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Bag lost, humanity found
Your recent correspondent writing about the good service from the British passport office made me want to tell you of my uplifting experience.
I was robbed in the car park of the Ibis hotel in Annemasse and my laptop bag was stolen from my car.
The management and staff at the hotel were wonderful, they tried their best, not only to find the culprits but to make me feel better, including giving me a free night in the hotel.
The local police were extremely helpful too.
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I was worried about my involvement with them (because of the inevitable paperwork), but it went smoothly. They even found an officer who spoke English. Five days later, my bag was found in the car park of a local Intermarché. The staff there found my business card and called me with the good news.
Nearly everything was inside it, including my passport which I’d already reported as stolen.
I downloaded the relevant paperwork from the UK website, filled it all in and sent it off to the Belfast passport office as instructed. The new passport arrived at my French home after 21 days in total, including posting and the Christmas holidays.
So, well done the staff at Ibis, Intermarché, Annemasse police and well done the UK passport office. You guys have restored my faith in the human race.
Ross ANDERSON, by email
MY DAUGHTER’S friend managed to leave her handbag containing her passport, bank cards and other personal items, dangling from the trolley they used in a supermarket in Hennebont.
They did not discover this until they arrived home at our house and immediately drove back to the store but the bag had gone.
They approached the customer service desk and, to their relief and delight, it had been handed in and was returned to our guest with a smile and a rueful shake of the head.
I’d like to thank the person who handed the bag in for their honesty. In the 10 years we’ve lived here, we’ve always found the Breton people to be extremely kind and friendly and now we know that honesty is also one of their attributes.
Jenny SULLIVAN, Pont-Augan, Morbihan
