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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Help,urgent..train Penzance to Edinburgh

141 replies

Hedjwitch · 03/01/2026 17:57

Is anyone on, or have friends travelling on the 11.15 from Penzance to Edinburgh just now? My son has left his back pack on the train when he got off at Birmingham New Street. A black backpack containing all his stuff! Carriage F5. Can't get any answer on the phone at Lost Property and he has registered on line. Long shot but....please!

OP posts:
NoExchangeBeforeChristmasThen · 04/01/2026 12:26

A very lovely academic I lectured with back in the day used to tell the most amazing story of how she left her handwritten almost finished PhD thesis on the train from London to Edinburgh in the early 1960s. No hard drive/simple re-printing in those days! She re-wrote it from scratch 😱 Everyone with a PhD (myself included) would almost faint at this point in the storytelling.

Over a year later - well after she had submitted & graduated - someone knocked at her door with the original manuscript. British Railways (as it was then) had spent a year trying to track her down.

I really hope you get the bag & especially the photo back @Hedjwitch🤞🏻

snowibunni · 04/01/2026 12:26

kittensinthekitchen · 04/01/2026 01:31

Where was it? 1996?

Elderly relative Christmas present. Doesn't do electronic banking ... Writes cheques for everyhing. When found DC banked it via their bank app. Which I told them to do on 25 December. If they'd done that then they wouldn't have had to spend two hrs turning their bedroom upside down, moaning to me and me having to do the prayer. Mother knows best and all that.

Hedjwitch · 04/01/2026 13:17

Good news. It is definitely at Lost Property in Edinburgh! They responded to his online thingy. He can collect it tomorrow. I am so relieved. Hope contents still intact but am sure they will be. Thank you all so much for the support and kindness.

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MaloryJones · 04/01/2026 13:20

kittensinthekitchen · 04/01/2026 01:31

Where was it? 1996?

😆😅

diddl · 04/01/2026 13:43

Hedjwitch · 04/01/2026 13:17

Good news. It is definitely at Lost Property in Edinburgh! They responded to his online thingy. He can collect it tomorrow. I am so relieved. Hope contents still intact but am sure they will be. Thank you all so much for the support and kindness.

Excellent news!

Soonenough · 04/01/2026 13:47

I came on here to check on the progress of this adventure. Good to hear that it's found and being collected .
.

stonebrambleboy · 04/01/2026 14:25

Hedjwitch · 04/01/2026 13:17

Good news. It is definitely at Lost Property in Edinburgh! They responded to his online thingy. He can collect it tomorrow. I am so relieved. Hope contents still intact but am sure they will be. Thank you all so much for the support and kindness.

I told you St Anthony never lets you down 😆
Great outcome, people are kind.

stonebrambleboy · 04/01/2026 14:29

TheEverlastingPorridge · 04/01/2026 10:18

"There's no atheists on a sinking ship"

Or the battlefield!

HighStreetOtter · 04/01/2026 14:32

Blimey is he having to go from Birmingham to Edinburgh to get it!

Hedjwitch · 04/01/2026 14:34

No,we live in Scotland and he will be home tonight,weather permitting! He can drive down to Edinburgh tomorrow if the roads are OK. Quite a lot of snow.

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noctilucentcloud · 04/01/2026 14:35

NoExchangeBeforeChristmasThen · 04/01/2026 12:26

A very lovely academic I lectured with back in the day used to tell the most amazing story of how she left her handwritten almost finished PhD thesis on the train from London to Edinburgh in the early 1960s. No hard drive/simple re-printing in those days! She re-wrote it from scratch 😱 Everyone with a PhD (myself included) would almost faint at this point in the storytelling.

Over a year later - well after she had submitted & graduated - someone knocked at her door with the original manuscript. British Railways (as it was then) had spent a year trying to track her down.

I really hope you get the bag & especially the photo back @Hedjwitch🤞🏻

Oh my goodness! When I wrote my thesis I backed it up 3x each night (and took one copy home in case the uni burnt down) as I couldn't face the thought of having to write it more than once! I'm so impressed she didn't give up.

falalalalalalalallama · 04/01/2026 14:47

Be aware that lost property at Edinburgh may charge you to retrieve the bag. When we left our suitcase on the platform, it cost us £20 to get it back from them!

It was nearly Christmas and we went up to Edinburgh with loads of bags. At Kings Cross they were encouraging people to put their large bags in a baggage carriage and giving each of us a ticket for our bag, like a cloak room. It all seemed very well organised. But that was an illusion!

At Edinburgh, they simply dumped all the suitcases in a big pile on the platform. It was at the end of the platform with no cover, and it was dark and raining. It was chaos trying to retrieve the bags!

We got all of our bags - except the suitcase with all the Christmas presents in it 😭😭

We realised within half an hour but lost property wasn't taking calls and it wasn't until we retrieved the suitcase the following morning that we knew Christmas hadn't been ruined!

