A Scottish man has been left stunned by the return of an old wallet that was stolen from him in a pub 20 years ago. Most incredibly, the wallet was discovered in a bush outside the same pub, with all his cards intact.
Ryan Seymour, a 37-year-old graphic designer from Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland, was out drinking with friends at The Elizabethan pub in Dunfermline in 2001 when he left his wallet in a bathroom stall, after which it was stolen.
The pocketbook, embossed with his name in gold, contained bank cards, a work ID card, a library card, a video rental card, and 60 pounds (approx. US$85) in cash, all of which Seymour eventually thought he'd never see again.
Twenty years later, in April this year, Seymour, who is a father of one, was shocked when his local police station contacted him on Facebook. His wallet had been found in a hedge outside the pub by a passerby, with everything except the cash.
Opening the relic, Seymour was amused to see himself as a fresh-faced Bank of Scotland employee on his old work ID card. The video rental card, given how far technology has come, made him chuckle.
Yet Seymour was impressed at the wallet’s longevity.
Seymour is still good friends with the man he went drinking with the night he lost his wallet. “He’s finding this whole thing hilarious,” he said.
But perhaps best pleased was Seymour’s mother, who gifted her son the embossed pocketbook as a Christmas present.
To the thief who stole his wallet and cash some 20 years ago, Seymour had a parting message: “It’s all water under the bridge, but I do hope that person has changed their ways.”
