Left suitcase on the train

[Whatanidiot123]

Like an absolute wally I left one of my bags on a train yesterday morning. The lost property system seems like a total nightmare. I’m never getting it back am I?

My train terminated in Edinburgh but then apparently went on to Aberdeen. It hasn’t been handed in to Edinburgh lost property.

Anyone have a positive experience to share or any tips on getting it back?

Surely it'll be in Aberdeen?

My husband left something on the overhead luggage rack on a train on his way to work, when he got on his train home it turned out to be the same train and it was still there.

We just got back a parcel we'd left on a bus in York.
They must have some system for it- must happen all the time.
Good luck!!

I've twice left a bag on the train, once left my wallet and last week my son left his phone on the train. All four times I got them back. Sorry it was a while ago I left my bags but I know it was straightforward. With the bags I think I contacted lost property. I'm pretty sure one bag was sent back to London for me to collect. With my wallet, they found me on Twitter and let me know! With my son's phone I had a hard time getting hold of lost property so we took the train to the final station on the line. Fortunately it was only 30 minutes away and they had the phone.

DH left his suitcase on a train in Kent last year - he was helping a woman who was absolutely hammered get off the train and find a cab, then realised he’d left his case on the train.

Cue panic, he called lost property and they took a description of the case and his number. He eventually got a call a week later to say it had been handed in and made its way to central lost property at Cannon Street and he went and picked it up.

He was massively relieved, especially as his laptop was still in it. They had opened the case (routine apparently) and binned his raw chicken in jerk sauce (he was on his way to a BBQ) which whiffed a bit by then.

I did this once, I got it back but it wasn't found straight away. I'm not sure if they clear out the trains after each route, or if they do it might take a while to register the lost property. So there is hope!

I once left a wallet on the train and I got it back. I don’t think anything was even missing.

@overindulged I’m going to try Aberdeen. The challenge is that it stops being cross country trains and starts being Scotsrail. Also the Cross Country trsin routes literally run the length of the country. Some stations outsource their list property to a private company. It’s mind boggling! My train was stated as terminating in Edinburgh but then became an Aberdeen train - god knows what it did after that.

I also don’t think the address label was still on the back of the case and nothing inside has my details. So I have to track it down to get it back or at least share the right details to the right company or location.

I did wonder if it would end up going all the way back to Plymouth! Maybe it will be in my train this evening?!

@SallyWD my instinct was to jump in the train and follow it, but Aberdeen is a trek.
Good to know that most people got their things back. The cost to replace the contents and bag is at least £500…work clothes, favourite jeans and top, perfume, electric toothbrush, smart shoes, pyjamas, the case itself.

Train companies lost property systems are usually very good and they have systems in place. The train doesn’t stop being CrossCountrys past Edinburgh, it’s odd you’ve been told that as they don’t go to Aberdeen, it’s that Aberdeen station is managed by Scotrail and Edinburgh station is managed by network rail, the stations themselves manage the lost property so log it with both of them aswell as you’ll have a better chance of getting it back, fingers crossed it wasn’t taken by someone OP!

Twitter can be helpful in this sort of situation, maybe tweet the rail company and ask them what the process is.

My ds last year, left his rucksack with expensive aftershave and designer top on a train. We phoned up local train station and filled out online report for lost property. I got a call about 1/2 later to say that they had found bag. I went to collect it and everything was in it. I had to pay £5 to get it back, it was worth it. My son was so relieved. I was very impressed.

I had a great experience getting something back off a train the terminated in Plymouth (I think). Sent them an email, got an unduly back the next day. They told me details to book a courier collection (cost about 8quid) and got it back a couple of days later. I was so impressed (and surprised)

That's not right, OP. A train doesn't change operators - a Cross Country train can't turn into a Scotrail service. Cross Country doesn't have its own lost property function, so if found, your case will have gone into the lost property of whichever company runs the station where it was handed in. Unless a passenger handed it in en route, it's probably in Aberdeen. Hope you find it!

OP you're making this more complex than it needs to be.

It will have stayed as a cross country train. Contact Aberdeen, and cross country, and follow their lost property procedures.

