Lost property 'not returned' from Newcastle Central Station

Oct 24 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

CASH and belongings lost at Newcastle Central Station are not being returned to train passengers, an undercover study suggested yesterday.

The investigation conducted by Which? found two-thirds of stations failed to contact travellers who lost property.

Undercover teams handed in a lost coat, containing a wallet and £22 in cash, at 16 railway stations across the country.

Names and address details of the owner were included in the wallet, but staff at only five of the stations contacted them.

The magazine gave Newcastle Central Station three weeks to get in touch about the lost goods, but it failed to do so.

A spokeswoman from station managers National Express said all lost property was sorted in Newark.

Which? magazine condemned the performance of the lost property operations at the majority of stations.

It said the situation had not improved since it last carried out the study in 2003 and the results were worse than a similar survey in 1999 when four out of eight coats and wallets were returned intact.

A spokeswoman from the consumer group said the industry had failed to deliver on promises to improve the handling of lost property made following earlier surveys.

Which? representative Nicola Frame said: “We waited three weeks to hear a response from all the stations and Newcastle was one of those that did not reply.

“We are not suggesting that staff are dishonest, just that there is no central system in place to return lost items to their owners.

“However, these findings demonstrate a dismal performance. They will underline the fears of travellers that they are unlikely to see items that are lost on a train ever again.”

Passenger support groups last night called for changes to procedures to allow accessibility for customers. Amy Stockton, Passenger Focus spokeswoman, said: “As every train operator has its own procedure for lost property, it’s imperative for the train companies to make their own policies easy to understand and accessible to passengers.

“At the end of the day, if there is clearly identifiable name and contact details on the lost property, it’s only reasonable for passengers to expect a call notifying them about their possessions being found.” Meanwhile Bruce Williamson, a national spokesman from Rail Future, said: “Clearly it’s wrong, but maybe what actually needs to be addressed is human nature.”

A spokeswoman from National Express, which manages Newcastle Central Station, said: “The lost property taken from trains that terminate at Newcastle, Doncaster or Edinburgh are taken to Newark where they are sorted.”

The Association of Train Operating Companies, which represents the industry, said: “While we have not seen the full report from Which?, the information provided so far, albeit on an extremely small sample, does look disappointing.”