From Refrigerators to Toilet Lids: The Strangest Items Lost on Alicante's Tram

It is common in the stressful daily routine to forget or, by accident, lose items such as glasses, mobile phones, or wallets, among other things. This can happen in a café or a shop, and even at the office. However, what occurs on public transport is on another level. Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) collected a total of 2,494 lost items from Tram de Alicante users last year. This data indicates an average of seven items forgotten per day and 208 per month.

The most frequently found items on the trains and trams of Alicante and its metropolitan area are, in order: wallets and purses, keys, backpacks, documents (ID cards, passports, driving licenses, health cards...), mobile phones, glasses, folders, umbrellas, and handbags.

These are the most common and logical items. But they are not the only ones. A series of items that are hard to believe users forget include: bicycles, scooters, suitcases, crutches, walking sticks, laptops, tablets, baby and shopping carts, motorcycle helmets, portable refrigerators, toiletry bags, umbrellas, hairdryers, X-rays, prescriptions, medical reports, a shovel, a shower phone, and even a toilet lid or a fire extinguisher, according to sources from Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV).

All items are stored for at least one month at the stations where they are kept and an additional month at the lost property storage at the Luceros station. After this period, if their owners have not claimed them, they are handed over to the Local Police of Alicante.

Thanks to the protocols established by FGV for the management and custody of lost items, the recovery of an item by its owner during the period it is registered with FGV is recorded at 929, a 37.25%, with the remaining percentage handed over to the Local Police of Alicante or transferred to a recycling point if the items are evidently worn or deteriorated.

Regarding the time it takes to recover an item, it varies if there is any identifying element or if the customer claims it; if so, especially when it is a valuable item, it is usually retrieved even on the same day it was lost.

Stations staffed by FGV personnel are the points of delivery and collection by users in the first phase, before being transferred to the central headquarters at the Luceros station.

After one month, the items are collected and taken to the lost property storage at the Luceros station to try to locate the owner, decommission them for recycling according to their condition, or hand them over to the Lost Property Office of Alicante after another month.

Official documents (ID cards, passports, etc.) are handed over to the police as soon as possible to try to locate their owner. Bank cards are destroyed to prevent misuse, avoiding unnecessary risks. For other items that can help locate their owner, follow-ups and small investigations are conducted by Customer Service staff to ensure their return.