Great Western Coffee Shop

About two weeks ago I mislaid my purse.  I assumed it had been stolen at Paddington or somewhere.

Today a letter has turned up at my mothers from FGW - my drivers licence was in it and they have written to the address on it in order to let me know that they had it.

Must have fallen out of my coat behind the seat (I never normally put it in my coat - it has its own secret bag pocket - but I remember that night I had bought a huge platter of sushi at Pad and shoved it in pocket as it was easier and I was running late).

Will reclaim it to save getting new drivers licence.

M, I wouldn^t be so pleased with the return of the licence, as it would seem there are different standards being applied here.

IIRC there has been a post (if not on a FGW blog) concerning FGW policy on the immediate destruction of credit cards. I appreciate that a drivers licence isn^t a guarantee of instantaneous cash but is mighty useful in the increasingly popular hobby of identity theft.

I^m only playing devils advocate for a moment as otherwise it would seem on the surface to be wonderful customer service, but say FGW had attempted to return your bank/credit cards by post and they had gone missing en-route.

Just wondering why there is the difference between the two?

Mookiemoo, I'm glad that you've been reunited with your driving licence - I've also heard that FGW do try their best to trace the 'identifiable' owners of missing/lost/stolen property.


Fair question, tramway, but there is a difference:

As soon as any bank card (whether debit/credit/gold/platinum or whatever!) is reported missing/lost/stolen, the bank cancel it - and ask that it is destroyed if it is found.  This is because there is the magnetic strip on the back of the card that could still be misused, potentially, by those with the appropriate technology, for example.

However, UK driving licences do not have any magnetic strip, and contain no electronic details, so it's not such an issue.

Also, I didn't get the impression FGW were actually sending Mookiemoo's bank/credit cards - or driving licence - by post anywhere: as she says, she will collect her driving licence from them, having been notified that they are looking after it for her?

Please excuse me while I fall over backwards laughing. They might do that, but so do many of the operators in this country. Sounds like trying to let people know about a policy that gives them the "one-up" as no-one else advertises it.

All operators have this policy. On SWT - it's cut up card, write down details and phone bank.

Thanks, Tom!

Probably better if they were to write down the details before cutting up the card, though?  ::)

The point I was making is that banks tell anyone to destroy any card that is found after it has been reported lost or stolen, even though it will have been cancelled.

With lost property FGW are usually better than most TOC's in dealing with it, on the subject of lost property it's amazing what people leave behind, false limbs, prams, bikes, even a wheelchair!

Probably simpler but the magnetic stripe is rendered useless with a quick snip of the scissors! All the details are taken down are name on the card really from what I can remember. The bank is phoned to a) cancel the card (just incase it's already been swiped and used fraudulently before it was handed in/found) and b) notify the customer.

I know that LT Lost Property have an urn in their archive at the moment.