A London doctor is overwhelmed by the kindness of a Liverpudlian hackney taxi driver who travelled 220 miles to ensure the safe return of his forgotten laptop.
The Great Ormond Street Hospital Paediatrician, Dr Zeshan Qureshi from Lewisham, South East London, was visiting Liverpool to hold a presentation on still birth at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Conference at the Liverpool Arena.
Impossible to Track Down
“My friends said ‘it’s a free laptop in the back of a taxi, people are not going to throw away that chance and will take it – that’s just what people do’.”
After an evening out with fellow conference speakers and attendees, Dr Qureshi caught a hackney taxi back to his hotel. It wasn’t long before he realised that he’d left his laptop, worth over £400, in the back of the cab.
Resigning himself to the fact it would be almost impossible to track down the driver of the cab, Dr Qureshi didn’t file a police report.
Dr Qureshi said: “I’d gone out for the evening to spend more time getting to know the people I’d met for the first time at the conference.
“I ended up getting a taxi back to my hotel in the early hours and within seconds of getting dropped off remembered my laptop, but it was too late.
“I’d resigned myself to the fact I wouldn’t get it back and didn’t even bother reporting it to the police.
“My friends said ‘it’s a free laptop in the back of a taxi, people are not going to throw away that chance and will take it – that’s just what people do’.”
Restoring Faith in Humanity
“It’s absolutely amazing – I was left speechless. It’s completely restored my faith in humanity.”
Amazingly, the cab driver went to extreme lengths to return the laptop to its rightful owner. Dr Qureshi received a call from the hotel to let him know that the mystery taxi driver had requested that his details were passed on in the hope that he could arrange for the laptop to be posted to him.
Dr Qureshi commented: “It’s absolutely amazing – I was left speechless. It’s completely restored my faith in humanity.”
Two days later, and knowing how important the laptop was to the doctor, the thoughtful cab driver took it a step even further by driving 220 miles to hand deliver it to Dr Qureshi at his London home.
Going Viral
Dr Qureshi headed straight to Facebook to let the world know about this wonderful random act of kindness.
He stated: “I’ve just returned from Liverpool. I left my laptop in a taxi and everyone told me it would be stolen and that I should just accept that. I subsequently didn’t even bother filing a police report.
“The taxi driver’s response? He remembered the name of the hotel I stayed at, gave them his contact details and asked them to get me to call him. As soon as I called him he said he’d get the laptop to me, and post it.
“I found out today he’d gone one better. He’d driven over 200 miles and delivered the laptop straight to me. What a wonderful reminder of the intrinsic kindness of people.”
The Facebook status has since gone viral, Dr Qureshi commented: “The reaction on Facebook since I shared the status has been incredible. It’s been one of overwhelming fascination with human kindness.
“It’s been one of overwhelming fascination with human kindness.”
“It’s easy to think that people we only speak to for a short period of time are just transient interactions which don’t mean anything real, but actually by getting to know the people around us we can develop much more meaningful connections.”