TfL Lost Property Office turns 90 as it moves to a new home in West Ham

13 October 2023
Transport for London's (TfL's) Lost Property Office, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this month, moves to a new location which will see lost belongings returned faster to their owners
"We are delighted to be commemorating the 90th anniversary of the famed Lost Property Office, which provides such an important service for customers who have misplaced their belongings while using London's transport network"
Diana Quaye
Performance Manager of TfL's Lost Property Office

The Lost Property Office recovers more than 200,000 items each year and is now moving from its previous temporary location at Pelham Street in South Kensington to a new location in West Ham.

The site, located next to West Ham Bus Garage, has been designed to accommodate the growing scale of TfL's Lost Property Office and will help improve how quickly lost items can be processed and recorded, allowing customers to be reunited with their belongings faster. It also provides easier parking for Black Taxi drivers wishing to drop any lost property off.

The move coincides with the 90th anniversary of the creation of the Lost Property Office later this month. The creation of London Transport (LT) in 1933 brought together different modes of public transport, often run by private companies, into one organisation. As part of this, a centralised Lost Property Office was created on 30 October 1933, based at 200 Baker Street. From there, staff reunited customers with belongings left on stops, stations and vehicles, including Black Cabs, from across the network.

Over the next nine decades, TfL's Lost Property Office has become the largest of its kind in Europe, recovering more than 200,000 lost items each year on London's vast transport network, including the Tube and buses and more recently the Elizabeth line. However, as London's transport network grew, so did the number of items lost on the network, and in 2019 the office was temporarily relocated to Pelham Street in South Kensington while a more suitable permanent location was identified. The Lost Property Office has now moved to West Ham on a permanent basis.

Since it was created in 1933, the items lost on the transport network have changed as fashions and technology have evolved. Where once umbrellas and bowler hats filled shelves, now the latest phones, e-cigarettes and designer handbags can be found. Wallets and bags are now among the most common products returned to customers, with the TfL returning more than 4,400 wallets and 3,500 bags between 2020 and 2021. Mobile phones are another popular lost item with more than 1,300 returned to customers during the last financial year.

Every year there are hundreds of stories of how staff at the Lost Property Office have managed to reunite customers with treasured possessions lost on the transport network. Recently, the family of a young girl contacted the Lost Property Office after she lost her teddy bear whilst travelling on the Jubilee line. Staff at the Lost Property Office were not only able to find a toy matching the photograph and description supplied by the girl, but also that it had been located at St John's Wood. The little girl was then reunited with her teddy, who told staff that she could sleep well at night now that her teddy bear was back with her.

TfL encourages customers to first enquire about any lost property at the original location where the item was lost. If the item is still missing, customers need to complete an enquiry form on the TfL website. Items are securely held by the Lost Property Office for three months. During this time, attempts are made to reunite customers with their belongings by using information found inside the property, or by matching items to descriptions provided by customers.

Following the three-month duration, any unclaimed items will have personal data removed and securely destroyed, before being either donated to charity, recycled or auctioned. Any revenue generated from unclaimed items contributes towards the cost of running the Lost Property Office.

Diana Quaye, Performance Manager of TfL's Lost Property Office, said: "We are delighted to be commemorating the 90th anniversary of the famed Lost Property Office, which provides such an important service for customers who have misplaced their belongings while using London's transport network. The smile on customers' faces when they are reunited with something they thought was gone forever will never get old, and I am constantly reminded of how honest Londoners are when they hand in items they find.

"Following three years of reuniting customers with their items at our South Kensington office, we are pleased to have moved to a new home - a building that can accommodate the complexities of operating the largest lost property office in Europe and this ensure we can reunite owners with their lost belongings as quickly as possible. 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. So 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. Rather than give up hope and think your property is gone forever, I always advise people to report their lost items on our website because you never know, we just may have it!"

For information about the Lost Property Office and how to enquire about a lost item, please visit: https://tfl.gov.uk/help-and-contact/lost-property.

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Notes to Editors