A pensioner has been reunited with the wallet he lost 40 years ago - and found everything still inside.

Gavin Barr, 83, was working as a personnel officer for mining finance giant Charter Consolidated in Ashford when he lost his wallet in 1974.

His office was on the fifth floor of a block in Park Street, which has been renamed The Panorama and is being converted into flats by new owners Dukelease Properties.

During the conversion works, construction worker Adam Holmes stumbled across the wallet in one of the ceilings.

It contained a driving licence, two passport photographs, a £30 cheque guarantee card and a Barclaycard with a 1975 expiry date.

It also had a residence permit for Zambia, where Gavin had been stationed for the Colonial Service.

The construction company got in contact with local historian Steve Salter, 39, who tracked down Mr Barr to Charing and reunited him with his wallet.

Mr Barr said: "I vaguely recall losing my wallet. It was a very long time ago, but I was shocked it was found above the ceiling by contractors.

"I used to travel on the train from the Ashford office to Charter's headquarters at Holborn Viaduct in London, and at the time I believed that I may have lost it on the train.

"I would like to say a big thank you to those who found it and for having the decency to reunite me with it after all these years."

Mr Salter said: "I accepted the challenge of trying to locate Mr Barr, and from collecting the wallet from the site to actually finding and speaking to Mr Barr to tell him the good news took just under an hour, thanks to the wonders of the internet."

Mr Holmes said: "We were shocked to find the wallet. It's not the kind of thing you normally find."

It remains a mystery as to how the wallet found its way into the ceiling.