Lost and found

wHen the newspapers carried stories a few weeks ago of children’s teddies being left on trains and never seen again (Mail), I thought nothing of it until I had to trace my case, taken in error from the train I was travelling on from Sheffield to oxford.

I was given a run-around. I even reported the case to the British Transport Police and an officer was sent to Birmingham new Street to try to trace it, but couldn’t. eventually, my husband took a call from a lady called Lesley who said she was ringing on behalf of James of CrossCountry Trains to say they’d found my case.

James had spoken to the man who picked it up in mistake for his own and had handed it in at Cheltenham.

Lesley gave my husband a number to contact First Great western (FGw) at Cheltenham with a reference number for my case, but when we called t he number i t was ‘ not recognised’.

I looked up FGw’s number, dialled it and got through to the lost property department. I asked the man there if he could feel inside the lid pocket of my case to see if there were two bottles of Benecol there, in which case it was mine. ‘I can’t do that,’ he replied. ‘I’m in India.’ I went back to FGw and they told me to ring customer relations on another number.

I spoke to a man on this number and was told to redial and press option four followed by option three.

I spoke to a lady who said she wasn’t a customer relations operator, but would transfer me. A man answered and I asked him if he could feel in the lid pocket of the case to ascertain it was mine.

But he said he couldn’t as he was in Plymouth, Devon.

Can you believe you can’t ring any railway station directly these days? why i s India involved with property lost in the UK?

It took me more than three weeks to locate my case and get it back, which is disgraceful when the train manager told me i t had been handed in straight away.

Many people wouldn’t have the patience to keep trying and their items would be lost for ever.