The Bank of England is one of the worlds most historical financial institutions. It is said, in it’s nearly 330 year’s sat at the heart of London city it has never once been robbed. Along with its everyday activities its also used for storage, with eight vaults beneath the building containing the UK's entire reserve of gold bullion bars. But did you know that the vault was once breached by a single person.
In 1836 a lonely sewer worker was doing his rounds beneath the city streets making general repairs. He came across a passage that was wide enough for a person to climb through. Upon entering the passage way he made his way done a narrow tunnel. He came up through a old drain and was shocked to discover he was in a room surrounded by bars of gold.
He quickly left his discovery and kept it quiet from everyone and began sending a series of anonymous letters to the directors of the bank claiming he had access to the vault. The bank directors ignored the letters thinking it was some crackpot, much to the annoyance of the sewer worker. He sent a final letter stating he would meet the directors in the vault at a time of their choosing. After this, the bank directors were intrigued and picked a day and time to meet.
On the agreed night the men gathered in the vault and were shocked to hear a noise beneath their feet when suddenly the lonely sewer worker slid himself out from beneath the vault's floorboards.
Despite happening upon all the gold in England, a stock take proved the sewer worker had taken no gold for himself, the banks owners rewarded him with £800 for his honesty, equivalent to about £90,000 pounds today.
This was a big embarrassment for the bank of England and led to a major redesign of its vaults and security system. I’m sure nowadays it would be next to impossible to break into
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