Stolen Purse

As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.

understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

About 30 years ago my elderly Mother was taken every week to a singing class by one of her friends. I was working at the time as a sales rep and on this particular day had to collect something from a local supplier. I parked my car outside the company on a street that linked a main road to a popular local cut through to a city estate in Nottingham. As I was only going to be 5 minutes I stupidly left my handbag in the footwell of the passenger seat and when I returned about 3 minutes later the lock on the door had been forced and the bag stolen. I reported the incident to the police as soon as I returned to work and when I got home cancelled all my credit cards. Later that same evening a gentleman arrived at the door to return my purse including all my money, credit cards and business cards. It transpired that he sang in the same class as my mother and was walking down the road when the thief was making a quick getaway, saw the purse fall out of the bag on to the road, recognised my name from the business card, made the connection with my mother and also remembered where she lived in order to return it to me!
Total votes: 206
Date submitted:Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:54:00 +0000Coincidence ID:5131