Transport for London has revealed the most expensive items people have lost on its services, and how much money it has received from their sales. Owners of lost things have 90 days to collect them from the authority’s lost property centre in West Ham.
Otherwise, they automatically become TfL property, and are then auctioned off or sent to charity. Before that, they are taken into the office in massive lorry loads – usually delivered every morning.
MyLondon was told during a tour of the facility that up to 6,000 possessions can arrive per week. They are then processed into TfL’s system.
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No detail is too small during this, as an item could be identified using the slightest scuff or imperfection. As they await collection, they are stored on shelves in their respective sections. These include clothes, handbags, luggage, books, umbrellas and miscellaneous stuff such as pieces of technology and toys.
Wide range of items sold and reclaimed
Now, officials have revealed the most expensive items that remained unclaimed and were therefore sold in 2022/23. The dearest was an Apple MacBook Pro 14″ A2442 (2021) Laptop 512 GB SSD 16GB RAM M1 Pro Chip Mac OS, sold for £1,043.25.
Then there was a Christian Dior DIORADDICT Shoulder Bag Chain Crossbody Green Cannage Leather – flogged for £570.98. This was alongside a Honeywell MiniRae Lite Hand Held VOC Monitor 5000 PPM Torch Rugged Gas Detector, sold for £560.15.
Bosses have also said that 527 laptops were logged as lost property. Of these, 178 were returned to their owners, but 204 were sold on by TfL.
This generated a £20,736.69 auction settlement. In addition, 42 fancy dress costumes were lost, four of these being sold. This was only for £10.
There were also 574 stuffed toys logged, with 23 returned. Rather more risqué, 15 sex toys were lost. Four brave owners asked for these back.
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