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London transport lost property store moves to new home

TfL Image of pigeonholes containing small bags and other items labelled with white and yellow tagsTfL
Transport for London's lost property office is celebrating its 90th birthday

A lost property store that sorts through more than 200,000 items misplaced on London's transport network every year has moved to a new home.

Transport for London's (TfL) lost property office has relocated to West Ham Bus Garage in east London.

TfL said the new Stephenson Street facility would allow items to be stored better and returned faster.

The move comes as the office, the largest of its kind in Europe, celebrates its 90th birthday.

TfL Image of the lost property office by Topical Press, 16 Nov 1933, from London Transport Museum's collectionTfL
A centralised lost property office was created at Baker Street in 1933

The creation of London Transport in 1933 brought together different modes of public transport, often run by private companies, into one organisation.

A centralised lost property office was created as part of this change on 30 October 1933, based at 200 Baker Street, central London.

TfL Poster from 1936 reading 'Perhaps I'm not lost', by Beath (John M Fleming) from London Transport Museum's collectionTfL
Posters, like this one from 1936, made passengers aware of TfL's lost property service

As London's transport network grew, so did the amount of items lost on the network, with more than 200,000 items found by staff each year, TfL said.

The office was temporarily relocated to Pelham Street in South Kensington in 2019 while a permanent location was found.

Misplaced items range from phones and umbrellas to crutches, a judge's wig and a stuffed gorilla called Eddie.

TfL A lost property office attendant sorts through hundreds of umbrellas in 1983, from London Transport Museum's collectionTfL
Over the decades millions of lost belongings have been categorised and stored by TfL

Passengers have also been reunited with "treasured possessions", including a young girl who recently lost her teddy bear while on the Jubilee line.

Staff used a photograph and description from the girl to track down the teddy, reuniting her with the toy.

Items are kept for three months before they are cleared of any personal data and donated to charity, recycled or auctioned.

TfL Image of shelves containing rows of handbags, with numbered tags hanging from themTfL
Transport for London said more than 200,000 items were found by its staff each year

Diana Quaye, performance manager at TfL's lost property office, said: "As the capital recovers from the pandemic we've seen a rise in customers using our network, meaning that we have also seen a return in the volume of lost property that comes to us.

"Now more than ever, it is paramount that we move to a facility that enables us to sort and return lost items to our customers in the best way possible."

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