Lost and Found London : what to do and where to find the offices

The worst feeling, maybe after losing your phone, is losing your luggage with all your stuffs inside. I know that when you realise that your luggage is not beside you or that your airline company doesn’t know where your suitcases are located, you feel alone and desperate. But don’t worry, we are here to help you find your stuffs and your calm. We hope to be your savior today and tomorrow.

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom and one of the most visited city in the world with 19.09 million tourists and 9.3 million inhabitants in 2019. Well-known for its London Eye or the Big Ben, London is also one of the more dynamic European capitals. The Lost & Found in London are numerous. In 2017, 1200 items were lost every day among which are keys, mobile phones, bags, as well as suitcases and umbrellas. You will find in our article, all the advices you need to get your stuff back.

Table of content

1. The procedure to follow in London for lost and stolen items
2. Where are the Lost & Found offices in London ?

It is easy to panic when you lost something, or worse, when something is stolen from you. But, the good news is that there are ways to recover from lost and stolen items.

a) Missing or stolen phone in London

The places where your phone has more chances to go missing are at home, on the street, at work or on public transit. If you are in this situation too, follow these steps :

• Use a location app to track down your mobile phone. Android and Iphones both have built-in apps to help you locate your phone. If your device is missing, switch it to Lost mode to lock it immediately and start looking for it. You can also display a message with your phone number on the lock screen of your device so that the person who finds it can call you without accessing your data.

• Send a text. If you lost your phone in a public place, send a text message to your phone with the return information. This way, if your texts are set to appear on you home screen, it makes it easy for the Good Samaritan to return it.

• Take some measures. If your phone is still missing after the previous steps, take measures. Remotely delete the personal data your device contains and restore the original settings. If you eventually get your hands on it again, you can put everything back in place using your iCloud or Drive backup. You can also change your passwords to accounts you use frequently.

• Inform your telephone operator. They can disable your service and help trace your phone. Some may get you a replacement phone.

• Contact your police department. You can make a deposition if your phone is insured. It can help you process your claim with the insurance company.

b) Missing or stolen credit card in London

If you lose your credit card, don’t wait too long before acting because a fraudster might finds it before you and use it.

• Call your credit card issuer. Report the loss of your credit card before doing anything else by calling your bank.

• Verify your information with you bank. Your issuer may want to know when your card was lost or stolen and when you made your last charge. They may review recent transactions with you to see if any of them appear to be fraudulent. Once it is done, your bank will cancel your account and mail you a new credit card with a new account number.

• Check constantly your credit card statement. Remember to closely review your credit card statement after you’ve reported your card lost. If you notice any charges that appear fraudulent or unfamiliar, call your bank as soon as possible.

• Check your insurance coverage. It may be worth checking to see if your insurance policy covers the money you have not spent.

c) Missing or stolen identity papers in London

• Report the theft or loss in the police station. Ask for written proof that you have filed a police report. This document may be required by your insurer or the local authorities.

• Postpone your flights. If you have to take a flight two, three days or one week after your identity papers went missing, remember to postpone your flights and to check with your airline company if you can be paid back.

• Apply for a new passport or ID card. If you are not travelling soon, you have time to apply for new identity documents while you are abroad. On average applications take 3 weeks to process, but, you will have to wait for several days or weeks to make an appointment to submit your application. The waiting time will vary depending on which country you are in.

• Prevent misuse. Complete a declaration stating that the travel document is missing. Take the completed form to the embassy or the consulate of your country in London. From the moment your statement is processed, your passport or ID card will be registered internationally as missing and no one will be able to misuse it. If you apply for a new passport or ID card, or an emergency travel document, you will also need to submit this form. This is part of the standard procedure.

You will find the French Consulate at 21 Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London, the Italian Consulate at Harp House, 83-86 Farringdon St, London EC4A 4BL and the US Embassy at 33 Nine Elms Ln, Nine Elms, London SW11 7US.

If you want to avoid losing your stuffs while visiting the city, you can find a luggage storage in London and enjoy your journey. There is no minimum or maximum storage time. Most of our luggage storages in London are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Your luggage is sealed and insured, this way you can visit London peacefully.

d) Lost & Found in London

If you have lost or found property in a public place, you can visit the website of the Metropolitan police.

