Some say his true identity was hidden under a rock in the Gobi desert.

Others claim it was written as a message in a bottle and cast into the Indian Ocean by a bearded castaway.

But really the true identity of BBC Top Gear’s Stig was actually entrusted to a humble Brighton and Hove City Council call centre worker.

The unnamed employee was informed of the mystery detail – and then sworn to secrecy – while dealing with a routine enquiry at CityClean’s Hollingdean depot.

The revelation came months before Ben Collins was actually unveiled as the man behind the mask on the hit BBC show.

The call was just one of up to 3,500 the team from CityClean receive every week.

Other weird and wonderful queries include asking what the local authority was going to do about the ash following the Icelandic volcano.

Another resident requested if they could make a noise complaint against a specific pigeon while another asked what the council could do about seagulls digging up her lawn.

One taxpayer asked if staff could fix their television.