Hackney taxi driver, Mohammed Nisar, dropped off his passenger, Adrian Quinn, at Walsall train station. In a rush to catch his train, Mr Quinn jumped out of the cab leaving a rucksack full of cash in the back seat.
It didn’t take long before Adrian his mistake but it was long enough for Mr Nisar to drive off.
Panicked, Mr Quinn, frantically tried to flag down another cab to help him get back to the taxi rank in the hope that Mr Nisar would return.
Mr Quinn, 46, of Hereford, said: “Losing that money would have been the end of my business.
“I was walking across the car park when I realised I didn’t have my bag and I panicked. I tried to flag down another taxi but they all had fares.
“I was physically sick. My body just went into shut-down and I didn’t know what to do. I was just in a daze.
“We have built up our business from nothing for the last nine years and we are sole traders. We don’t have the backing of banks. It’s hard work, but it earns us a living.”
Safe and Sound
When Mr Quinn finally made it back to the taxi rank he found Mr Nisar sitting in his cab with the bag safely in the passenger seat to be returned to its rightful owner.
Mr Nisar, 55, said: “He nearly had a heart attack, he was so worried.
“He came up to me and asked if I realised what was in the bag. He was very, very thankful.”
Just two years previous Mr Nisar found himself in a similar situation when a man left his wallet with £150 in it on the seat. He drove straight back to the man’s house to return that too.
Honesty is the Best Policy
Mr Nisar is now asking his fellow cabbies to do the right thing if they find valuables in the back of their cabs.
“My message is to encourage all my taxi driving brothers that if they find something valuable just give it back.”
He added: “At the end of the day honesty is the best policy. There are some drivers who don’t return things but what is the point?
“If the council didn’t call me and no-one had claimed it, after 12 hours I would have taken that bag straight to the police station.
“My message is to encourage all my taxi driving brothers that if they find something valuable just give it back.”
Mr Quinn gave Mohammed a cash reward as a ‘thank you’ and invited him and his wife to his home for a family meal.