Video: Station lost property finds new purpose as more than £1,200 raised for charities
Staff at a North East station have raised more than £1200 by selling forgotten items such as clothing, phones, cuddly toys, tents and even bicycles.
Not wanting anything to go to waste, TransPennine Express (TPE) colleagues at Middlesbrough station collected unclaimed lost property to give to YMCA, who then sell the donations in nearby charity shops.
Any electronics are refurbished and recycled by furbd, an organisation who help people across the Tees Valley region who are ‘digitally isolated’ and have no access to computers or mobile phones. This includes tablets, laptops and headphones.
Following its success over the last three months, the scheme is set to be expanded to Scarborough and Malton which will have the added bonus of reducing waste at these stations.
Steve Gilder, Environmental Delivery Lead at TPE, said: “We’ve had all sorts of items left on our services and while we always try to reunite items with their owners, it’s fantastic that unclaimed items can benefit great causes and cut down on waste. We’d like to remind our customer to check you have all your belongings with you before leaving the train.”
Lost property is held at station securely for three months before being donated.
For items lost on a TransPennine Express (TPE) train or at a station, customers can report them immediately via MissingX, which TPE uses for tracking lost property. Alternatively, contact they can contact the train operator’s customer relations team by phoning 0345 600 1671.