Yahoo News The massive worth of everything left on TfL services in a year including London Underground and buses
The staggering amount which Transport for London makes each year from lost property has been revealed by a freedom of information request. Each year the transport provider makes over half a million pounds from property left on the Tube, London buses and other transport services.
TfL say its lost property service is the largest of its kind in Europe. Each year they recover more than 200,000 lost items.
In fact, TfL made 571,134 from lost property on their network for the year 2023-2024. This figure rose by 196,019 on the previous year - when TfL made 375,115. Transport for London also made 482,703 from lost items for the year 2021-2022. This money is recycled by TfL, meaning it's funnelled into running the service itself.
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Revenue from lost property is made in a number of different ways. This includes fees paid by people collecting items, unclaimed cash and the sale of unclaimed items.
For the year 2023-2024 TfL made 88,050 from fees, 283,948 from unclaimed cash and 199,136 from the sale of unclaimed items.
The most commonly found item on the London Underground was also found to be mobile phones. These made up almost half of all items found last year (43.5%).
Following this was bags, which made up 28.6% of all items found on the TfL transport network. And after this were valuable items, which made up 28.5% of all lost property.
Fees paid for collecting lost items take into account the “effort, resource and risk associated with the collection, cataloguing, safekeeping and restoration of property,” according to TfL.
So while there is no fee for the collection of items from stations or garages before being sent to the lost property office, there is an admin fee once they have been sent for processing and storage. Property found in taxis is also subject to additional fees.
Any cash which is found on the TfL network is held for 12 months, or three months if found in a taxi. And most unclaimed items are donated to charity, say TfL.
Money made by TfL through lost property “contributes directly towards the cost of providing a lost property service.” Diana Quaye, Performance Manager at TfL’s Lost Property Office, said: “ Our Lost Property Office receives hundreds of thousands of lost items every year, which are individually catalogued and stored safely, with the details used to match against customer enquiries.
“Where the item has some form of identification, we try to contact the owner to let them know that their property has been found. When an item is reunited with its owner, we charge a small fee to cover the administrative costs of running the Lost Property Office.
“If, after three months, items such as books and clothing are not collected, they are given to charity or sent to auction to further help cover the costs of running the office. We always try our best to return items to their owners and remind all customers to take extra care of their belongings when travelling on our network.”
Got a story? Please get in touch at katherine.gray@reachplc.com
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