When pensioner Malcolm Wright discovered a charity collection box stuck in brambles as he walked along a canal towpath, he thought he would do the decent thing.

And having called police and its owner Midlands Air Ambulance, he expected it to retrieved as soon as possible.

But 10 days later, the red plastic container still hung from the bush near Brownhills town centre. After walking past it day after day on his daily stroll, a dejected Mr Wright wrote to the Express & Star to say it was a sad reflection on society today.

“Nobody cares,” wrote the 67-year-old, who walks with the aid of a stick. “The scum that stole it, the overworked and under-funded police and the organisation that doesn’t seem bothered.”

Our journalists met Mr Wright, who took us to see the box alongside the towpath off Silver Street. It was on Monday, October 12, that he first reported it to Brownhills police station.

“I went up to the police station and spoke to someone who said it would be taken care of,” he said.

“But it was still there the next day.”

He said he spoke to a woman at the air ambulance who said they didn’t know whether the collection box had been stolen, but would be able to check where it had been distributed to from the reference code.

In the end Mr Wright, of Bridge Street, Clayhanger, used a pole to retrieve it. Our reporter took it to Brownhills police station.

Pc Kevin Harrison said: “Mr Wright contacted us about the tin, and told us it was well hidden. We sent officers to search but neither could locate the container. But thanks to Mr Wright’s public-spiritedness we now have a serial number.

“Our checks with the air ambulance have shown it to be one of their old style collection tins which have not been in use for some years.”

Midlands Air Ambulance spokesman Mark Seabright said: “We are extremely grateful to Mr Wright for spotting our lost tin and taking action to report it.”