An Italian lottery player accidentally threw away a winning ticket worth €1m (£857,158) after a shop's terminal displayed a "non-payable" message, which is shown when a prize is too large for the retailer to pay out directly. He only realised his mistake when a relative pointed out that his usual numbers had come up, prompting a two-day search through waste collected by a bin lorry in Bitonto, southern Italy.

Refuse company director Roberto Nicola Toscano told Italian media the recovery was "nothing short of miraculous", noting the lorry was tracked down before its load could be compacted or sent to landfill, as the collection had taken place on a Sunday. Workers eventually found the intact ticket in a torn bag among other damaged slips on the Tuesday morning. The winner, who had signed a declaration agreeing to cover the search costs, will foot the bill for the operation; Toscano and his colleagues also later won €50 (£43) on a scratch card bought as a joke.