Thursday, May 29, 2008

Breast implants among property lost on London transport

A stuffed puffer fish, a harpoon gun, gas masks, inflatable dolls and a pair of breast implants are waiting to be reunited with careless owners who left them behind on trains, buses and taxis in London.

The bizarre collection of items is housed at Transport for London’s lost property office and includes the as yet unclaimed coffin used in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

There is also an extensive array of prosthetic limbs and false teeth, urns of ashes and a postcard dating from 1908.

A record 170,000 items of lost property were left on the capital’s transport network over the last year including 32,268 books, 27,946 bags and 25,802 items of clothing.

Julie Haley, manager of the lost property office, said: “The amount handed in is increasing year on year but the fact that we get around 700 items handed in every day is a real testament to the honesty of Londoners on the whole.”

The office is located in Baker Street, the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, and a computer programme called “Sherlock” is used to match details with would-be owners. About one in three items are eventually restored to the person who lost them. Among those successfully returned was a bag containing two human skulls.

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