Here’s a word in your shell like - Fred the 30-year-old tortoise from Margate is lucky to be alive after he was mistakenly put out with the rubbish.

Fred, who lives with Jane Deslandes at her home in Ramsgate Road, Margate, crawled into a sack of grass cuttings which were collected by bin men last Wednesday.

Jane hadn’t seen him in the garden since she fed him earlier that week and thought he might have snuggled up into a fresh hole in the garden. When a search, assisted by her daughter and friends, proved fruitless she worried he might have gone with the rubbish.

“I phoned the council who put me on to contractors Viridor and I told them what I thought had happened.”

Viridor’s nearest tip is at Canterbury and it was there the vehicle which had called at Jane’s house was identified and the hunt for the missing reptile began.

Jane arrived there later to be told by site manager Vinod Mehroke that although the team had been searching through the waste for the last hour they had been unable to locate Fred.

“I cried my eyes out,” Jane said, “but the guys carried on looking for him. Shortly after I arrived home, they phoned to tell me they had found Fred safe and well.”

Vinod, along with site workers David Fisher and Alan Harkness, hand picked their way through the waste for another hour and couldn’t believe it when Fred was found no worse for his adventure.

“He certainly is a lucky tortoise and we were delighted to reunite him,” said Vinod.

Jane said: “I can’t thank the guys at Viridor enough for their efforts to find Fred. We thought all was lost and then couldn’t believe he had not only been found, but had actually survived!

"He’s a character and hopefully he will continue to show his survival instincts and see in more years with us yet.”