A mum who carried round a baby’s hospital bracelet for 38 years in her purse has been reunited with it, after losing it in a petrol station.

Kelly Hitchman got the band back, which showed the birth date 23 March 1981, after responding to a Twitter appeal from a man who found it.

“Just found this on the forecourt of Tesco’s garage Cowley Oxfordshire,” Twitter user Chris Ford wrote on Sunday afternoon. “I’d imagine who ever has carried it with them for 28 years would like to be reunited. Do your stuff Twitter.”

(He later realised he’d made an error, and it was in fact 38 years – not 28.)

Ford’s tweet had nearly 5,000 retweets, and many people were desperate for the band to be reunited with its owner.

Just four hours after Ford’s tweet, Hitchman replied and wrote: “Hi Chris that baby bracelet is mine I filled up in Tesco today after visiting my family in Oxford before driving back to Hastings I have carried in my purse since being given it years ago.”

He replied and asked her to send him her address, so he could post it back. 

Hitchman did not say whether the baby bracelet belonged to her as a baby, or to one of her children. 

One person wrote in reply to Ford’s tweet: “This might well have been a very precious baby, maybe born still or that did not live long, for a mum to carry the band around for that length of time.” Someone else commented: “There may be a very poignant reason why the owner has carried this for that length of time.”

Another wrote: “Hope somebody claims it, baby memories are so precious.”

Either way, Ford was pleased to reunite the bracelet with Hitchman, updating people on Twitter by writing: “Yay we found the owner. Thanks to everyone who helped. Even the people who hammered me over the poor maths did it with humour and grace, so all round well played Twitter.”