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Don’t leave your wallet on an Arriva Trains Wales train...


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...or they’ll help themselves to the contents and take a cut before they give it back.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45519994

 

Railway Companies seem to excell in getting themselves in fathoms of the messy stuff.

 

Presumably their lawyers told them of the errors of their ways and possible legal consequences.

 

Darius

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Whilst I understand there may be a small fee involved in recovering lost property items, just helping yourself to a percentage of the money in a wallet tends to be called theft (even if it listed in some terms and conditions). I also find it deeply cynical to charge £3 for a bike, whilst charging £10 for a mobile and £25 for a laptop!

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No matter how pro-rail I am, sometimes I see things that are indefensible. Worse than being wrong in some ways is that in today's social media world stuff like this is so likely to blow up in your face that to try it is just stupid for the goodwill it'll cost.

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Daylight robbery . Unless it’s a night train of course!

 

You would have thought someone might have thought how much will we gain from this versus how much will it cost in negative publicity .

 

People aren’t losing things deliberately . This is indefensible

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This is the first time I have ever heard of being charged a fee to get your lost property back.

 

Where have you been living for the past few decades? TfL have made a charge for people claiming lost property for ages - as do GWR whose lost property operation was featured on one of the channel 5 documentaries.

 

The charge reflects the fact that lost property cannot be placed in some form of time vortex - it requires shelving, security and staff to manage it!

 

It also is intended to act as a deterrent to folk who might think a bit more carefully next time and check they have got all their possessions before leaving the train.

 

Taking a commission however is I grant you unusual and does rather smack of opportunist money making.

Edited by phil-b259
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Where have you been living for the past few decades? TfL have made a charge for people claiming lost property for ages - as do GWR whose lost property operation was featured on one of the channel 5 documentaries.

 

The charge reflects the fact that lost property cannot be placed in some form of time vortex - it requires shelving, security and staff to manage it!

 

It also is intended to act as a deterrent to folk who might think a bit more carefully next time and check they have got all their possessions before leaving the train.

 

Taking a commission however is I grant you unusual and does rather smack of opportunist money making.

 

Yes. But that's London.

 

The rest of the country doesn't operate like that.

 

 

 

Jason

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Any found cash has to go into the company cash system, be counted and recorded with a full paper trail. The cash is collected by a cash collection company all of which has a cost, lost money if then returned has to be fully and properly accounted for and also making sure it goes to the right person.

As long as I have known there has always been a charge for found property unless the owner can get to it before it gets fully taken into the system. I have often returned property to its owner in response to a phone call asking me to bring it back to such and such station.

Happens regularly with mobile phones, there's no charge, obviously,in these cases.

Edit: sometimes the owner has to travel to collect their property, do they get there for nothing?

Edited by great central
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Where have you been living for the past few decades? TfL have made a charge for people claiming lost property for ages - as do GWR whose lost property operation was featured on one of the channel 5 documentaries.

 

The charge reflects the fact that lost property cannot be placed in some form of time vortex - it requires shelving, security and staff to manage it!

 

It also is intended to act as a deterrent to folk who might think a bit more carefully next time and check they have got all their possessions before leaving the train.

 

Taking a commission however is I grant you unusual and does rather smack of opportunist money making.

In days of old it used to be called offering a service to the public

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Where have you been living for the past few decades? TfL have made a charge for people claiming lost property for ages - as do GWR whose lost property operation was featured on one of the channel 5 documentaries.

 

The charge reflects the fact that lost property cannot be placed in some form of time vortex - it requires shelving, security and staff to manage it!

 

It also is intended to act as a deterrent to folk who might think a bit more carefully next time and check they have got all their possessions before leaving the train.

 

Taking a commission however is I grant you unusual and does rather smack of opportunist money making.

 

Melbourne. :) but then I haven't lost anything in years (touch wood). Last thing I lost was on an East Kent Road Car Company bus may years ago and it cost me nothing to get it back (all part of the service).

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In days of old it used to be called offering a service to the public

 

Do keep up - that disappeared decades ago when Thatcherite 'me' centric polices were forced on public services.

 

It could be worse - I'm sure that true die hard free marketers would suggest lost property should be outsourced as not being the 'core' duties of a transport undertaking.

Edited by phil-b259
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Do keep up - that disappeared decades ago when Thatcherite 'me' centric polices were forced on public services.

 

It could be worse - I'm sure that true die hard free marketers would suggest lost property should be outsourced as not being the 'core' duties of a transport undertaking.

At some Network Rail operated stations, I believe that lost property is dealt with by the operator of the left luggage facilities, they have staff, scanning equipment and such.

Having passed one of them a small suitcase several years ago it went through the full process with attendant paperwork, I don't suppose for one minute it was released without a charge being made for the service provided. I'd already found an address and phone number for the owner but as I only had 20 minutes before departure into the system it went.

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After a bit of a social media outcry they’ve changed their policy.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/14/train-company-rows-back-on-charge-for-returning-lost-wallets

 

Doesn’t quite say if they won’t still apply a charge - but taking 10% is outrageous.

Edited by maq1988
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Doing anything incurs a cost (need to employ someone to handle the lost items if nothing else). I'd rather that was included as a negligable (which it should be, spread out) extra charge on my ticket, if you must feel the need to account for every little thing.

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Doing anything incurs a cost (need to employ someone to handle the lost items if nothing else). I'd rather that was included as a negligable (which it should be, spread out) extra charge on my ticket, if you must feel the need to account for every little thing.

 

Spot-on !

 

But then in wouldn't be able to be outsourced as it wouldn't be self-financing.

 

Of course, the toilets on trains aren't self-financing; I wonder ............ !

 

(Did Ryanair really try that one - or was it just an April 1st spoof)?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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A lot  (perhaps most) Great Western lost property goes to Bristol Temple Meads

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pdeaves/30605985131/in/photolist-NCxF5P-478gKS-4fqmJz-WMueZ5

 

I left an old ruck-sack on the train about 10 years ago, which was found and handed in.

The release fee was worth more than the bag, but it also contained some vouchers which were worth getting back.

They had humanely destroyed my sandwiches though!

 

cheers

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Spot-on !

 

But then in wouldn't be able to be outsourced as it wouldn't be self-financing.

 

Of course, the toilets on trains aren't self-financing; I wonder ............ !

 

(Did Ryanair really try that one - or was it just an April 1st spoof)?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Ryanair announced that they might consider charging for the toilet at the same time as they changed the price for checking in at the airport to £40 (or £5 online IIRC), knowing that the furore over something they weren't doing would cover up the much worse thing that they were actually implementing.

 

No idea if they've changed those charges since.

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This news item on the BBC dates from April so nothing new

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35942167

The Daily Mirror were reporting on this is 2010

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/25-charge-to-get-your-lost-property-218365

Even the Torygraph had a go in 2015

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11859626/Lost-property-rip-off-Passengers-charged-to-retrieve-own-items.html

Airports, airlines, rail companies across the UK, TFL, National Express, First Bus, Go-Ahead, and Nexus all charge to retrieve lost property.  In any case ATW/TAC won't be around after 10th October so it'll be interesting if Abellio and Transport for Wales carry on with charges given Abellio Greater Anglia had some of the highest charges for returning lost property.

The good news is though that neither Dundee or Inverness Airports Charge a fee for returning lost property.  Not a lot of use in the case of Dundee unless you want to fly to Stansted, their only scheduled route.

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