Edinburgh single mum, 25, in 'disbelief' at Lothian Buses over £5 pick up fee for son's lost lunchbox - your views

Intro

Annandale Street depot. Pic: Gordon Fraser/TPLS

Lost property

Edinburgh single mum, 25, in 'disbelief' at Lothian Buses over £5 pick up fee for son's lost lunchbox

Kyle Danko

It does cost them money to find, catalogue, and reunite lost items. Not everything in life is free.

Caroline Macleod

What does being a single parent on benefits have to do with leaving something on the bus?

Jaz Donaldson-Elder

£5 for what? Her own property back! Naw, and certainly not at the moment.

Paul Burgess

Be more careful in future.

Pearl Macleod

Sorry to say I agree with the lady, there shouldn’t be a fee to collect something you accidentally left on the bus. Folk will just start not to bother collecting things,depending on the value of them.

Lorraine Hall

There has been a charge for years.I left £3.99 sunglasses but just got a new pair.My grandson recently left his Apple pods and phone sitting on a seat and luckily they were handed in.The roasting he got from his mum about the charge will teach him to be careful!

Natasha Low

There's always been a charge to get your lost property back, although the last time I left something on the bus it cost £1; £5 is a bit steep but it will make sure you check you have everything before you leave the bus, I suppose.

Richie Smith

Pretty sure it would be a lot easier for any bus company to throw anything left on the buses right in the skip!

Anis Hayes

Welcome to the real world.

David Connarty

It's an admin fee. The drivers have to hand it in and fill out paperwork in their own time; the office staff then have to fill out paperwork, then it all gets collected from the garages and taken to lost property and sorted out. The drivers don't get anything for hand it in, it's an admin fee.

Paul Sutherland

Maybe people need to be more careful and make sure that they remove all personal belongings prior to getting off the buses, then. There’s nothing wrong with Lothian Buses charging a “handling fee” for looking after people’s lost property and keeping it safe. Lothian Buses have to pay a person’s wage for doing the job. Maybe if folk weren’t so distracted on social media and mobile devices, they’d be taking more care of their personal belongings.

Aileen McCalman

I'm pretty sure LRT are going to be left with a whole load if crap they don't want if they charge that. Yes, a fee is appropriate, however it's difficult to see how they justify £5.

James Harris

That day a valuable lesson was learned about looking after one's belongings.

Gary Nelson

If it was an iPhone, you'd pay £5 to get it back.

Katrina Scott

Lost property takes up time and resources, which is no fault of the company, so I can understand a small charge for its return. In this case it would be cheaper replacing the lunch box! Also this is no different to Edinburgh Airport. I left my watch at security and had to pay £20 when I collected it from lost property. Their sliding scale of charges were dependent on the value of the item, which I don’t agree with, as it’s the same process to deal with the property. The person next in line left their paperwork at the gate, paper that meant nothing to anyone else, and had to pay £5 for its return.

Bill Kinghorn

Lothian Buses showing their true colours. With this and the number of people they’re letting on the buses in the middle of a health pandemic, it’s clear to see they are driven purely by profit.

Patricia Templeton

So you expect the bus company to collect your lost property, store it, and staff the lost property office for when you chose to collect it for nothing? Laughable! You’d be better off buying a new lunchbox, but don’t kid on you are being hard done to.

Jenna Campbell

I left a handbag with quite a lot of money in the purse, which I told them about. I wasn't charged anything! Strange.

Becca Churcher

My son lost his bus pass on the bus and coat on the bus and when we went to pick them up weren’t charged any thing.

Jacqueline Carpenter

How self entitled! It’s not the staffs fault you left stuff on the bus - who pays for the staff to man the lost property office? Quit whining and either pay the fiver or buy a new lunchbox.

Lorraine Blyth

If it hadn’t been handed in she would have had to replace it. How much do lunch boxes cost? Around a fiver I’d expect.