Honest cabbie hands in lost bag with $50,000 cash stuffed inside
Published: 23/04/2011 07:45
A taxi driver who handed in a bag he found on the back seat of his cab in Cambridge was shocked to discover it contained $50,000 and 1,000 Euros in cash.
Honest Nigel Lipscombe found the rucksack containing a laptop and what he believed felt like documents after dropping off a Middle Eastern man. The 54-year-old Cambridge Hackney cab driver drove to Parkside police station to hand it in – not knowing he was carrying a small fortune.
On arrival, his bereft mystery passenger was standing outside the station on Saturday (Apr 16) at around 8pm – and jumped for joy on seeing the bag. Mr Lipscombe, of Ross Street, Romsey, Cambridge, said: "I picked him up from the city centre and he asked to be taken to Birkbeck Road, just off Hills Road. "On the way he asked if I knew anywhere he could watch football. I said he could go to The Emperor pub but then he changed his mind.
"I dropped him off at a student accommodation block in Birkbeck Road and thought then nothing of it." It was only after picking up another passenger at a city taxi rank minutes later that the bag was discovered. Mr Lipscombe said: "The passenger got in and asked if it was my bag on the back seat. I told him it was the last passenger’s and I took it. When I looked in I could see a laptop and what felt like some documents but I didn’t unzip the compartment to look. "I went to the police station and the man was just coming out. He was jumping about with delight." It was only then that the taxi driver discovered the bag was full of cash.
He said: "The man said he’d better tell the police he’d found the bag and I said I’d go in with him. "When he told the woman at the counter she said ‘you shouldn’t be carrying $50,000 in cash around with you’. I was shocked. It was incredible." Mr Lipscombe was at first given $200 – approximately £120 - reward but was given a further $300 - £180 - after he gave the delighted man a lift to the pub.
Mr Lipscombe said: "When he gave me the $200 I joked: ‘is that all I get?’. I asked why he was carrying around $50,000 in cash and he said that in his country they don’t trust banks. He gave me another $300 then. I was only joking." And would he have kept the cash if he had known? The father-of-two said: "I wouldn’t have kept it. I’ve always been an honest man. I wouldn’t do it if it was a million pounds."
Doreen Kavanagh, 42, the taxi driver’s partner of 10 years, said: "He did the right thing. I could have taken my kids to Disneyland. The girls are 21 and 22 now but we always dreamed of going. We just never had the money."
Karl Stamper, a fellow Hackney taxi driver in the city, praised his fellow driver. He said: "All the drivers are talking about it. Great credit to the man that he handed it back and it shows that taxi drivers are not just out to rip people off like some people think. "We do actually help people quite a lot."
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said: "A man came into Parkside police station at 7.45pm on Saturday, April 16, with three friends and reported he had left a bag with $50,000 US dollars in it, 1,000 Euros, a laptop and his passport.
"We took a note and he left the station when the taxi driver pulled up outside with the bag. They all came into the station. We gave the man strong words of advice about carrying such a large amount of cash."
Source; http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Ho ... 042011.htm
Click on the above link to see a photo of this honest guy with his cab
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