A student was left overwhelmed by the kindness of a stranger who overheard her phone call with a counsellor about the pressures of studying at university.

Charlotte Rose Ford was discussing the £20 cost to obtain a doctor’s letter so she could get a mitigating circumstances form in relation to her university work.

Charlotte, who is studying at the University of Manchester , admitted she sometimes misses deadlines because she gets distracted by her ‘low mood’ or gets ‘anxious’ that her work isn’t good enough.

After ending the call in tears, Charlotte, who was sat at a table in the university’s student union at the time, was suddenly presented with a coffee with a touching note and two crumpled £10 notes tucked down the cup’s cardboard sleeve.

The mystery stranger’s note, signed off with a single kiss, said: “I hope you don’t mind that I overheard. Just wanted to say don’t worry! I’ve been there, I thought I wouldn’t get through my undergrad & now I’m doing a PhD! This is for the doctor’s note. You'll get through it!”

Charlotte, believed to be a second-year student, documented the entire incident in a widely-shared Facebook post. She said the story ‘just shows that there are really good people in the world’ who are ‘full of kindness’.

Charlotte said she was booking an appointment with the university’s counselling service.

She wrote: “Mental health stuff at uni is hard and sometimes I struggle to get my work done to a standard I’m happy with, or I miss deadlines because I’m too distracted by my low mood or I’m too anxious that my work isn’t good enough - so I have to ask for mitigating circumstances. It wasn’t a particularly fun phone call, and I got a bit emotional whilst I was explaining to the counsellor what I wanted to see them for.

“At one point I mentioned the fact that I needed a letter for a mitigating circumstances form, and that I’d been to the doctor but that they would charge me £20 for it, which is money I can’t always spare.”

Charlotte said she ended the conversation ‘quite teary’ and ‘wanted to go home’. She went on: “Someone came up to me, put a cup of coffee in front of me and said ‘this is for you, someone sent it over’. And I found this note tucked inside the cup sleeve! Of course I pretty much burst into tears all over again before I’d even opened it (because I’m like that), and then I was so overwhelmed by it!

“I don’t know who it was that sent it to me but if they read this I want to thank them so much because they completely made my day and made me feel so much better; as well as completely baffled by how kind strangers can be!”

Charlotte said the experience proved ‘you’re really not on your own’ and that ‘the world is a lovely place’.

The stranger’s identity isn’t known, but their warm gesture has been applauded by hundreds on Facebook who praised Charlotte’s post.