Baggage Rustling on the West Highland Line

[Tim R-T-C]

A friend of mine on a Leeds to KX service a couple of years back almost had their bag stolen. Someone had picked it up and went to get off the train, she called out and they said they had thought it was theirs, then promptly disappeared without a bag...

Unfortunately I have head of that trick before, they claim it was an accident and it is very hard to prove otherwise. Plus at a busy station, impossible to get to anyone who can do anything without them running off.

 

[me123]

Unfortunately I have head of that trick before, they claim it was an accident and it is very hard to prove otherwise. Plus at a busy station, impossible to get to anyone who can do anything without them running off.

Innocence must be assumed until guilt is proven. As such, making an "innocent mistake" cannot be punished. This is right, because some people may well make genuinely innocent mistakes - the world is full of black Samsonite suitcases and genuine mistakes must happen. Sadly, it does mean that there's little to no legal recourse for those who deliberately use this technique to steal bags.

 

[Antman]

Innocence must be assumed until guilt is proven. As such, making an "innocent mistake" cannot be punished. This is right, because some people may well make genuinely innocent mistakes - the world is full of black Samsonite suitcases and genuine mistakes must happen. Sadly, it does mean that there's little to no legal recourse for those who deliberately use this technique to steal bags.

Absolutely right that innocence must be assumed until guilt is proven but when somebody claims they thought it was their bag and then leaves without a bag...........well? You do start to smell a rat!

 

[northwichcat]

Even if you have an identical item you shouldn't get far without knowing it's not yours. I recall waiting for my suitcase at an airport baggage carousel earlier in the year and two suitcases the same colour and size as mine came out before mine. I dismissed the first one as not mine because of the padlock it had on it, when the second one I thought was mine until I picked it up and not only noticed the weight was wrong but it didn't have my coloured identification label on it so I immediately put it back.

 

[talltim]

No person shall write, draw, paint or fix anything on the railway.

How do they manage to write laws so badly? Surely they mean 'affix '?

 

[edwin_m]

Even if you have an identical item you shouldn't get far without knowing it's not yours. I recall waiting for my suitcase at an airport baggage carousel earlier in the year and two suitcases the same colour and size as mine came out before mine. I dismissed the first one as not mine because of the padlock it had on it, when the second one I thought was mine until I picked it up and not only noticed the weight was wrong but it didn't have my coloured identification label on it so I immediately put it back.

I suspect some people are far less careful, and only realise they have a bag of someone else's undies when they get to their final destination.

 

[Chrisgr31]

Even if you have an identical item you shouldn't get far without knowing it's not yours. I recall waiting for my suitcase at an airport baggage carousel earlier in the year and two suitcases the same colour and size as mine came out before mine. I dismissed the first one as not mine because of the padlock it had on it, when the second one I thought was mine until I picked it up and not only noticed the weight was wrong but it didn't have my coloured identification label on it so I immediately put it back.

A few years ago we flew to Cape Town vis Jo'burg. In Jo'burg passengers have to collect baggage and take it through security and customs before returning it to the airline to be loaded for the last leg.

Waiting for luggage and there is a bag similar to ours but not ours, and ours doesn't appear, so go and report it. They collect the similar bag to ensure they aren't swapped back and say they hope to find it before we depart. Sure enough our plane is one of those you need to get a bus too, and just before departure we see some poor security guy having to run across the concrete carrying our bag

 

[Greenback]

I'm constantly amazed at how little people seem to think when they are travelling. I've done it myself. I've left bags on trains even when I was commuting every day and very used to carrying one with me.

The reverse has also applied. I've gone looking for my bag even though I haven't had one. I don't see it as much of a stretch of the imagination that someone might be in such a world of their own that they see a similar bag to one that they own and automatically go to pick it up even though they aren't travelling with a bag that day.

Having said that, I do feel it's more likely to be a chancer when that sort of thing happens, but I still can't rule out the possibility of a genuine mistake completely.

 

[CC 72100]

Even working in the industry (so perhaps I should be confident and trust fellow passsengers), when travelling with bags I'm very careful about where they go and have my sights on them at all times.

I had a close call a few years back when my uni work (2nd year work) almost dissapeared with somebody else as we had the same bag. Monetary value of the contents of my bag was minimal, importance a very different matter. I only managed to spot it as I was in the TGS of an XC HST (where you have a nice big visible luggage area in the middle of the carriage) and the passenger with the wrong bag had to walk past me to alight.

For that reason I don't use end of carriage luggage racks and always aim for coach G on XC HSTs. It's also why perhaps I have more sympathy than despair that some staff can have with ill-placed luggage - I totally 'get' why people want the luggage to, in some cases, quite literally sit next to them.

 

[gsnedders]

For that reason I don't use end of carriage luggage racks and always aim for coach G on XC HSTs. It's also why perhaps I have more sympathy than despair that some staff can have with ill-placed luggage - I totally 'get' why people want the luggage to, in some cases, quite literally sit next to them.

I remember endless announcements about not leaving luggage unattended, about risk of terrorist attacks from unattended luggage, about risk of theft from unattended luggage, and then some people get surprised when people don't want to leave them unattended where luggage racks are provided! It's frequently impossible to literally both put luggage where it is safe to do so and not leave it unattended, and we're meant to do both.

 

[edwin_m]

One consequence of the reduction in table seats is that most coaches now have very few back-to-back pairs of seats with space between them, which can be a closer place to store luggage. Those that still exist often have litter bins or equipment cases blocking them.

Partly in replacement there are sometimes racks in the saloon itself. I'm not sure how the total luggage and seating capacity would change if these were removed and the space used to increase the number of back-to-back table seats.

 

[krus_aragon]

I remember endless announcements about not leaving luggage unattended, about risk of terrorist attacks from unattended luggage, about risk of theft from unattended luggage, and then some people get surprised when people don't want to leave them unattended where luggage racks are provided! It's frequently impossible to literally both put luggage where it is safe to do so and not leave it unattended, and we're meant to do both.

This happened to me on a regular basis with ATW's 175s, when they still issued seat reservations with all Advance tickets. Cycle (with reservation) in coach C, reserved seat in coach A!

 

[DPWH]

I keep my expensive things (laptop, camera) in a rucksack that stays with me even if I visit the toilet. My suitcase contains clothes and other relatively inexpensive sundries.