The head of London transport became personally involved in the search for a four-year-old girl’s toy bunny rabbit – after she had left it on a bus.

London bus

London bus Image by John Clouston / CC BY 2.0

Sir Peter Hendy, the London Transport Commissioner, was praised by her grateful mother, Alex Mannion (36) for re-uniting Bunny with her daughter Mimi. The Evening Standard reports that Sir Peter had heard of the little girl’s plight on BBC London after presenter Eddie Nestor announced Ms Mannion’s desperate appeal to find the toy.

Ms Mannion, who has just had a baby boy some five weeks ago, brought Mimi to a swim lesson during half-term last week. She said that with the baby now in tow, she didn’t check to ensure that Bunny was with them when they got off the bus. “After swimming we got home and Bunny wasn’t there,” she said.

While it was too late to get in touch with lost property then, she promised her little girl they would get Bunny back. That was where Sir Peter came in. He phoned the companies which operates the bus routes the Mannions had used and a call was put out on the radio network.

Bunny was found and was reunited with Mimi. When I told her we had the toy, she jumped up and down hysterically. She thanked Sir Peter: “He saved the day.”