Sir – Minutes after getting off a bus, I realised I had been stupid enough to leave my handbag on it. Rushed back to the bus stop, but the bus had gone.

At home, I phoned the Oxford Bus Company and got through to a recorded voice telling me that the office was open from 8am till 9pm (it was then about 9.30pm) and advising me to leave a message, which I did. Next I rang the police and was connected to the Oxford police station in St Aldates. I was given the number of their lost property office, and more usefully told where the bus depot is (in Watlington Road) and how to go to it.

When we got there, it was closed — but there was a light in a window and when I knocked on it a man pulled the blind apart, smiled, and pointed to the door, which he opened. I explained what had happened.

A few minutes later he advised us to go to the bus terminus on Rose Hill and await the bus, which he had identified — and after 20 minutes anxious wait, it came. The driver gave me a smile and said “It’s all right” before I had said a word — and handed me my handbag.

Next morning someone at the bus company responded to my recorded message: a black handbag had been found (mine is blue). She shared my relief at having recovered mine.

Throughout, no one gave so much as a hint of impatience, everyone was sympathetic and helpful. So it’s three cheers for the gentlemen and gentlewomen of the bus company and the police!

Irene Gill, Oxford