Oxford/Cambridge - current students support/chat thread 2022 - cont

[Panicmode1]

@petitebleu - so sorry to hear about your DS. I hope that some time out over Christmas may help to give him some space and time to think about his next steps.

Long shot, but if there are community Facebook groups for the intermediate towns, it may be worth posting on each of those. In general, thieves will tend to search and dump belongings close to the point of theft - so an appeal to passers by near the station to look out fir files of a student’s notes in bushes / gardens / areas near the station may get some sympathy.

@goodbyestranger your poor, poor DD. That's absolutely terrible for her and a massive deal to cope with so far away from home and her mum, even though I'm sure she's very independent. I don't have any good suggestions other than what others are saying but am pretty sure that whoever nicked it will dump it sooner rather than later.

Is she absolutely certain that it was stolen and not just moved somewhere or dumped off the train at some stop by someone selfishly making room for their own stuff? Surely if it's a large suitcase, it'd be difficult for anyone to move any distance and that ought to be off-putting for anyone up to no good.

I hope she gets it back. Not quite the same thing but the day I arrived to start my undergrad. course at Oxford, many years ago, my trunk - sent on ahead - failed to arrive and I was left with nothing at all, after a very long train journey from up north, entirely alone and away from home for the first time. Not the best start and I can imagine what your DD must be feeling. I hope she's got some good friends around her to give her support and help out practically tonight with necessary things like toothbrush and toothpaste/ shower gel etc.

Oh no, @GoodbyeStranger what a nightmare, I'm so sorry. Poor her and at the end of such an arduous journey. Has she got notes and essays saved online? I think it would be worth putting on Facebook and Twitter, as well as contacting the stations between B New St and Oxford.

Thank you - really helpful suggestions, will get onto it right now xx

@goodbyestranger I've done that route many times over the last year for work & the luggage facilities on those trains are dire as you can't see the large case area from inside the carriage. I have have nobuseful advice except to say that unfortunately it's very easy for someone to hop on at (say) BNS & off at BI and take advantage of the sheer volume of people standing in the aisles to do this to someone like your poor DD.

Have pm'd you

@goodbyestranger no helpful advice unfortunately, but just wanted to say how sorry I am. I really hope British transport police are helpful

H20 I've just come to exactly that conclusion, unfortunately. Chances of recovery therefore very slim. But thank you.

Oh no, goodbye, that's absolutely dreadful. Your poor DD. I only hope it gets abandoned reasonably intact somewhere retrievable if stolen, or handed back if removed by mistake.

Thanks Dahlia. Well I think we've done all that we can do for tonight but my instinct is that H20 is exactly right and that thieves target big cases between New St and the airport. I should have told her to check before each stop - never occurred to me.

@goodbyestranger your poor DD. I have no helpful advice I'm afraid but I do hope she is reunited with her notes and other belongings.

So very sorry to read this @goodbyestranger. I really hope she can recover her work, I agree that posting on local Facebook groups might help recover anything dumped. Poor girl.

I’m so sorry to hear this @goodbyestranger . Your poor DD. Such a terrible thing to happen, especially having lugged it so far. When I was young, I had my small rucksack (that I was sleeping with in my sleeping bag) stolen from a couchette on a French train. Amazingly, a while later, someone found and posted me my journal that was in it. I really hope she is somehow reunited with her work.

What a total nightmare @goodbyestranger . I have nothing constructive to add to the ideas you have been given, but I really, really hope there is a miracle and she gets it back.

What a nightmare @goodbyestranger l

How awful for your DD @goodbyestranger . What a horribly callous crime. My only suggestion (and I’m not being facetious) is a prayer to St Anthony, the patron of lost things.

Or possibly St Jude, the patron saint of lost causes….

Didn’t want to overdo it with the litany of saints but yes, also St Jude (whom I love so much I named a son after him).

Thank you very much again all. Well the various fb groups have a begging message from me to please look out for an abandoned case. It was huge and bulging so DD hopes that if it's flung into a field someone might actually think it looks very suspicious and call the police. Meanwhile all the stations have had their forms filled in and she's going back to the railway station today and then to the police station. I'm hoping the Oxford police will log her details for lost property purposes (they might quarrel about jurisdiction I guess). But thanks for all the supportive and helpful posts. pantjog I think I might well go cheap and call on St Anthony and also St Jude for good measure can'tkeepawayforever. What a fabulous name your DS has pantjog. Yes, very callous to nick a case and it won't be spur of the moment I'm sure. It was very unflash but very big and incredibly heavy. Right, while DD is going to the two stations I shall apply to the the two saints.

I was going to suggest St Anthony but wasn't sure how it would go down....! Hope he comes through, he always has for our family. 😊

Impressive Panicmode1.

Each and every suggestion has been helpful.

Goodness - what a a nightmare @goodbyestranger. Really hoping something is salvaged (whether via social media or divine intervention).

@goodbyestranger my heart sank for your daughter reading your post. Has she collections this week to contend with as well?

My son uses that route so a warning to all of us.

All the very best exploring all these avenues - I too am a great fan of St Anthony.

Thank you Juja. The police seem very clear that gangs are targeting that line. She does have collections, tomorrow I think. It got worse yesterday afternoon when she said she realised that she'd put her nest egg of earnings from working in a cafe up here in Scotland through the summer in the case. £1000 give or take a few pennies in an old plastic bag. The gang must have jumped for joy :( The madness of keeping the nest egg in a bag :(

The bag was by her bed over the summer, getting fatter by the day. I should have taken the money and banked it myself. I did suggest it but didn't push it. I'd also have freaked out if I'd known it was travelling up and down the west coast line.... Anyhow, too late now for either banking or freaking