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Original poster

Flatmate says I owe her £600

641 replies

Digestivesandcheese · 02/11/2023 15:11

I was meeting my flatmate (who is also a good friend) in London recently and agreed to bring her weekend bag with me on the train (She was meeting her DM earlier in the day for a trip to the Theatre) I had a rucksack containing my things for the weekend.
I got off the train in London and realised I had stupidly left her bag on the train. I got back on the train but the bag was gone! It hasn't turned up in lost property. I have chased up several times.
My friend says I owe her £600 for the bag and contents. I agree it was my fault but can I claim compensation from the rail company as the bag hasn't turned up? If not, I will have to borrow money to pay my friend for her things

OP posts:
Zoreos · 03/11/2023 07:14

I think you should pay half and that’s generous. If I left my bag of stuff in the possession of anyone else other than me I would accept that I was liable for not keeping my belongings with me in the first place. Expensive mistake, yes. But that’s just life.

NewFriendlyLadybird · 03/11/2023 07:17

All of this is what insurance is FOR. OP should pay the excess. Yes it was a mistake but your friend trusted you not to make that mistake. You probably won’t do any such favours again, but what is done is done.

CrabbiesGingerBeer · 03/11/2023 07:26

Zoreos · 03/11/2023 07:14

I think you should pay half and that’s generous. If I left my bag of stuff in the possession of anyone else other than me I would accept that I was liable for not keeping my belongings with me in the first place. Expensive mistake, yes. But that’s just life.

If the flatmate has expensive tastes as the OP says, £600 is likely less than half.

I costed up my overnight bag as I’m currently away from home and came to over £1300. While that included an iPad, my ‘evening clothes’ weren’t for any sort of party - if they had been, I’d have been at around that sum without the electronics.

StopStartStop · 03/11/2023 07:29

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 02/11/2023 17:33

I think this is such an appalling attitude to have. IMO if this is how you behave if YOU lost something belonging to someone else then you should decline to take it in the first place.

Show quote history

Appalling? It's appalling to ask your friend to bring your luggage. It's appalling to demand recompense if that luggage is lost. Yes, OP could have declined, but her 'friend' should not have put her in the position of having to do so.

The 'appalling' behaviour is from the entitled friend.

BustyLaRoux · 03/11/2023 07:31

Can’t believe people saying friend’s insurance should cover this (of course it won’t) or that £600 is so much that she could afford not to ask OP to replace her things!!! OP is absolutely responsible. Insurance won’t cover it (even if friend has insurance). Third party lost bag..?! No insurance will pay out for that. Also £600 sounds a lot but it’s really not!
Jeans £50
Boots £100
Top £40
PJs £70
Perfume £80
Make up/toiletries £100
Bag £70
OP the rail company will not compensate you. You lost the bag. It sucks as you were doing her a favour. But that’s life I’m afraid. I’ll bet your friend is gutted that all her nice stuff has gone. The least you can do is give her the money to replace it. £600 isn’t a lot for all that stuff. This is on you and yes if you need to borrow the money then so be it. Why is that relevant? Is there a suggestion your friend should take pity on you and let you off compensating her?

IDontHateRainbows · 03/11/2023 07:32

I can easily see a weekend bag and contents costing £600, my makeup and toiletries bag alone would easily cost that.

If I'd lost it I'd be expecting to replace it and not to go halves

Gifflon · 03/11/2023 07:35

I agree @StopStartStop

Take my bag for me.

OK, you’re my friend and I want to help.

I accidentally left it on the train but did my very best to get it back.

That bag was worth actually worth £600. You need to pay me back.

Gifflon · 03/11/2023 07:38

It’s the same if you gave someone - say a vase to hold and they accidentally dropped it.

You wouldn’t say - actually that vase was worth £600 - you need to pay me back.

Gifflon · 03/11/2023 07:39

Nor would it be unlawful if you accidentally dropped/lost someone else’s procession.

Clarefromwork · 03/11/2023 07:40

Was the bag in the overhead compartment or in the luggage bit at the end of the carriage? If not in the overhead it could have got stolen before you got off the train.

Did you definitely get back on the right bit of the train when you realised (as you would have been rushing!) I would keep checking with the train company that it’s not been handed in as the train workers may not have seen it straight away if it was in the overhead bit.

Hope you somehow get it back!

Theproofofthepudding · 03/11/2023 07:40

Is any of it covered by credit card insurance? Personally I think it should be 50/50 as you were doing her a favour and it was an accident.

Sartre · 03/11/2023 07:43

Of course OP should pay and I’m glad she is going to. If OP left her friend’s £600 phone on the train and it got stolen and wasn’t insured, I’d fully expect OP to pay for a new one too.

Your friend trusted you with her belongings and you left them behind so they were clearly stolen. It’s a costly mistake but I’m sure you’ll double check you have everything before hopping off public transport again!

SoupDragon · 03/11/2023 07:44

StopStartStop · 03/11/2023 07:29

Appalling? It's appalling to ask your friend to bring your luggage. It's appalling to demand recompense if that luggage is lost. Yes, OP could have declined, but her 'friend' should not have put her in the position of having to do so.

The 'appalling' behaviour is from the entitled friend.

Show quote history

Of course it's not "appalling" or "entitled" to ask if someone will bring your bag on a journey they are already making to meet you for a weekend you are having together. 🙄

Not taking care of the bag is pretty awful though.

Grammarnut · 03/11/2023 07:50

NotFastButFurious · 02/11/2023 15:17

although £600 sounds a lot, my running trainers are worth nearly £200, my case is over £100, so that's half that without adding any clothes, toiletries or perfume etc.

