EVER tell you about the time I gave my daughter a few thousand Iranian Rials for holiday money – when she was actually going to Spain?

It all began with a routine street hire back in the late 90s, picking up a couple of passengers outside the Alexander Greek Thomson hotel and dropping them in the centre of town.

I picked them up around 4pm that weekday and was soon in the company of two gentlemen who were visiting the city and most notable for having absolutely enormous suitcases with them.

They said nothing during the journey but found their voices when I reached George Square. The meter read £4.60.

“You go the long way?” they asked/suggested.

Absolutely not, I thought, the only way they’d have got there quicker was by helicopter!

“We give you £4”.

Aw naw, I thought to myself, as the meter ticked on to £4.80. I didn’t like the way this was going.

One of the gentlemen then swiftly handed me a £50 note and asked for the change! I explained I didn’t have change of £50 and would need to nip into the bank across the road.

Suddenly he found a fiver. And he waited for the 20p change! The suitcases were lifted to the pavement, the prudent pair left and that was the end of that, or so I thought.

I rejoined the rank and waited for my next customer. Ten minutes later, on climbing into my cab said customer’s first words to me were: “There’s a rucksack in the bag of your taxi.”

And so there was. Hidden in the corner, a small children’s rucksack which I opened there and then to look for ID which would allow me to return it.

Glasgow Times: I picked them up in George Square I picked them up in George Square

I’ll never forget my new passenger’s second set of words: “F*cking hell big man!”

For in the bag were two passports, two flight tickets, £2500 UK sterling in £50 notes, 6000 US dollars, 3200 Cypriot pounds (this was pre-Euro) and around 50000 Iranian rials!

Luckily my passenger wasn’t going far and so my next stop was Pitt Street police station to hand the goods in right away.

Later that night I received a call from the police confirming my old friends had picked up the rucksack – and had even left me a tip in the shape of a wad of each currency, which was very kind but also confusing given the mood they had been in.

So I kept the UK pounds for myself and gave the rest to the family ... leaving them to exchange it, I’d done more than enough that day. And my daughter would change rials to pesetas for her holiday – all in a bank in Maryhill!

Moral of the story? Always be nice! Oh, and always check with police if you lose anything in a taxi.

Stay safe!