A curious story reached the news headlines the other day, referring to a man who had caught a flight from Manchester Airport and headed out to Spain.
It would seem that no one at Manchester Airport was in the slightest bit aware of what the man intended to do once he got off the plane at San Sant Joan Airport. And once you know the whole story – or at least as much of it as we know ourselves – it could be said that even he didn’t know what he would do once the plane from Manchester reached its destination.
What we do know is that he didn’t go beyond the airport once he actually landed. That is because he decided to start giving away all his cash and traveller’s cheques to everyone he saw.
Now if this sounds a little bit like strange behaviour you would be right. But if you look it up on the internet you will find plenty of reputable websites that have this story available for you to read.
And it wasn’t just the odd twenty pound note or traveller’s cheque he gave away either. Apparently he was giving away forty three THOUSAND pounds in traveller’s cheques, and getting close to two thousand pounds in cash. The people he gave the money to must have thought it was their lucky day – or perhaps their birthday! After all it isn’t every day that you find a man in an airport giving away thousands of pounds worth of traveller’s cheques and cash, is it?
The story was gleefully reported all over the internet, which probably isn’t surprising. A typical report was this one from the Times Online website. You would almost think that the story was made up, if it hadn’t appeared all over the place and especially in such notable sites as this one.
So why did he do it?
Apparently the man was a little bit the worse for wear in the alcohol department. He was also in a less than savoury state clothing and hygiene wise. In fact, given all the stories and descriptions of the state he was in when he arrived at the Spanish airport, it is a wonder that nothing was said on the plane. It’s also amazing that he got close enough to anyone to give away all this money.
It would appear that it was an inheritance, so whether he was drinking away his sorrows at the death of a loved one and things got out of hand, it’s unclear. What is clear however is that once the Spanish police detained him and made sure the money was indeed his, they turned him around and sent him back to Manchester Airport.
It isn’t clear whether he managed to give away all his money in Spain before coming back home. But it certainly isn’t the kind of story you read about every day. One wonders how he is feeling now he’s had time to sober up.