Scottish hotel worker’s 800 mile trip to return bag to Reading woman

A woman who left her bag at a Scottish hotel while on holiday has thanked the man who drove 800 miles (1300 km) to return it to her.

Sharon Bolton and her husband, from Reading, had stayed the Queen of the Loch pub on Loch Lomond during a tour of Scotland, before heading home to Berkshire.

But Ms Bolton soon realised she had left her bag – which contained sentimental belongings – at the hotel.

She said she “just couldn’t see how” she could recover it” – until Andrew Leggett from the hotel stepped in.

On realising she’d left her bag, Ms Bolton said she had resigned herself not to see it again, telling the hotel: “I’m really upset about it but I’ve got to be sensible – I can’t get a courier for that, it would cost as much as the contents of the bag.”

But a few days later, she received a phone call from one of the hotel’s employees, Andrew Leggett.

“He just completely floored me,” she said.

“He was saying ‘I heard what happened, and I hope you don’t mind but I had a look through your bag and can see there are things in it which have sentimental value and that you really ought to have.'”

Mr Leggett then suggested he drive the 800-mile round trip to Reading to return Ms Bolton’s bag in person – telling her: “I just want to bring your bag to you – I feel you should have it.”

“It was the right thing to do, there were some personal things in there,” Mr Leggett explained to the BBC.

“I was off the next day and I thought ‘why not?’.”

He said returning the bag had been “well worth the journey”, adding: “When we met up with you [Ms Bolton], the smile on your face was enough for us.”