left on train..

[Tams bird]

Bag containing dead octopus 'left on train'

 

Beverley MacFall with some of the things left behind at Waverley station

A dead octopus, a cat and part of a shotgun are among the items passengers have left on trains in Scotland this year, it has been revealed.

 

Hundreds of items are handed into the lost property offices at stations in Glasgow and Edinburgh by rail workers who find them abandoned on trains.

 

Mobile phones and jackets are among the most commonly forgotten items.

 

But items that might seem difficult to forget included a bag containing a dead octopus handed in at Edinburgh.

 

It was not claimed, and the octopus was disposed of.

 

It's very satisfying when you can help people get their things back, especially if it has sentimental value

 

Beverley MacFall

Excess Baggage

A cat was left on a train going from Cardonald to Glasgow, along with a bag containing its bowl and litter tray. The animal was passed on to police.

 

One passenger also left half of a shotgun, along with the licence and ammunition, on a London to Glasgow train during the summer.

 

Staff called police, who took it away and the gun's owner was told to contact the officers when he phoned to say he had lost his gun.

 

The office at Edinburgh's Waverley station receives around 120 items a week, while Glasgow's Central Station deals with about 60. About 20% of people reclaim their possessions.

 

Both offices are run by Excess Baggage, whose staff try to reunite objects with their owners by using clues such as identification cards or personal letters found inside them.

 

Objects are kept for three months and are then auctioned off under the Association of Train Operating Companies guidelines.

 

'Washing basket'

 

Other recent finds include a hockey stick, a wheelchair and a trumpet, while two clarinets and two violins caused confusion when they were both handed in on the same day.

 

Seasonal changes also affect the kind of items people leave behind.

 

Beverley MacFall, manager of the two cities' lost property offices, said: "We get hats, gloves and scarves in the summer and coats in the summer, and during festival season people leave tents, sleeping bags, bed rolls and deckchairs, beach toys and even a body board.

 

"The office is not so much Aladdin's Cave as Aladdin's washing basket on the whole.

 

"It's very satisfying when you can help people get their things back, especially if it has sentimental value."

[Scotland]

Errrr.....

 

I can explain.

 

You see, that octopus was just getting on my nerves, so.....