Look What's Left In London's Tube - 'I left my lawnmower on the Tube'

Look What's Left In London's Lost And Found!

• Transport for London's lost property office has revealed some of the strangest items ever handed in.
• A samurai sword, a prosthetic arm and a coffin are just some of the bizarre items left behind on the capital's public transport system.
• The vast treasure chest of weird and wonderful items was unveiled at Transport for London's Lost Property Office.
• The basement in Baker Street, central London, is celebrating 75 years of collecting items mislaid on overground and Tube trains, buses, cabs and coaches.
• And now they are showcasing the forgotten finds, including a stuffed fox, a puffer fish, a lawnmower, a park bench, WWII gas masks and even a home vasectomy kit.
• The staff's fears over the contents of the coffin lessened when its "owner" was tracked down, who revealed it was used for theatrical purposes only.
• In fact, the office enjoys a very successful hit rate at finding the lost items' forgetful friends.
  LPO's office manager Julie Haley told Sky News Online reuniting two urns of ashes with the relatives of the deceased was "particularly heart-warming".
• "It was an emotional moment for all of us. Having said that, all items are important to their owners and returning even the smallest of items can make a big difference," she said.
  A pair of breast implants was also successfully returned.
• However, the toothless man who came in one day asking for his dentures was less fortunate.
• He brought back what he had identified as his own set a few hours later, complaining of "rubbing".
• Despite that rare, unfortunate mis-match, staff have developed keen detective skills - yards from Sherlock Holmes' stomping ground - over the years to identify matches among the thousands of items.
• Julie said keeping up with changing styles and times over three quarters of a century has helped.
• "In the 1960s, the most popular thing we would get was umbrellas. We would get over 90,000 in a typical year," she said. The number handed in today is around 7,000.
  "We used to get loads and loads of fashionable gloves years ago," Julie added.
• "Obviously now they're not the height of fashion any more."
• Shelves full of clothing, bags and books remain dominant among the near-200,000 items recovered each year.
• They have helped to build quite a pricey collection.
• A quarter of a million pounds worth of luxury watches have been among the items which head to charity or auction if not claimed within three months.
• Julie insisted any personal data left on an item will see it kept permanently though, and she advised the public to always check with them.
• "I know some people think if they have lost something on public transport they will never get it back," she said.
• "But I would like to encourage them to give us a call. You never know - we might just have it here."
• So if you see a one-armed, sword-less samurai roaming around the capital, point him in the direction of Baker Street.

By http://www.michaeljackson50.com/