I thought £20 was bloody cheeky, but I was so relieved we had the presents back I let it go! But I'd never leave my suitcase in a baggage carriage again.

This was some years ago now, I hope they don't still charge.

falalalalalalalallama · 04/01/2026 14:55

I see it's too late now, but just in case it's helpful for anyone in future, I thought I'd mention it's worth trying the train operator's social media.

DS left a bag on a Southern Train. The lost property number only went to a series of recordings, no person, and the form on the website for lost property said we should expect to wait a few days for an answer.

We checked in lost property at our destination a couple of hours later, while on our return journey, and the staff at the station suggested we try Twitter.

So, we DMed the Twitter account for Southern and got a really helpful person who enquired which train we had been on. Within 10 minutes they'd established the bag had been found, and where it was - sitting in lost property - luckily, at our original station, so we managed to retrieve it before going home.

It was good old fashioned customer service, communicating with a real human, like you used to get on a phone call - only via Twitter DM.

I have no idea whether other train companies have the same, but certainly worth trying if you're not getting anywhere on the phone. I was impressed!

Crwysmam · 04/01/2026 15:09

So glad you found the bag and it’s safe.
I too have a son who is prone to absent mindedness.
When he’s travelling by train I send regular texts reminding him not to leave bags behind. Bit helicopter parent but I am prone to losing stuff so it’s just easier to remind him. If he’s on his way home he usually engages in a text conversation with me, so it’s a just part of the conversation. We enjoy people watching so it’s an entertaining way of passing the time.

I travelled from Cornwall to the Midlands by train recently. During the first leg to Plymouth I was sat opposite a drug dealer, recently released from prison, on his way to sign in with his parole officer. He did several deals on his way to Plymouth. I didn’t chat with him but he wasn’t very discrete while talking on the phone and the carriage was almost empty. It’s fascinating how totally unaware people are of how much information they give away in public.

MarxistMags · 04/01/2026 15:57

I came on for a look too.
Great news, so happy for your son.

Wasntmeanttobelikethis · 04/01/2026 16:09

NoExchangeBeforeChristmasThen · 04/01/2026 12:26

A very lovely academic I lectured with back in the day used to tell the most amazing story of how she left her handwritten almost finished PhD thesis on the train from London to Edinburgh in the early 1960s. No hard drive/simple re-printing in those days! She re-wrote it from scratch 😱 Everyone with a PhD (myself included) would almost faint at this point in the storytelling.

Over a year later - well after she had submitted & graduated - someone knocked at her door with the original manuscript. British Railways (as it was then) had spent a year trying to track her down.

I really hope you get the bag & especially the photo back @Hedjwitch🤞🏻

Do you have a PhD?

Aknifewith16blades · 04/01/2026 16:30

I was once on a bus, and a young Yr7 pupil got off just before the bus reached the town centre.

Only to be marched back by his mother 3 mins later, to retrieve his PE kit from under the seat on the top deck. I remain in awe - he must have literally set one foot in his home, before she noticed it was missing and whisked him back out to reclaim it, just as the bus re-traced it's route.

WirelessInternet · 04/01/2026 16:34

This thread is Mumsnet gold. It’s got everything. People arguing over which saint to pray to, bickering about how religious you can be if you pray, hapless offspring leaving things everywhere, clueless posters commenting hours later when the question has been answered, not to mention people randomly claiming how invested they are and how wonderful humanity is. Edit: just seen someone boasting about having a PhD, too!

Surely this is one for the Tattlers.

Snooks1971 · 04/01/2026 16:43

kittensinthekitchen · 04/01/2026 01:31

Where was it? 1996?

Sorry but 😆😆😆

MoonChild111 · 04/01/2026 17:11

Keep us updated on this 😁

ERthree · 04/01/2026 17:45

Great news

SBGM247 · 04/01/2026 18:03

Hedjwitch · 04/01/2026 13:17

Good news. It is definitely at Lost Property in Edinburgh! They responded to his online thingy. He can collect it tomorrow. I am so relieved. Hope contents still intact but am sure they will be. Thank you all so much for the support and kindness.

Hurrah! And you'll be back in Blighty in time for tea.

kittensinthekitchen · 05/01/2026 02:14

SBGM247 · 04/01/2026 18:03

Hurrah! And you'll be back in Blighty in time for tea.

Why the fuck would they be, when they live North of Edinburgh?

FFS, there is a whole world outside of England, yunno?

SBGM247 · 05/01/2026 08:06

kittensinthekitchen · 05/01/2026 02:14

Why the fuck would they be, when they live North of Edinburgh?

FFS, there is a whole world outside of England, yunno?

Funny

Hedjwitch · 05/01/2026 12:18

Final update. Bag retrieved,all is well.
Again, thank you so much.

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