Flatmate says I owe her £600

[Digestivesandcheese]

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

If she (or you ) have travel I suranve you can claim on that but you must report it stolen.

You lost it, so you should pay for it to be replaced. If either of you have an insurance policy that could cover it, you could eventually get the money back that way, but I wouldn't hold your breath as it sounds like it was your mistake that cost your flatmate her possessions.

How long has it been? A colleague left his work bag with a new laptop and business notes on the tube. It turned up totally as he left it a few weeks later. Otherwise, I think you need to pay - I think £600 would mean you have got off lightly.

https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/home/personal-possessions-cover-what-youre-covered-for-away-from-home#:~:text=Usually%20an%20add%2Don%20to,Personal%20Possessions%20and%20Specified%20Items.

One example from Google. I'm not sure why people disbelieve this option exists.

Not really. Your insurance premium is likely to go up if you make a claim so you will be paying it back and you would have to declare it if you tried to change insurers.

Yes, but you end up with a full bottle/lipstick where previously you only had half a bottle of perfume and quarter of a lipstick. Who in good conscience wants to make a profit out of a friend like that, particularly a friend who you had asked to do you a favour?

Do you have annual travel insurance? People forgot it covers weekend trips in the UK too

You will need to pay her, but work out the actual value of what was lost. Was it £600 new, or £600 in the condition it was in?

Just because she paid £600 for the stuff doesn't mean that is what you owe her. It's not its value because it's no longer brand new.

If you are friends then you should both be able to sort out a compromise.

I think FWIW, all things that get left on the train in the London area are sent to Cannon St station. It sometimes takes a couple of weeks for them to make it there and be sorted out by staff, so maybe give it a bit more time.

Of course you need to replace the items you lost. Any decent friend would. Not sure who all the cheapskates are claiming £600 is too much. It very obviously isn’t 🙄

As others have said, add in toiletries, straighteners, a decent pair of shoes or two and even regular high street clothes and you could easily get to £1000 without the bag cost. Then there’s jewelry, underwear etc. A bra on its own can easily be £50.

Your mistake, you pay. A harsh lesson to learn but you should have been more careful.

Not if you have to replace them!! 🙄

Six hundred is nothing these days. My old iPad and phone are worth that!

On a train, I wouldn't leave a bag out of sight, so you were naive to do that

In her shoes, I'd expect you to pay something, but not new for old. If your friend is asking you to pay for new items to replace old ones, that's cheeky, as she'll benefit financially.

Sadly, this is the kind of situation where everyone feels hard done by and may sour the friendship

Well no the rail company won’t cover it, they can’t be held liable. What a nightmare for you

It's been stolen. I don't think your friend is in a position to demand £600 from you for a stolen bag. If I was the friend I would not dream of demanding this. I might hope you would buy me a replacement bag or a voucher towards replacing some stuff maybe, as a gesture.

If she was a good friend I would offer her some money towards replacing the stuff, or maybe buy a replacement just for the bag itself. I wouldn't offer her £600 and get into debt over it. That's unreasonable in my opinion and unkind of her to put you in that position, if you are her friend.

Well, this is a friend who made a favour and accidentally lost the contents...not a courier with insurance or a company with £££!!!

Either ask OP for a contribution to help buy new stuff...or just accept the loss.

Some people are tight and heartless!

OP next time you should charge for the courier services! (Im kidding)

I know you don't have home insurance that will cover it but do you have a yearly travel insurance policy that it would be covered under? One of the benefits of the yearly travel insurance is that your weekend trips in the UK like this one are covered!

Not to replace them though!

If they were Nike running trainers is she going to be able to replace them for £10...? No!

What a silly comment.

A regular bag, several outfits, a pair of shoes, and some toiletries, could easily amount to £600, without it being high end

I think everyone's is. Yours is by no means unique.

I'm surprised that it's so unanimous here that the OP should pay. It's not like the friend lent the OP her belongings.
The friend was storing her belongings with the OP and in the course of this, the belongings got stolen. How is she less responsible than the OP who was storing the belongings on the train and, in the course of this, they got stolen? Yes sure the OP was negligent for 2 or 3 mins but traveling around London always carries a risk that your things will be nicked and the friend would have known that.
I think it's 50/50 here.

You lost it, it's your fault. Claim on your insurance if you can, and if not, try to replace at least some of the contents. At the same time, friend is being a bit over the top - it was an accident, after all. You were doing her a favour in the first place.

That seems like a fair compromise.

Were the clothes, shoes and especially toiletries new?

I would not expect a friend to buy me a new foundation if the one she lost was already half empty.
Similar re shoes and clothes.

@Digestivesandcheese

Hmm. I’m wondering if your friend should actually take some responsibility for asking you to do a favour. You also had no idea if the value of the bag/contents that you were asked to take responsibility for. If you’d been to carry - say £600 worth of jewellery, or a musical instrument - you’d have been cautious, and perhaps said ‘no’. I don’t think I’d ask a friend to take a £600 bag for me knowing she had her own things to carry too, and I wouldn’t ask for money if she lost it.

You agreed to take the bag so therefore it is your responsibility to properly care for it.

You forgot about it and it got stolen.

It's straightforward to me, you should replace with the same or give money to compensate.

The only time this would be a tricky situation for you both is if you got mugged walking down the road and they forced you to hand the bag over.