Engineer at Devon based firm has repaid the £2m, which is 1,000 times his nornal salary

According to reports, an engineer for Devon based firm Alcoa Howmet, received 1,000 times his normal £2,000 salary last week.

Bosses at the firm, based in Exeter, Devon, admitted they paid a worker a “significant” sum last week following an error. Apparently, upon noticing the telephone number sized payment, the employee in question vowed to pay it straight back.

According to reports in the Guardian, Alcoa spokesman Jasper Van Zon would not confirm the exact amount involved, but the sum is reported to be £2m. He said: “The amount of money is a matter between us and the employee. I can say the sum of money involved was a significant amount.

“We are very happy that the employee acted so quickly, that the person acted in such an honest way. It showed a lot of integrity.”

An investigation into how the error occurred in underway.