A student who lost his driving licence on a night out was left shocked when his missing ID turned up alongside a travel itinerary to the Maldives and a £5,000 bill. Ouch.
The itinerary, from Flight Centre, detailed flights for a first-class trip to the Maldives departing from Heathrow, London, on 2 December. There were four flights in total, due to a stop-off in Abu Dhabi, which came to a stomach-churning £5,289.87.
An accompanying letter, addressed to Lord George William Armstrong, read: “Thank you so much for popping in the other day. We certainly appreciate your business and hope your [sic] beginning to get excited about your upcoming first-class flight to the Maldives.
“Please keep in mind, balance is due in full on Friday November 10th at 12:05pm.”
William (whose middle name is George) said he was “pretty drunk” when he lost his ID, which is why the letter proved to be such a shock to the system - after all, who hasn’t made a drunk purchase after a night out?
But all is not as it seems, as another piece of paper enclosed in the travel itinerary revealed that it was all an elaborate joke from Flight Centre Cheltenham’s staff member, Steve.
The reality is that Steve had found William’s ID outside of the Flight Centre shop and wanted to get it back to him. But not before playing the ultimate prank.
At the bottom of the letter, which revealed Will didn’t have to foot a £5k bill after all, it said: “Just make sure you consider us for your next holiday. Take care! Steve.” Nice PR move there, Stevo.
After HuffPost UK contacted the company, a spokesperson confirmed what had happened and added: “We’re delighted that the dedicated Flight Centre team in Cheltenham were able to reunite Will with his lost driving licence and we hope he’ll visit the store again soon.”
You’ll be pleased to know that Will has since met up with his hero Steve and they had a photo together. You’re welcome.