Can the legendary Mumsnet Hive Mind help Please?

[LumpyandBumps]

My son lost his wallet on a short break to Zagreb.
Someone very kindly handed it in to the Police Station and the police contacted my son via Instagram, but unfortunately not until after he was back in the UK. ( he lost his wallet on the last evening of his trip and had an early morning flight next day).
The wallet itself has sentimental value as it was a gift from his father who sadly passed away last year. It also has cash and driving licence which we are less bothered about.
The police suggested that they send the wallet to the British embassy in Zagreb as they can’t send it out of the country.
The embassy say that whilst they will sometimes accept passports they don’t deal with lost property.
Can anyone think of a way to get it back? The only thing we can come up with is that one of us flies to Zagreb and collects it but it’s very difficult to arrange time off to do this.
Thank you

Maybe a twitter campaign? If I saw this somewhere and I lived close enough to pick it up and post it I'd be happy to help. Maybe a mumsnetter with connections?
Or join a group on Facebook for local people and ask?
I'm sure someone will have time if you give express permission for the person to collect the wallet and send it over? Surely paying postage and sending a nice wee gift to the kind person is cheaper than a flight?

Can’t you send them money for the postage costs?

We would happily do this. There is cash in the wallet to cover it, and a thank you present, but the police say they can’t send it out of the country.

"The wallet itself has sentimental value as it was a gift from his father who sadly passed away last year."

Because of this sentence I would MAKE time and fetch it personally. Will the police hand it over to you or does it have to be your son himself?

And, obviously I'm sorry for your loss.

The only thing we can come up with is that one of us flies to Zagreb and collects it but it’s very difficult to arrange time off to do this

Can you go for the day?

I can see that Ryanair flies from Stansted on a Friday morning and has an evening return flight. Or if you also look at BA you might be able to find more options. Obviously you'll need to know that the embassy is open and someone will hand over the wallet, especially if you find flights at the weekend.

Did he book with a company like Tui or other package company?

They may have an agent or hotel inspector that could collect it. It might take a while.

Which airline did he travel with? They probably have staff who work at the airport and may be able to collect it and put on a flight.

It's worth asking, I once got a consignment of bras sent to South Africa by asking South African Airlines if they could carry them.

I have no idea how difficult/expensive it would be to get there directly to collect it for a day, but obviously that is the most effective option.

The other option I'd consider is contacting the hotel you stayed at. Hotels are pretty good at sending lost property back if necssary, so you could ask if the police could post it to them and they post it to you - at your expensive obviously? I suspect it would depend massively on the hotel though as to whether that would work.

Could you find a courier, as in a real person who takes documents around the world? Someone that was just doing a journey back to the UK. Not sure if that would be more expensive than taking a round trip yourself on a budget airline though!

Thank you for these suggestions.

We are checking with the police to see if they will release the wallet to a third party.

He booked independent travel via Ryanair and Air BnB. He has messaged the Air BnB host. Everything was done remotely, key in box etc, so not sure how hands on the host is, but it’s worth a try.

We have found a reasonably priced courier, but now need to await a response from the police to see if they will release it to them, and will then need to double check that the courier will collect from a police station. All conversations with the police except one have been via Instagram and he has so far had the best response on Instagram. He has also asked about opening times for collection.

I can go and collect if the police are ok with this.

If all else fails he will need to bite the bullet, take time off work, and collect himself.

Happy update

Thank you so much to the people who suggested contacting the Air BnB owner.

My son hadn’t met him and I didn’t hold out much hope, but he went and collected the wallet and it arrived home today.

My son is ecstatic to get the wallet back, complete with his Driving Licence so he doesn’t have to replace that.

He didn’t get the cash which was in the wallet ( around £40) although the man had said he would send equivalent via PayPal, but my son said to take out his expenses and would happily have paid that to get the wallet back.

So pleased for you both!

Lovely to hear!