Woodville dairy farmer burns money after cleaning out car

The remnants of $130 which was accidentally burned in a rubbish fire. Photo / Supplied

As a dairy farmer, Woodville's Ben Allomes reckons he's good at burning money, but not literally.

That was until this week when a bag containing $130 went up in smoke after a clean-out of his car.

"What a bugger," he told the Dannevirke News.

"I'd cleaned out the car and what wasn't rubbish was put in a washing basket, but then cardboard went in on top. I got my young fella to throw the rubbish on to the fire. He came back yelling ..."

Ben Allomes of Woodville.

Allomes, who with wife Nicky, won the Innovative Employment Practices Award and Minister's Award at the Primary Industries Good Employer Awards last year, said his bank is helping to sort things out.

"But they need to get the serial numbers of the notes burnt and send them to the Reserve Bank, maybe there's $60 or $70 we can identify, that's all," he said.

To make matters worse, the money wasn't even his.

"My daughter Lucy had been to the Agri Kids national finals in Invercargill with her Kumeroa School's Rocky Riders team in July and the money belonged to the team," he said.

"It had been sitting in the centre console of our car since then."

A asthma Ventolin inhaler also went up in flames, causing an explosion, along with coins and lipstick, but Allomes managed to salvage his daughter's glasses.

"I also managed to get a couple of Rebel Sport gift cards out of the flames," he said.

Allomes said he expects to get a bit of a ribbing and to become known as the dairy farmer who burns money.