Search for the honest citizen

Goonellabah Sylvia Olson was elated to find that a member of the public had handed in her handbag to police after she lost it in Tweed Heads. Sylvia would like to thank that person for their honesty.

Cathy Adams

A LISMORE woman is looking for an unknown good Samaritan on the Tweed to thank him or her for doing the right thing.

Sylvia Olson, 89, wants to find the person who handed in her handbag to police three weeks ago after she accidentally left it in a Tweed restaurant.

"We were coming back from Queensland and stopped in Tweed to have dinner at a restaurant with my daughter," Ms Olson said.

"When we left the table I left it behind and didn't notice until about an hour later."

Ms Olson said the family considered it lost and doubted that it would be recovered.

"My daughter rang the police and they said someone had already handed it in," she said.

Ms Olson said the handbag still had the money and medical records in it as well as other valuable items.

"It was a lot of money for me," she said.

"I have been trying to find them, to thank them.

"I have made 12 or 15 calls to police asking for the name of the person who handed the bag in.

"They say under the privacy laws they can't give me the information about who handed it in.

"I think this privacy thing has gone a bit overboard."

Ms Olson said it was upsetting that someone had done something so unselfish and she did not have an opportunity to thank them.

Tweed police said they could not give personal information out about people who come into the station.

Acting Inspector Leanne Edmonds confirmed privacy laws prevented the name be released.

"If she wants to thank the person who handed it in then she should put it in writing and we can contact the person," Insp Edmonds said.