More than £1m worth of phones lost on rail network

South Western Railway said at least five phones were lost on the line every day

At least five mobile phones a day were lost on a rail network in the past 12 months, a train operator has revealed.

South Western Railway (SWR) said the estimated value of the lost devices was more than £1m.

It said most phones were successfully returned to their owners but urged its passengers to register and collect any lost property.

More than 1,750 phones have been logged by its lost property team since 22 September 2023, said SWR.

In the same period, more than 600 lost earphones were also logged.

The train company said the actual number of lost devices was likely to be significantly higher, with not all lost property handed in and not all customers reporting their devices as missing.

Jerome Pacatte, head of stations and revenue protection for SWR, said: “Losing a phone or any other personal belonging during a journey can cause stress and anxiety but our lost property team works incredibly hard to reunite customers with the hundreds of items lost on our network every week."

In the past 12 months, SWR said it had recorded nearly 22,000 different items of lost property, including clothing, bags, wallets and glasses.

“While it might feel impossible to get your lost property back, we successfully return many items to their owners, so we strongly encourage customers who have lost something to get in touch with us," Mr Pacatte said.

The firm said it estimated that more than 30,000 phones had been lost since 2007.

Lined up end to end, it said the lost devices would stretch more than 2.5 miles (4km).