Mystery Samaritan returns lost money

An act of kindness has seen Nelson man Greg Swan’s faith in humanity restored.

Swan said he was biking from Tahunanui to Nelson CBD around lunchtime on Monday to pay rent and some other bills when the money he had in his pocket fell out.

He didn’t realise he lost anything until a Nelmac employee waved him down on Rocks Rd and asked him if he lost money and what notes he carried.

‘‘Some mystery lady in a nice black Nissan picked the money up past KFC, and handed off the money to the gardner from Nelmac,’’ Swan said.

‘‘She chased me down the road in her truck. I had my headphones in and didn’t think she was tooting at me so I carried on biking.’’

By the time Swan came to Rocks Rd, the Nelmac employee had pulled over and was now waving frantically at him, trying to get him to stop.

He said he was carrying several hundred dollars, and the woman in the black Nissan had picked up four out of the five 20 dollar notes, but none of the 50 dollar ones.

‘‘I made a phone call to a friend who then searched the area and was able to find more of the money, but we didn’t find all of it.

‘‘While I’m really annoyed I lost the money, I’m so grateful [to the people who returned some of it], a lot of people would just put it in their pocket.’’

Swan said he didn’t think the Nelmac employee was trying to wave him down, as he was ‘‘a pretty rough looking person’’.

‘‘Somebody did the right thing and they need to be commended for that, it doesn’t happen enough.’’

‘‘That money was my rent and a couple of other bills.’’

Swan said even though he was left out of pocket because he didn’t get back all of the money he lost, the fact some of it was returned put a smile on his face.

‘‘I’m just so thankful to the two strangers.’’