Memory-loss Birmingham man's identity plea Published duration 7 January 2013

A man who woke up on a park bench unable to remember anything about himself is urging anyone who knows who he is to get in touch.

"Steve", as nurses at Birmingham's City Hospital have dubbed him, said he woke up on New Year's Day.

He found his way to a police station and was then taken to the hospital.

He said he vaguely remembered having a sister and said something "stirred" in him when he saw the Wolverhampton Wanderers' badge on television.

Steve, who is thought to be in his late 40s or early 50s, said after waking up in an unknown park he managed to find his way to the Bullring shopping centre to warm up.

He then walked to nearby Digbeth police station, where officers called for an ambulance and he was taken to hospital.

His only possessions were half a bottle of cola and two lighters.

'Tip of tongue'

Hospital staff said although Steve, who has a West Midlands accent, was not injured in any way, there was nowhere else for him to go without having any information about who he is.

"The only way I can sum it up is like when you're trying to remember the name of a famous actor or film star and it's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't get it," he said.

"It's like that - but for the whole of my life, everything that's ever happened. I know something's got to have happened but I just don't know what, it drives you mad.

"To think there are people out there who really care and whether they're worrying themselves silly. It's really, really frustrating and it's also very frightening."

Police analysed Steve's fingerprints but said they had no records of who he was.

He said: "I could be a Wolves fan. If that's the case then you're usually a fan of the team that's local, so I could be a Wolverhampton man."

Helen Jenkinson, of City Hospital, urged anyone with information about Steve to get in touch.

She said: "This is not unusual, this has happened to patients before.

"But he has no bump on his head, there's not evidence of any violence towards him.