Official News - page 5

REAL LIFE NEWS: THE SECRETS OF LONDON TRANSPORT'S LOST PROPERTY

Every year, thousands and thousands of items are left on the London tube trains, the buses, and in London's famous black taxis. Last year, 150,000 items ended up in the lost property office in Baker Street in London.

As you would probably expect, mobile phones are the most common item to be accidentally abandoned, along with books. Umbrellas, wallets and passports also feature heavily. But there are many far more unusual things that turn up in lost property. Take a look at this list:

• A 14ft inflatable boat
• A coffin
• False limbs
• A lawn mower
• Breast implants
• A jar of bull's sperm
• Three dead bats
• A divan bed
• £25,000 worth of Rolex watches (found on a bus)
• A £2,000 plasma TV (back of a cab)
• A home vasectomy kit
• An urn of ashes
• 22,000 items of clothing (single gloves, scarves, hats, coats, wedding dresses, full judge's regalia, etc)

Blimey!

Property that is not claimed after three months is sold at auction, so if you want to pick up some dead bats or false limbs on the cheap, this could be the place. So far, they haven't started putting the stuff up on eBay which is a shame.

Some of the more bizarre unclaimed property is kept on display at the Baker Street offices, including six African masks, a variety of sex toys and two human skulls. They also have some Second World War gas masks. It must make it an interesting working environment.

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