find the note was whiter than white? People who live in Britain needn't despair when they made mistakes like this, and a lot of people do, because the Bank of England has a team of people whose job it is to treat mutilated ladies.
Mutilated ladies is the term that Bank of England officials use for notes which have been damaged by fire, water or other means. Last year, they examined sixteen thousand claims and paid out more than one point five million pounds to people whose notes had been damaged.
Damaged notes are not always the result of carelessness. A few years ago, the Bank of England received a telephone call from a farmer in Essex who said that his cow had swallowed a large sum of money.
The Bank sent a special team to the farm and, sure enough, after examining the contents of the cow's stomach, they found the remains of a wallet and the notes. The farmer was reimbursed for the notes that were damaged beyond repair.