A German pensioner caused havoc in the sewers of the northern German city of Kiel recently when he flushed nearly Aud$50,000 worth of deutschmarks down his toilet in the mistaken belief that the currency was worthless since the introduction of the Euro.

Sewerage workers were able to recover about half the money from the man’s plumbing system, and most of the remainer was recovered from blocked local sewers.

The man, aged 64, apparently lived a spartan existence, and dried the notes out before taking them to his favourite bank teller to be counted and exchanged for the Euro.

It was not clear if he had laundered the money first.