No pulling your leg, but items left behind in taxis surprising

MOBILE phones and keys are the most common items left behind in a taxi, but try losing a prosthetic leg or a $20,000 Cartier necklace with the price tag still attached.

Taxi company 13cabs’ 2022 Lost Property report catalogues the more than 5200 personal items left behind by passengers. And it seems NSW passengers are the most forgetful, followed by riders in Victoria and Queensland.

While most common forgotten items included mobile phones, sunglasses, keys and wallets, others included court documents, a new 50-inch TV, musical instruments, a new adult racing bike, clown costume feet and a used set of carving knives.

13cabs chief operating officer Olivia Barry said one unfortunate wheelchair-bound passenger from Sydney left behind their prosthetic leg.

“The strange thing was no one came back for it, so it was eventually donated to charity,” Ms Barry said.

“Another time, a driver found a brand new Cartier necklace, still with the price tag attached, on the floor of his Sydney cab.”

The report found NSW residents were the most forgetful passengers, leaving behind more than 3000 items in taxis this year, compared with 1000 in Victoria, 800 in Queensland, less than 100 in SA and only 31 in WA.

Victorians lost the most items during the spring racing carnival season in October, while NSW residents were most forgetful in January.

Queenslanders were most likely to leave something behind in a cab on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

Most lost property was returned to their owners or donated to a local charity after three months.

Ms Barry said the company went “to a lot of trouble to return goods” and “passengers are very thankful when something is returned to them”.

She said the company received a phone call from a Gold Coast school principal in September after a child with special needs left his teddy bear in a maxi taxi.

“We located the booking, called the driver, who put the bear in the front seat with a seatbelt – needless to say, the child was very happy when he saw it,” Ms Barry said.

She said passengers who left an item behind could contact customer care via its website, which would immediately send a report to the local lost property team.