THE kindhearted - and totally honest - people of Manchester can hold their heads up high.

A survey which branded Mancunians dishonest has been totally discredited by the M.E.N.

The poll claimed that if you drop items such as wallets and mobile phones in the city centre you have just a one in three chance of seeing them again.

`Deceitful' Manchester was put to shame by rivals such as Bristol where nearly two-thirds of items left behind were returned.

So I went on to the streets with a wallet containing a small amount of money.

My mission was to drop it in various locations across the city, carry on walking and see if anyone made off with it. Our results put the survey to shame. On nine out of 10 occasions, kindhearted passers-by chased after me and handed back the wallet.

And when we told them about the survey's results most were amazed. Andrew Jones, 33, an IT consultant from Altrincham, handed over the wallet on King Street `without even thinking about keeping it'.

He said: "The results of the survey really surprise me - I think we are one of the friendliest, most honest cities in the country."

Tradition

Civil servant Nina Phythian, from Denton, picked it up after it was dropped in St Ann's Square. Nina, 41, said: "When you think about other places I would think we compare quite well. Manchester has a tradition for doing the right thing."

And it wasn't just those from the city who disputed the survey's findings.

Secretary Trudy Wood lives in Cheadle, but is originally from New Zealand.

Trudy, 26, who handed it over on Market Street, said: "I've lived in London and hated it. It's a lot different up here and the people are a lot more honest, "

Shoppers Tahir and Amira Satia pointed out to me that the wallet had been dropped on St Mary's Gate. The couple, from Blackburn, said they were always impressed by how helpful Mancunians are.

And Johanna Hjalmarsson, 20, from Sweden, pictured handing back the wallet, agreed. She said: "The people here are friendly and always trying to help."

But not everyone disputed the survey's findings.

Student Wandong Zhang, from China, told me I had dropped the wallet on King Street. But he said that he had left a wallet in an Oxford Road restaurant and when he went back for it five minutes later it had gone. "I think a lot of people would take it," he said.

Back on Market Street, one man did pick up my wallet, had a look inside, then pocketed it. When confronted he handed it back.

But he could always have been on his way to hand it in at a police station . . .

Is Manchester an honest place? Have your say?