10:15am UK, Friday December 07, 2007

A hairdresser in Berlin has found top-secret plans for a bank safety vault in a backyard bin.

180 generic bank volt door safe

Bank left red-faced over bin find

The amazing find comes only four weeks after the Bundesbank building in the German city was officially opened after major renovation work.

The 26-year-old male hairdresser found the detailed drawings of the safety arrangements at the bank when he went to throw out his rubbish.

The plans included the location of people detectors, stairwells, grilled gates and measurements with the depth of the vault's floor.

He told Bild newspaper: "I wanted to throw away my rubbish and I noticed the plastic bag with the building sketches."

A Bundesbank spokeswoman confirmed the incident, explaining that the bank was looking into how the plans could have ended up in a bin.

The Bundesbank, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, is one of the pillar's of Germany's economic success since the end of World War II.