Passenger Rail, Safety

Hats, air pods, ashes … and false teeth

As thousands of students return to school, Queensland Rail is reminding children to keep their belongings close when traveling on trains, with tens of thousands of items lost on the south-east Queensland rail network each year.

Queensland Rail’s Head of South East Queensland Scott Riedel said school hats, school bags, student IDs and drink bottles were among the 20,000 items abandoned on the network last year.

“Queensland Rail’s lost property hub is brimming with items from the ordinary to the extraordinary, however one of the items that really stands out is the number of school hats that are found on our network each year,” he said.

“206 school hats, numerous IDs and 97 school bags were left behind on trains and stations in 2021, which were all processed by our lost property officers and placed in our online system.

“Around 3.3 million student trips were taken across the south-east Queensland rail network last financial year and it’s never a nice feeling having to tell a parent, guardian or schoolteacher that you’ve lost something, especially a hat which is so important for sun protection.

“We ask all our customers to be mindful of their belongings while traveling and take them with you when you disembark.”

Between 1300 and 1800 lost property items are logged across the Queensland Rail network each month and all are stored at the Lost Property Office located near Central Station.

Left-behind air pods.

Among the weird and whacky items that have entered lost property are a stove top and false teeth. Other items include umbrellas, handbags, mobile phones, air pods, skateboards, scooters, musical instruments and passports.

Lost Property Officer Nadia Ribeiro said a box containing what appears to be ashes was found in May.

“We couldn’t bear the thought of discarding what could be someone’s loved one. We’ve been keeping the container past the usual cut-off date hoping the owner walks in,” she said.

Lost property officers try to track down owners a number of ways including sending letters and contacting organisations that the owner is indicated as being a member of, such as libraries, sports clubs, education centres as well as using serial numbers on items.

“It’s always nice when you can reunite a customer with their lost item. Once we were able to use the serial number on a hearing aid to track down the owner and they were so grateful,” Ribeiro said.

“Items like keys, credit cards and medication are destroyed after two months, however sporting equipment, clothing, cameras and books are donated to one of many charity partners like St Vincent de Paul.

“Glasses are donated to Lions for Sight and phones enter a program where data is securely erased from the phone in order for it to be refurbished giving the devices a second life, or responsibly recycled when the phone is beyond repair.”

St Vincent de Paul Warehouse Manager Sean Afflick said the society collects some of the items and distributes them across a variety of stores, ready to be purchased.

“We come and collect bikes, skateboards, scooters, sporting gear and a lot of miscellaneous items – we take them back to our depot, sort through them and distribute them to our stores,” he said.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and the collaboration with Queensland Rail is so important because the lost property items can be purchased through our stores and the money helps people in need.”

Customers who might have lost an item on the Queensland Rail network are encouraged to call the lost property office on 13 16 17 during business hours.