Hospital staff in Airdrie baffled by wedding ring mystery
A piece of gold jewellery was found in an air con vent at Monklands Hospital
Staff at a Scottish hospital are appealing to the public to help them solve the mystery of a wedding ring found inside an air conditioning unit.
Engineers working at University Hospital Monklands in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, found the band of gold when they were servicing the unit in a technical room supporting an MRI scanner earlier this year.
Superintendent radiographer Scott Robinson said the ring was handed to staff and he has been trying to trace the owner ever since.
"The engineers removed one of the doors on the unit and found the ring," he explained. "We've no idea how it got there or how long it's been hidden under the cabinet, which stands on the floor in the MRI tech room.
"The air conditioner is serviced annually so it might have been there only a year. But the engineers were having a closer look inside it than normal this year because they were trying to find a small water leak.
"So it's possible the ring's been there for around four years, since the equipment was installed.
"We can only guess at how it came to be there. We thought a colleague may have dropped it so I put an email round the staff and several contacted me - but it doesn't match the description they gave.
"So it could belong to a visitor or a patient. The tech room is on the ground floor near the Emergency Department and lots of patients go past on their way to and from the wards.
"Could it be that a patient on a trolley had removed their ring and it fell and rolled through the gap under the tech room door and then under the air conditioning unit?"
He said the small-sized gold ring looks quite old and has a distinctive pattern.
Mr Robinson added: "It may not be valuable in monetary terms but it may have great sentimental value for the owner or their family.
Anyone with information or who believes the recently found gold band belongs to them is asked to email info@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk