10 of the strangest things found in the back of Boro Taxis

And many people will have left something behind in the rush.

But a baby? A goldfish? A false leg?

These are among a list of things that one of the North-East's largest taxi firms says have been left on their back seats.

The firm, which handles between 70,000 and 80,000 jobs per week, has been trawling through its records to find the most unusual items found by its staff.

The ten strangest items found in the back of Boro Taxis cabs

1. A baby
2. Two dead mice
3. £6,000 - mixture of pounds and American dollars
4. £1,000 in a brown envelope
5. A goldfish in a plastic bag of water
6. Violin
7. False teeth
8. An artificial leg
9. A large tent
10. A zimmer frame

Mohammed Bashir, Founder of Boro Taxis, said: “People have left all sorts of items in our taxis and minibuses during the years, from the mundane to the bizarre, but the most remarkable has to be the baby.

"At the opposite end of the spectrum, the most common thing we find on the floors and seats of our taxis is mobile phones.

“If it’s not obvious to whom the property belongs, our policy is to hand it to the police in accordance with licensing conditions

“We would advise passengers to check before leaving our vehicles to ensure that they have all their belongings with them to avoid any inconvenience.”

The driver had, understandably, expected the relative of the baby to return for the child.

When they did not, he radioed the office for advice as he did not know which property the customer had entered. The baby, who appeared to be less than a year old, was taken to a police station.

The £6,000 in cash belonged to a businessman, who, it is understood, was buying a property in Middlesbrough. The money was in a man bag, which was found by a Boro Taxis car cleaner after the vehicle returned to base later that day. The owner had not realised he had lost his bag.

Contact details were found in the bag and it was reunited with its owner, who gave the car cleaner a £30 reward.

In another instance, a taxi collected an elderly woman to take her to the Post Office. Seconds after dropping off the lady and driving away, the driver noticed a brown envelope on the back seat. He stopped to investigate and found it contained £1,000 in cash. He immediately returned to the Post Office and handed the envelope to the lady. The driver said she was in such a state of shock, she didn’t say anything, not even 'thank you.'

The dead mice, meanwhile, which were in a container, were intended as snake food.