One Big Error: Michelle Mone's Twitter appeal after she won OBE... and left it in a London taxi four days later
By
Ben Todd and Sarah Ventress
Last updated at 9:21 AM on 1st December 2010
It had only been four days since lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone proudly posed in front of the cameras after being awarded an OBE.
But the businesswoman, 39, was left devastated when her medal went missing on Monday afternoon as she travelled into London.
Mrs Mone, the founder of the Ultimo underwear brand, lost her suitcase containing the accolade – along with her clothes, photographs and a lingerie prototype for her label – after leaving it in the front seat of a black taxi.
Reunited: Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone holds up her OBE at Buckingham Palace last Thursday, an award she thought she'd lost forever
She had been presented with the OBE by Princess Anne at Buckingham
Palace last Thursday for her services to the lingerie industry.
Mrs Mone, a mother-of-three, took to the internet to admit to losing the medal and appeal for its safe return.
She wrote on her Twitter page: ‘Oh NO. taxi driver has just driven away with my case in the front.
‘Has everything in it including an invention we’ve been working on
for 6 months, all my clothes & my OBE award. Oh please come back to
hotel.’
She added: ‘Black bag please come back.’
The drama began on Monday afternoon after Mrs Mone, who lives on the
outskirts of Glasgow, had flown from Scotland to London before taking
the Heathrow Express train to Paddington station.
Guard this with your life: Princess Anne pins the OBE onto a beaming Michelle during an investiture ceremony
Due to strike action on the Tube and subsequent huge queues at the
railway station’s taxi rank, Miss Mone decided to share a cab with four
other travellers.
As a result, a station steward had placed her baggage in the front
seat taxi. Mrs Mone, who recently appeared on television in the
celebrity reality series 71 Degrees North, was the last person to be
dropped off by the taxi.
But when she climbed out at the Dorchester Hotel in central London
the driver sped off before she was able to collect her suitcase.
Mrs Mone set up her lingerie firm MJM International – the Ultimo
parent company - in 1996 with her husband Michael after spotting a gap
in the market for comfortable, cleavage-enhancing bras.
She has used a string of high-profile celebrities to model the
lingerie, including Penny Lancaster, Rachel Hunter, Helena Christensen
Kelly Brook and Sarah Harding.
Her firm is said now said to be worth more than £45 million.
New face: Michelle unveiled Brazilian model Raica Oliviera as the body of Ultimo's new range last week
Mrs Mone was at a police station in Mayfair until 2am yesterday morning as she desperately tried to trace the taxi driver.
She tweeted: ‘Have been on the phone all night! Has [sic] so much stuff in my bag as I’ve been traveling since last Wed.
‘Clothes, shoes etc replaceable but not my Ultimo invention, OBE
award & most of all pictures of kids. Thanks for all your help.’
She went on: ‘Black cab driver who picked me up at Paddington station
3pm & dropped; off at Dorchester has my black case. ‘Was Taxi
sharing with 4 others due to tube strike.
‘Really need to get it back. Has only 1 Ultimo new invention taken 6
months, clothes, shoes & OBE; medal, PLEASE help reward given.’
Her spokesman told the Mail that she was ‘optimistic that it’s only
a matter of time before the bag is returned safely, along with all of
its contents’.
However, yesterday afternoon it appeared that Mrs Mone was being
reconciled with the suitcase – after one fitting her description was
handed in to police.
Mrs Mone posted an updated message on Twitter, saying: ‘OMG just heard case has been handed into Marylebone Police Station!
‘Think every cab driver has heard because of the press! Clothes, shoes, prototype bra,jewellery & OBE; medal!
‘Thank you all sooooo much!! I’m on top of the World!
She went on: ‘I need to find the cab driver to give him something.’
I LOVE Ultimo and Michelle..I have them to thank for giving me a cleavage! Definitely worthy of an OBE if you ask me! Well done Michelle!
- Karen M, Glasgow, 01/12/2010 14:19
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