Lost Property

[whole diary]

[johoare]

I managed to leave a bag on the train late last night...oops... When I got home and whilst I was still looking for a number to call to report it missing, a lovely British Transport officer called me to say he had my bag at Reading station.. I did then go down there to try and pick it up but I didn't manage to find him (I think I was in the wrong car park and then my mobile ran out of charge so I couldn't ring him to find out where he was)... He then left me a message on my mobile to say that he'd left the bag with station security and I could pick it up today..

This morning I thought it would be good to ring Reading station which is the only problem in this whole incident.. It's not possible it seems. I did ring lost property but they couldn't give me a number for Reading.. So I went there in person in the hope that they still had my bag and hadn't sent it off to Bristol yet..

I was directed to an office on platform 4 where my bag was.. The duty manager whose office it was said they do try to hang on to things for a while before sending them off to Bristol.. So 11 hours after leaving my bag on a train I had it back...

Well done BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)/FGW^▸ (First Great Western).... it would be nice to have had some way of contacting Reading in advance so that I would have known my bag was still there and could tell them I was on my way to get it... But at least it was still there 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

lucky it wasnt blown up my friend to be honest

[johoare]

It was just a Waitrose Bag for life carrier bag so easy to see contents without having to blow it up 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

haha lucky it wasnt a tesco one or that would have been gone for sure!

[johoare]

 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. 

I wonder whether FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have ever considered the perhaps novel idea of making public address announcements, reminding passengers to collect all of their luggage and personal belongings, before leaving the train.

C. 

[johoare]

ok.. quick confession.. it was veeery late.. I woke up at Maidenhead and so I got off in a rush.. Announcements won't have helped.. I have learned a lesson though. I have been very lucky with this one and I've emailed both BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to praise them for making it so easy for me to get my bag back...

[Super Guard]

Well done BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)/FGW^▸ (First Great Western).... it would be nice to have had some way of contacting Reading in advance so that I would have known my bag was still there and could tell them I was on my way to get it... But at least it was still there 

Chances are you'd never get through to Reading because staff are trying to run a station... 

Could you imagine if the number was made public the number of queries stations would receive?  Lost Property/Is my train on-time?/What platform is xyz departing? Can you hold my train as i'm running late? I hear there's been disruption, how long are delays, I want to complain, i'm stuck on a train and want to know what's going on... etc etc etc.... Now imagine a time of disruption and internal communications not getting through because the public are ringing off the hook...? 

I understand your reasons for wanting the number and I would personally hope that our Lost Property Department would make an attempt to ring Reading on your behalf, but there is good reason as to why we have National Rail Enquiries, Customer Service Departments and station numbers are unavailable to the public.

[inspector_blakey]

I've had two experiences with lost property, one very positive, the other less so.

First time was unfortunately timed, and I'm blaming jet-lag. I'd got back from Canada the night before, and was still staggering around in a confused state not knowing what time zone i was in. Bottom line was that on a journey from Oxford to Kew Gardens (changing Reading into the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) service) I managed to leave my weekend bag containing clothes, toiletries and most importantly at the time contact lens case and cleaner on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service that continued to Paddington. Unfortunate timing why...? Because it was the day after the failed bombing attempts in July 2005. Reached down to get something out of my bag on the SWT service and it slowly dawned on me that I had lost my bag...had a word with the SWT guard who was kind enough to pass a message to someone's control somewhere about what I'd done, then arrived in Kew, checked in with the relations and got straight back on the underground* to Paddington where by a small miracle I found my bag sitting next to the lost property desk waiting for me to claim it.

SEcond occasion was less good - I left a coat on an XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service to Paignton when I alighted at Taunton. Called lost property later in the day, they said they'd investigate and call me back. Still waiting 13 months later...

_{*before the hardcore gricers pull me up on this, I'll admit that I actually took Silverlink to Willesden Junction then the Bakerloo to Paddington, OK}

[johoare]

I think that last time (a long time ago)  I left something on a train, Reading still had a proper lost property office with a number you could phone and (until I found out otherwise) I assumed that it was still the same now...

That's a shame really as I think it makes more work for the kind people at Reading who hold on to lost property for a while before sending it on.... It saves people trekking all the way to Bristol to pick their belongings up...

I have emailed FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) to thank them for this as it really did make for a better experience after having been silly enough to leave my bag in the first place..