Telford & Wrekin Council has demonstrated the power of social media – and in the process successfully reunited a local teenager with the purse she lost while holidaying in west Wales. Mollie Ley had lost her purse while on holiday in the seaside resort of Aberdovey – setting off a chain of events that today ended happily.
The purse was discovered by an unknown member of the public in Aberdovey who posted it to Telford & Wrekin Council after discovering a Pass Card – similar to a proof of age card – inside it. The council was unable to find an address for 16 year old Mollie because the proof of age card had been issued directly by her school, Burton Borough in Newport.
An attempt to contact Mollie on Facebook was foiled when it was discovered her privacy settings did not allow the council to message her direct. So the council, which by now had given the purse to the police for safekeeping, put out an appeal on both its corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts to try and trace Mollie. The tweet was re-tweeted by the Shropshire Star which resulted in it appearing on the front page of the paper’s website.
Within the space of an hour of the appeal going live, a friend of Mollie’s had seen the council’s appeal on Facebook and had texted her the number to call to claim the purse. Mollie’s father Paul got in touch with the council to claim the purse, which also contained a small amount of cash and a NatWest bank card.
Paul said: “We are very grateful to both whoever in Aberdovey posted the purse back to the council and also to the council for their appeal to track us down. “Mollie is very happy to get her purse back and this really does demonstrate how useful social media can be.”
