LEFT BY LONDONERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 December 1933, Page 10

LEFT BY LONDONERS

UMBRELLAS AND STICKS Travellers on the new London Passenger Transport Board’s trains, trams, ’buses, and coaches leave behind on an average 600 to 700 umbrellas and walking-sticks every evening. They also forget such things as false teeth, bags, and gloves. The passenger who recently left a bicycle in the train should go at once to the new lost property office of the Board, which was opened recently in Baker Street.

Hitherto forgetful members of the public have had to go to the particular lost property office of the group on whose vehicle they mislaid their belongings—St. James’s Park for the Underground, Poland-Street for ’buses and coaches, and 'Baker-street for property lost upon the Metropolitan Railway.

But during the week-end articles lost since the beginning of the month wore transferred to the new offices at Baker-street, which are believed to be the biggest of their kind in the British Isles. "About 30,000 articles were moved from the three offices in the two days of the week-end, and it was a real rush job,’’ said an official of the board. "About half of them were umbrellas and walking-sticks. We now have a i special section for umbrellas and ' sticks and another for miscellaneous articles. “Now that the old system under which certain articles lost on certain undertakings were taken to the police lost property office at Lambeth has been scrapped, conductors hand in all ‘finds’ at their garages and depots. ■ Every morning three vans make a tour of the depots and bring the pro-1 perty to Baker-street.’’ | Most of the property will be stored in cellars under the premises, which have been specially constructed on modern lines to facilitate finding. Twenty-five clerks are on duty each day to assist forgetful people who annually lose about 300,000 articles when travelling.