Lothian Buses lost property: glass eye, kitten top weird list

Hundreds of items are left behind on Lothian buses each year. Picture: Malcolm McCurrach

The bus firm has revealed the Scottish SPCA collected the estranged pets, while the false teeth were returned to their owner.

But what happened to the glass eye still remains a mystery.

A glass eye was one of the items found on a Lothian bus. File picture: glasseyes view/Flickr (CC-BY-SA 2.0)

The lost property department at Transport for Edinburgh, which is based at the Travelshop on Hanover Street, has collected hundreds of forgotten items over the past year, it has emerged.

The most lost common possessions included mobile phones, teddies, suitcases, handbags and passports - many of which have now been returned to their owners.

Possessions which weren’t collected in the four weeks that the lost property department held them, have been passed on to the Save the Children charity in the past.

However, since last month, all unwanted items are now being donated to Cancer Research UK in Corstorphine. Jackie Forbes, lost property manager at Transport for Edinburgh, said: “People leave items behind on the buses all the time.

Someone left a set of false teeth on a Lothian bus. Picture: contributed

“Mostly, it’s by mistake, but other times it’s clearly deliberate – for example, when people buy new shoes and then leave the old ones behind in the new shoe box.

“The other week we had someone leave their viola behind in the luggage space on the bus.

“They then came in the following day to collect it, but on their way home on the bus they forgot it again.

“It’s fair to say we do get some unusual objects left behind.”

Cancer Research UK is now picking up donations weekly from the lost property department and have said they have already received £600 worth of stock since they started collecting last month.

Donations are taken to their new superstore in Corstorphin,e which opened in February.

Jackie said: “I would always encourage people who think they may have left something behind on one of our buses to call us to see if we have their item.

“There are a lot of honest people in this world – we’ve had many handbags, purses etc that have been lost and returned to their owners.

“It’s always worth a call.”

Dan Stewart, Cancer Research UK’s assistant manager at the charity’s Corstorphine Superstore,added: “It is fantastic that Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams are supporting Cancer Research UK’s drive to beat cancer sooner.

“We are really grateful to the company for making such a generous donation.

“Our shop at Corstorphine Retail Park has been open for two months.

“It’s our first superstore and, at five times the size of one of our normal charity shops, we need lots of good quality clothes, shoes and bags to keep up with demand.

“I’m sure this amazing donation way to achieving that.”

courtney.cameron@jpress.co.uk