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[personal profile] venta
Aargh.

Last night, on leaving the office, I trundled through Reading and bought some presents. One present for a new baby whose acquaintance I hope shortly to make, and one for her parents. On a rather crowded train, I tucked the large carrier bag up onto the luggage rack thinking gosh, I'd better not forget and leave that there.

I forgot, and left it there. I am an idiot.

As the train pulled out of Ealing Broadway and headed off to terminate at Paddington, I asked a member of station staff how I should go about meeting up with my bag. Catch the next train to Paddington, he said.

Arriving in Paddington about 15 minutes later, the office that handles lost property was closed. It also handles left luggage, and there was a human in it, but in his lost-property-handling capacity he was shut. He let me fill in a form reporting the loss. Neither he, nor any station staff, could tell me whether the train had left again, whether it had been cleared out before departure, or where it might have gone. Or, indeed, what platform it had come in on.

I scouted round the high-numbered platforms where stopping trains to Reading usually hang out; there was a train getting ready to head out again, and I walked through it twice checking the racks. There was another train on another platform which I checked out before realising it was only three coaches, and thus far too short to have been "my" train. I went home.

This morning, I rang Paddington lost property. No, my bag has not been handed in. Yes, the train would have been cleaned before it departed to its next destination or back to the depot. Would it really, given that it had already left by the time I arrived 8 minutes or so after it did? Yes. Even if it was going to the depot? No. And which one was it going to? No idea. Was there anyone who might be able to tell me? No.

I rang the centralised lost property number for First Great Western. If the train had not been cleared it would have headed off to its next destination, and any lost property would make its way to Bristol Temple Meads, and would be on their system by 6pm. I should call back then.

Grr.

Now, I do understand that (a) it's my fault and (b) they can't handle cases on an individual basis. There are systems in place to track lost property, and I have to follow them. I am not a special snowflake, and neither is my lost bag of presents.

However, it is most infuriating. At the time I realised I'd left the bag on the train, it was barely 60 seconds away from me. It would be at its terminus in 8 minutes. I can't quite shake the feeling that a properly staffed rail service ought to have been able to phone ahead, rescue it for me, and save itself the bother of shuttling bags to and fro to Bristol, filling out and typing in forms, tracking things through databases and handling multiple frustrated phonecalls from me. But that's not the way things work in the modern age. I presume that there are vast reams of information somewhere about the routing and usage of trains; where my train went after it terminated at 20:16 must be a known fact. But that information is completely inaccessible to me or to anyone who deals with lost property.

However, more than anything, the thing that bugs me is the complete offhandedness of everyone I've spoken to so far. I'd mind considerably less if they even bothered to sound as if they gave a flying shit whether my bag was ever found. Haven't got it. Don't know. Can't find out. Don't care.

In fairness, the gentleman at the centralised service read "I'm sorry that you have lost your bag" off his script. Although the effect was slightly spoiled in that he seemed to have forgotten the next bit and there was a long silence before it occurred to him that perhaps he should say something else, too.

I don't want the people who handle lost property to lie to me, or to have to go to great lengths to be reassuring. But I would like them to project just enough competence and engagement with their job to suggest that they've done anything with my forms other than put them down somewhere and wander off.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] valkyriekaren.livejournal.com
Oh, how annoying. I had a similar experience when I lost my wallet on a London bus - got pushed from pillar to post round the different bus depots and then just told to go online and fill out a form.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Last Christmas, I lost the necklace I'd worn since I was seven - probably on a tube, since (with hindsight) I remembered feeling a slight snap as I fiddled with my scarf. TfL lost property seemd quite efficient and helpful, even though I was fairly sure that it was going to be a pretty vain hope that it would be found.

They did eventually call me in because it was found, which meant I got very excited heading off to Baker Street to be reunited. Sadly, I'd lost a small, plain silver 'E' on a fine chain, somewhere around Bank. What they found was a 2" diamanté-encrusted blingin' 'E', on a chain good enough to hold a Rottweiler, in a bus depot in Fulham Broadway.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have called you in for this" said the man at the office as he looked at the form I submitted.

So they weren't actually all that ept, but at least I felt like everyone I dealt with genuinely wanted to find my E for me. Which sounds like the opposite of the experience you had; I guess it depends wholly on the individuals you end up dealing with.

Date: 2012-07-22 11:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] secretrebel.livejournal.com
Sorry, I have to laugh a little at "I've lost my e on a train, please find it". But I'm sorry it never was found. :( Ditto the presents.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vicarage.livejournal.com
On the other hand, as I was catching a train back from Gatwick, I had to change at Guildford for Wokingham. I remember being smug as the annoying phone user lost their signal in a tunnel, and rather less so when I detrained without my suitcase. I rang through to Reading, and they met the train and kept my bag until I got there.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
How does one ring through to a station? A year or so ago, I entrained at Reading with only one glove[*]. Knowing I'd had two very little time ago, I reckoned I must have dropped one on the platform. I spent quite a lot of time attempting to work out how to call Reading and ask someone to put it somewhere safely for me, but everyone I spoke to said it wasn't possible to do call to a station. They're all about the centralised offices.


[*] While one glove is not exactly an insurmountable loss, it was half of a pair of almost brand new cycling gloves.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vicarage.livejournal.com
This was a decade ago when I lived in Wokingham, so memory fades, but I think a helpful despatcher on the platform did it or passed me a number.

The fancier the gloves, the quicker they go, ditto umbrellas. You can't loose shapeless woolen ones, but they pull threads on the brakes.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Actually my gripe with woolly gloves on bikes is that they aren't very good at being windproof!