Instead of spending time on MN if you actually want your bag back you would be better off using the train company lost property services, which, as others have pointed out, are pretty good. When I left a valuable item on a train, I completed the details on every possible rail company lost property website (the train company, and those managing stations where it might have been handed in). A few weeks later I received a message from a lost property office about it. I decided to go and collect it rather than risk it getting lost in transit. The office was full of all sorts of bags stored waiting to be reunited with their owners. I was charged a £2 admin fee, an unbelievably low price! Just make sure you give a detailed description and a photo of item if you have one.

This was 20 years ago, but DH left a black rucksack on a Cross Country train terminating at Bristol. We were shown to their lost property office at Bristol - no exaggeration, there were hundreds of black rucksacks there, but we did eventually find his!

DS left a case on the train a couple of years ago. Despite reporting it immediately, he never got it back. I guess it must have been pinched.

I travel a lot and have had quite a few lost items over the years; I've got most but not all of them back. My best advice is to keep checking with the lost and found for the relevant service/station every day for the next week plus. It sounds crazy, but IMO it takes much longer than you'd think for the right lost and found to receive and log the items. I've had a few things located and returned beyond the two week mark, so it does happen.

It sounds like you got off the train leaving your luggage behind, so no one proactively took it - that's good. Also the fact that you left a suitcase on a train - a completely normal and predictable situation! - works in your favour. Determine the real party responsible for your bag and keep checking with them - whoever sold you the ticket from Plymouth should be able to tell you the relevant lost and found if you're unsure, and the ScotsNet board here can help if it's ScotRail and you're unfamiliar with them. Good luck!

@minisomum thankfully my laptop was in my other bag. That was a headache I was happy not to have.

@limegreenheart thanks that is really helpful advice, thank you.

@Redburnett i posted to crowdsource advice and others experience, which has actually been really helpful. Of course there is always one who can be relied upon to be very unhelpful and snarky.

I have also been doggedly pursuing the bag through various orgs and lost property offices. No luck as yet.

@Whatanidiot123 you are in luck if it was handed in at Aberdeen. We did the same earlier this year and the case was taken off at Aberdeen and handed to their lost property. They do answer the phone during certain hours and when they did they were so helpful. They checked the contents to make sure it was ours. Then at their suggestion we booked a Parcelforce collection and emailed the label to them to print and stick to the suitcase. It was less than £15 and we had it back within a day or 2. Honestly they were super. Good luck.

@Sitoff fingers crossed!! They didn’t have it when I spoke to them today though. They said it might not have been passed over by the cleaners yet. Really hoping it gets found.

oh i have a couple of positive retrievals from my dc, her portfolio, as well as her lap top
have faith

@itwasnevermine i am honestly not - it is complicated. I have done all of this. Contacted Cross Country and the Edinburgh lost property office. The chap there saw my train arrive and then depart 10 mins later for Aberdeen. Nobody checked the train for it. It was still a cross country train but appears to have been under Scotsrail lost property rules and not the same company as the other cross country train stations. I have since obtained and called the number for Aberdeen but they have had nothing. So if it isn’t at my advertised terminus or the actual trains final destination then it could have ended up at another station along the route.

I just checked in at my home station, and the very helpful guy checked the system in a few places but nothing matching my case description. Apparently there is another scenario where it goes back to the depot and then to lost property. So I have left my details there too.

Losing hope a bit but will not give up! .

Just in case anyone is interested, my case was found! In Plymouth! It travelled up to Edinburgh and then back down the entire length of the country before it was removed from the train. It then ended up at Bristol as this is where GWR lost property is based. Despite me not traveling on GWR….

I was advised to add my case to missing x.com, which I had looked at but it didn’t list cross country trains as an option and claimed only to serve the listed train companies, so I hadn’t initially been able to. It was only after I spoke to a very helpful person at Cross Country, who helped me figure out I could instead say it was GWR, that I was able to submit my missing item, and immediately found a match.

A person at GWR lost property confirmed it was mine, and a courier is collecting it on Monday. Fingers crossed I’ll have it back mid week.

Oh and I spoke to my mum first thing today who told me to say a prayer to St Anthony. Which I did before I picked up the phone to cross country, so that is of course why I then managed to locate it!

That's great news! I'm glad you tracked it down, must be a relief!