Arriva reverses policy of keeping 10% of cash in lost wallets after furious backlash

A train company has reversed its policy of keeping 10% of the cash inside lost wallets when passengers reclaim them
PA
Nick Charity14 September 2018

A train company has reversed its lost property policy of keeping a cut of cash found in customers' lost wallets and purses.

Arriva Trains Wales faced outrage after it published new policies on the fees it would charge to return items to customers, including a 10 per cent of the cash in any wallet they found on their trains.

Now Arriva has announced it has returned cash to the customer and would review the policy "with immediate effect".

The rail operator said in statement: "Following recent feedback on this issue we will now be changing our policy with immediate effect.

"In this instance we are happy to refund the percentage that was charged to the customer who brought this to our attention.

"We are happy to begin the process of reviewing the Lost Property policy with customer groups and rail industry regulatory bodies."

Arriva Trains Wales stood by its policy in the face of an angry backlash
PA Archive/PA Images

Every year, "tens of thousands of items" are lost on Britain's trains, the spokeswoman added - justifying that the company charges the "minimum amount possible".

"In addition any unclaimed items that we receive are donated to charity or are recycled appropriately," the company said.

"It must be noted that our lost property service is a non-profit making service and all charges are used to support the cost of administrating the service.

"To safely store, record and process all these items takes a considerable amount of resource and as such we, like other train operators in the UK, have a small handling and administration fee which is clearly outlined on our website and Passenger’s Charter."

Mr Howells hit out against the company after he was charged to have his wallet back from a lost property desk.

The company initially tried to justify taking cash, "due to the extra admin needed when cash if found on the network".

The operator also published its charges for returning various items, which included laptops (£25), mobile phones (£10) and rucksacks (£3).

But people pointed out it only charged £3 to store a bike but £25 for a laptop computer.

"So what happens if you lose your suitcase? Do you take 10 per cent of the items inside?" said Craig Howells.

Another on social media called it "opportunistic" and a "tax on property", comparing the policy to "school-ground bullying".

Mr Howells said he was travelling from Cardiff to Lydney in August when he lost his wallet, with £86 inside.

Four weeks after reporting it missing to the train company, he received a letter to say it had been found and that there would be a £2 release fee.

He told HuffPost UK: “In total I had to pay £10.60 to get my money and wallet back. It also said in the letter that if it’s not collected in 12 weeks it would be given to charity.

“However, I’m now not convinced that would have happened, as the money was put in their tills and being used by the company, until I went and collected it. So I’m pretty disappointed and shocked.

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