Helpful despatchers are, well, helpful. I didn't really meet any. (The chap at Ealing who sent me off to Paddington actually seemed genuinely helpful and concerned; I think his advice was sound even though it didn't help at all in the event.)

Date: 2012-07-20 08:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vicarage.livejournal.com
Of course you should have called in Darth Vader to help....

Date: 2012-07-20 08:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
I fear an incoming Star Wars pun...

Date: 2012-07-20 09:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vicarage.livejournal.com
Darth Vader: I know what you're getting for Christmas.
Luke: How do you know?
Darth Vader: I can feel your presents

Date: 2012-07-20 09:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Of course :)

Date: 2012-07-20 08:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com
Sounds like they have a shockingly poor system. I imagine it's pretty unlikely to ever be found at this point.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
I think in theory the system is sound. Paddington is a terminus, so a train which arrives is cleared, and things go straight to the lost property office which I can interact with betweem 8 and 5:30 (or something). So I should have been able to arrange to collect it from the office this morning.

It's entirely possible that some other passenger at Paddington spotted my tempting bag and acquired it, in which case it isn't entierly the system's fault. If no one pinched it, then clearly their system isn't working as intended.

I think the main trouble is that if you realise very quickly that you've lost something, you want quite a real-time reaction. And the system just doesn't allow for that at all - probably because it'd be more expensive, or (worse) require staff to act on initiative and do things which aren't in their job description. I think the system probably works as well as can be expected for things you realise are lost the following day or something.

Date: 2012-07-20 08:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ar-gemlad.livejournal.com
I bet they'd find it quick if you said it'd got a bomb in it ;)

Date: 2012-07-20 08:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Er... yes. I'm not sure that's the best strategy for me to adopt, though :)

Date: 2012-07-20 08:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beckyc.livejournal.com
Argh, how very annoying!

Date: 2012-07-20 09:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leathellin.livejournal.com
Ditto most of rant for Citylink. Although, not so much lost in their case as couldn't be bothered to deliver[1].

Heathrow lost property is terrifying. Everything they find (in theory I guess) goes in the database. It has an online form and the ability to just look through vaguely described items and send off the numbers for those that might be yours. The staff also check.
There's a terrifying quantity of stuff in that database.


[1] driver recorded delivery as out & left a card, their driver tracking GPS showed they hadn't been at my flat that day. They still managed to be resolutely unapologetic.
Edited Date: 2012-07-20 09:30 am (UTC)

Date: 2012-07-20 09:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Every so often I see an article about the lost property that piles up on the Underground. The sheer quantity and variety of stuff people lose is staggering (and frequently inexplicable - how do you lose your false teeth on the tube?!)

I am a bit clumsy with property. I've left my wallet in a pub, I've dropped my wallet in the street. It's always worked its way back to me, sometimes involving considerable effort from generous members of the public. I once left a stack of scruffy papers (with two weeksworth of what-I-did-on-my-hoildays) folded up in the tray table of an internal New Zealand flight; the airline tracked them down and returned them to me.

But things left on First Great Wester trains and stations? Nope. never seen a single one of them again.

They still managed to be resolutely unapologetic.

Don't these people have training? I'd guess that (in general) everyone understands that cock-ups happen. It's the complete unwillingness of anyone to display interest, make an effort, or say sorry that makes customers so irate.

Date: 2012-07-20 12:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] exspelunca.livejournal.com
If First Great Western didn't give a monkey's **** when you passed out on their platform, are they going to care abouit lost property?

Date: 2012-07-20 12:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
I hadn't thought of it like that :)

If nothing else, I'd assume lost property is a lot more common, so more likely to have a decent system in place!

Date: 2012-07-20 12:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cardinalsin.livejournal.com
I had a very similar experience with stuff I'd lost; I'm careless so this is a more-than-once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. On one occasion I left a laptop bag with my name written on a tag attached to it, but this was apparently no help at all and I still have to go to the depot in Reading (do you not have phones?).

In Canada I left my wallet in a coach station, got on a coach and sailed off. I made it halfway across Canada (in a different state) when I realised. I approached the coach driver and they phoned the coach station, found it had been handed in, put it on the next coach heading my direction and gave me a room to stay in (one of the ones used by tired coach drivers) while I waited for it. It was quite a nice room, too.

It would be nice if we could manage to do half as well as Canada.

Date: 2012-07-20 12:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Yeah, individuals are generally pretty good and rather resourceful about returning stuff. When I lost my wallet in Oxford, there was ID but not address in it. The person who picked it up (who left no contact details, so I couldn't even thank them) presumably riffled through it, found my Bod card, which had my college on it, and returned it to the porter's lodge.

Also, individuals can often use phones.

And the people employed by FGW seem the total opposite of individuals :( Whether this is their fault, because they're not interested, or a corporate policy of sticking to the rules that prevents them I don't know.

On one occasion I left a laptop bag...

Can I make the joke? CanIcanIcanI?

(As mentioned, I am also rather careless, so I sympathise.)

Date: 2012-07-20 03:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snow-leopard.livejournal.com
I was recently at the other end of this when I found an (utterly adorable) woolen hat with bear ears on a train. As it was after 6 pm all offices or any sort at the station were closed so as a good citizen I attempted to give it to the conductor on the train. He seemed very un-keen to deal with the lost property and tut-ed and eventually said he would hand it in at the station "at the other end". i sincerely hope that someone has been reunited with their bear-hat but the impression I left with was it was more likely thrown in the nearest bin!

Date: 2012-07-23 01:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fractalgeek.livejournal.com
I got a bag back once, off a mainline train - not spotted at the next stop, found 30 min later at the end of the line. :-) :-) :-)

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