You need to know that your chances to recover your lost items are 60% percent. It is not that bad ! So keep the faith.

a) Buses, Underground and trains

If you have lost something on a bus in the past 3 days, you can directly contact the operator of the bus in which you were. If you have lost your items on the Underground or the train, you can fill out an enquiry on the website of Transport for London.

The office in charge of the Lost & Found in Buses, Underground and trains is located 63-81 Pelham St, London SW7 2NJ (closest Tube: South Kensington). This office is for pre-booked visits only. You need to wait until they have told you that your property is ready to collect, as items may be stored in different locations. The opening hours are from 8:30 am to 4 pm, from Monday to Friday.

If you want to contact them, you can call on 0343 222 1234 or email them at lpo@tfl.gov.uk.This is for general correspondence only. This office stores and collect property found on the London Buses, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, TfL Rail, Black cabs, Emirates Airline and Victoria Coach Station.

You can also find a luggage storage near the main station in London, this way you won’t have to drag your suitcase everywhere with you.

b) Heathrow airport

You can search for your missing property at missingx.com or find the lost property office in Terminal 3 and Terminal 5.

Everything that is handed in goes directly on their database. So, you need to search on their website if your property has been found. It can take between 24 to 48 hours for a found item to be registered. Nevertheless, everything is retained for three months. If you find your property on the database, use the online contact form to start the matching process.

If you want to contact or to go to the loss property, you will find below the information needed :

• Opening hours : 07:00-19:00 daily
• Phone : +44(0)844 824 3115 within London and +44(0)20 3761 1800 international
• Website : https://www.missingx.com/

c) Gatwick Airport

Everything found at the airport is handed to their lost property office, operated by Excess Baggage Company. Items are logged on to a database at lostproperty.org. It can take 24 to 48 hours for a found item to be registered, but all the items are kept up to three months.

If you have lost your items on board an Easyjet or Emirates flight, you need to register with the individual airline. Here are their email address : lgwapt@emirates.com, lgwlostproperty@1stflight.co.uk.

If you want to contact or to go to the loss property, you will find below the information needed :

• Opening hours : 10:00-16:00 daily
• Phone : 01293 569900
• Website : https://www.lostproperty.org/?sec=1

d) Attractions

If you have left an item or lost a valuable during your visit in an attraction located in London, you can go to the Information Desk to talk with them or go to their website to contact them. The attractions such as the London Eye or the British Museum are dealing with lost items separately.

If you don’t want to have to deal with a lost or stolen item, you can simply leave your luggage in a luggage storage near the attraction you want to go at. Find, for example a luggage storage at the London Eye or a luggage storage in the British Museum.

e) Taxi and Uber

Transport for London’s Public Carriage Office is responsible for licensing both London Taxis (the recognisable “Black” cab) and London’s Private Hire Vehicles (typically ordinary saloon cars). Taxis can be hailed on the street whilst Private Hire Vehicles must be booked with the company concerned. Because of this difference, property found in Taxis is handled differently to property found in Private Hire Vehicles.

Taxi

Property found in a London Taxi is handed in at a London police station and forwarded to the TfL Lost Property Office. Property can take up to 5 working days to arrive at the Lost Property Office.

You can enquire whether your property has arrived at the Lost Property Office in one of the following three ways:

1. You can enquire in person by visiting the Lost Property Office (near Baker Street Underground Station) between the hours of 08:30 and 16:00, Monday to Friday with the exception of bank holidays.
2. You may make a telephone enquiry by telephoning 0845 330 9882 between 08:30 – 16:00, Mondays to Fridays excluding bank holidays.
3. You may make a written enquiry by either:

• Posting or faxing a letter.
• Completing the on-line form

The details that you need to provide are:

• Your name, address (and email address if you have one)
• Details of property lost – as much detail as you can provide
• Details of where and when the property was lost

For mobile phones, it is essential that you supply details of the phone make and model, mobile phone service, and either the IMEI number of the phone or your SIM card number. Due to the quantity of mobile phones received, individual mobile phones cannot be identified without this information.

If you lost something on an Uber, you can directly call your driver and ask him if he found something. This way, if your phone is still in his car, he can meet you to give it back to you.