A German pensioner had to scour bushes and trees beside a motorway after 20,000 euros that he had left on the bonnet of his car during a break fluttered away, police said Wednesday.

The 64-year-old Bavarian, who has not been named, told police that he had taken the money to Luxembourg in order to buy a car and that on the way back, the deal having fallen through, he stopped at a service station. Back on the road, the man heard something hit the windscreen but thought nothing of it, and it was only when he pulled over into a layby that he realised that the object must have been the envelope containing the cash.

In a panic, he persuaded a police officer who happened to be in the layby to help him look for the money. Together they managed to gather 18,080 euros in bushes, branches, in the central reservation and on the other side of the road. "The elderly gentleman was pleased to find his money again," police said in a statement. "What he was less happy about, however, was the fact that a receipt for a Luxembourg bank account being closed down was also found. "The man admitted that in fact, the story about the car was untrue and that he had withdrawn the money from a bank in Luxembourg. The case was then passed on to customs officials.