No, that's what they cost. It is not what they are worth. Mind, insurance companies usually replace at 'new' value but that is specified in your contract. If it's not they will give you the value as of now.

Grammarnut · 03/11/2023 07:53

Sartre · 03/11/2023 07:43

Of course OP should pay and I’m glad she is going to. If OP left her friend’s £600 phone on the train and it got stolen and wasn’t insured, I’d fully expect OP to pay for a new one too.

Your friend trusted you with her belongings and you left them behind so they were clearly stolen. It’s a costly mistake but I’m sure you’ll double check you have everything before hopping off public transport again!

Why would you pay £600 for a phone? A refurbished one will cost a third of that maximum and it's only a phone. And if I lost someone's phone and it cost that much I would expect the owner to have insured it.

NewFriendlyLadybird · 03/11/2023 07:56

BustyLaRoux · 03/11/2023 07:31

Can’t believe people saying friend’s insurance should cover this (of course it won’t) or that £600 is so much that she could afford not to ask OP to replace her things!!! OP is absolutely responsible. Insurance won’t cover it (even if friend has insurance). Third party lost bag..?! No insurance will pay out for that. Also £600 sounds a lot but it’s really not!
Jeans £50
Boots £100
Top £40
PJs £70
Perfume £80
Make up/toiletries £100
Bag £70
OP the rail company will not compensate you. You lost the bag. It sucks as you were doing her a favour. But that’s life I’m afraid. I’ll bet your friend is gutted that all her nice stuff has gone. The least you can do is give her the money to replace it. £600 isn’t a lot for all that stuff. This is on you and yes if you need to borrow the money then so be it. Why is that relevant? Is there a suggestion your friend should take pity on you and let you off compensating her?

Depending on the policy, yes this would be covered by insurance. But I see that the OP has in fact come to a satisfactory solution.

coffeeaddict77 · 03/11/2023 07:56

I think the bag was probably stolen and this is a case of no good deed goes unpunished. You did her a favour as for some reason she didn't take her bag herself and she expects you to pay the full cost of things going wrong. I would give her 300 and remember not to do her anymore favours.

coffeeaddict77 · 03/11/2023 07:59

Sartre · 03/11/2023 07:43

Of course OP should pay and I’m glad she is going to. If OP left her friend’s £600 phone on the train and it got stolen and wasn’t insured, I’d fully expect OP to pay for a new one too.

Your friend trusted you with her belongings and you left them behind so they were clearly stolen. It’s a costly mistake but I’m sure you’ll double check you have everything before hopping off public transport again!

You make it sound like the friend was going OP a favour letting her take her ridiculously expensive weekend back on the train.

TillyBilly29 · 03/11/2023 08:03

OP, I'm sorry this happened, it is a really tricky situation, but it wasn't your fault or really even a silly mistake, the bag was clearly stolen, which is a really crappy thing to happen. Whoever decided to steal it is who you should blame not yourself.

Rocket1982 · 03/11/2023 08:12

4 scenarios:

  • bag carrier punched in the face and bag taken from her
  • thief grabbed bag from next to carrier’s feet and ran off with it. Carrier chases thief and is not successful
  • thief grabs bag from the luggage rack as trains stops and carrier sees them jump off train and train pulls away
  • thief steals bag from luggage rack while carrier is not looking
in which of these scenarios is the bag carrier responsible for the missing bag? An easy rule is that the thief and not the carrier is responsible in all scenarios but most people on the thread are arguing that the carrier bears full responsibility in scenario 4 at least.
notlucreziaborgia · 03/11/2023 08:12

coffeeaddict77 · 03/11/2023 07:59

You make it sound like the friend was going OP a favour letting her take her ridiculously expensive weekend back on the train.

Show quote history

Jesus Christ, £600 is not ‘ridiculously expensive’ for a weekend bag + belongings.

OP fucked up, that’s it. Someone trusting you with their belongings does not give you carte blanche to lose them and shrug your shoulders with a ‘not my problem’. OP assumed responsibility for them, it’s on her that they were lost, and it’s on her to replace them.

AndromacheAstyanax · 03/11/2023 08:13

It was a mistake. Not culpable in the same way that deliberate theft is. I suggest you get a police crime number, flatmate claims on insurance and OP offers to pay excess. Meantime, keep checking out the lost property at the station, just in case it turns up there. Good luck.

SoupDragon · 03/11/2023 08:15

Rocket1982 · 03/11/2023 08:12

4 scenarios:

  • bag carrier punched in the face and bag taken from her
  • thief grabbed bag from next to carrier’s feet and ran off with it. Carrier chases thief and is not successful
  • thief grabs bag from the luggage rack as trains stops and carrier sees them jump off train and train pulls away
  • thief steals bag from luggage rack while carrier is not looking
in which of these scenarios is the bag carrier responsible for the missing bag? An easy rule is that the thief and not the carrier is responsible in all scenarios but most people on the thread are arguing that the carrier bears full responsibility in scenario 4 at least.

None of those scenarios are what happened and are irrelevant. In this case, the bag carrier got off the train having forgotten about the bag completely.

Catandsquirrel · 03/11/2023 08:17

I definitely think this needs reporting to the police. If you got straight back on then someone has nicked it.

ememem84 · 03/11/2023 08:17

Cosywintertime · 02/11/2023 15:43

Can’t quite believe some folks think if you lose your mates bag your house insurance might cover it. 😳

op, this is on you, so yes you need to pay to replace her items.

Mine does.