Most valuable luggage brought on a train?

[All Line Rover]

A suitcase containing £1m of gems has been stolen from a train luggage rack.

A jewellery dealer boarded the train at London's Euston station and realised his bag was missing when the train pulled into Rugby in Warwickshire.

Police believe his large black case, which had more than 40 gems - including rubies, emeralds and sapphires - was taken before the train left Euston last Wednesday.

The dealer boarded the 19:03 Euston service at about 18:30. He was travelling to Birmingham New Street.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41971389

Is this guy mad, or is this behaviour actually common? I'd be reluctant to leave a £1k bike unattended on a train without a lock, let alone £1m of gems in a "large" suitcase.

Trivia: I've never heard of a Virgin Trains service being ready for boarding at Euston over 30 minutes before departure time!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There's a slight inconsistency in that story:

If he was on the 19.03, how on Earth was he able to board it at 18.30? The incoming didn’t arrive until 18.34 and even if he'd been using RTT to get the platform number in advance he'd have to wait a few minutes for it to empty out?

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P52457/2017/11/08/advanced

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P52386/2017/11/08/advanced


I wonder why the briefcase anyway; those gems wouldn't have taken up a lot of space and he could probably have carried them a lot more securely in a sealed bag inside a zipped inner pocket on his coat?

 

[jon0844]

A very elaborate insurance scam? That's assuming you could insure £1m of gems being handled in such a way.

Assuming you could board that early, knowing the platform, if you put a bag on that far before departure isn't there a chance the bag would be removed and thought of as lost property.

Now imagine that being logged in to lost property in a few days....!

 

[WatcherZero]

Sounds like an inside job, suitcase stolen before the train even leaves the station.

 

[dk1]

Very very suspect if you ask me.

 

[Clip]

There's a slight inconsistency in that story:

If he was on the 19.03, how on Earth was he able to board it at 18.30? The incoming didn’t arrive until 18.34 and even if he'd been using RTT to get the platform number in advance he'd have to wait a few minutes for it to empty out?

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P52457/2017/11/08/advanced

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P52386/2017/11/08/advanced

Is this being far too pedantic even for here? Lets be honest most people would give a time around somewhere like 1830 even if it was a bit later as that may have been the last time they saw their watch or clock and wouldn't be able to pin point the exact minute they got on a train.

Does sound like a fraud though I must say but then again who knows who has what in their luggage at anyone time which is why luggage thieves target trains often.

 

[sefton]

Sounds like an inside job, suitcase stolen before the train even leaves the station.

Isn't that exactly what a criminal would do, and was what someone was doing at Paddington.

 

[theironroad]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41971389

Is this guy mad, or is this behaviour actually common? I'd be reluctant to leave a £1k bike unattended on a train without a lock, let alone £1m of gems in a "large" suitcase.

Trivia: I've never heard of a Virgin Trains service being ready for boarding at Euston over 30 minutes before departure time!

Yes, my first thought when I read this was that I'd never let it out of my sight, I'd be probably be hugging it tightly lol

 

[theironroad]

There's a slight inconsistency in that story:

If he was on the 19.03, how on Earth was he able to board it at 18.30? The incoming didn’t arrive until 18.34 and even if he'd been using RTT to get the platform number in advance he'd have to wait a few minutes for it to empty out?

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P52457/2017/11/08/advanced

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P52386/2017/11/08/advanced


I wonder why the briefcase anyway; those gems wouldn't have taken up a lot of space and he could probably have carried them a lot more securely in a sealed bag inside a zipped inner pocket on his coat?

Guess it could be misreporting by the BBC or BTP or maybe the the guy guessed his boarding time, but 1830 wouldn't really be feasible because, as you say, the inbound (from Edinburgh) didn't arrive until 1834 and I'm sure the cleaners would have been on before it being advertised.

 

[Mag_seven]

I would assume that the BTP have all angles covered in this including ststion and on board CCTV. I'm just aghast that someone would put a bag contain £1m of anything on the luggage rack.

 

[mikey9]

Am reading "Emil and the Detectives" (from the 1940's??) to my boys at the moment - sounds just like the "crime" - fell asleep for a few mins and pinned envelope inside pocked containing (Ok - only 8 pounds) disappeared from his person.

(No spoilers please - we have a few chapters to go....)

 

[AndrewE]

Back to the original thread title: didn't someone have a Stradivarius violin stolen a few years ago (or did they just forget about it and get off their train?)

 

[randyrippley]

A lot of jewels aren't insured.....they change hands too frequently and the insurance premiums are too high for the very reasons some of you are suggesting. Besides which, the origins or history of jewels are often not as clearcut as would be hoped.....

 

[dk1]

A lot of jewels aren't insured.....they change hands too frequently and the insurance premiums are too high for the very reasons some of you are suggesting. Besides which, the origins or history of jewels are often not as clearcut as would be hoped.....

You'd think if someone was as lapse in life as this they'd make insurance a priority.

 

[Busaholic]

Back to the original thread title: didn't someone have a Stradivarius violin stolen a few years ago (or did they just forget about it and get off their train?)

Yes, that was at Euston, but not on a train. I believe it was stolen from the Costa just outside the station entrance, probably from one of the outside tables. The female musician owner had put it on the ground and an opportunist scrote (plenty of them around Euston, even in my days working in the vicinity over forty years ago) nicked it and it's never been seen since. It probably got destroyed when the thief (or, more likely, the fence) realised its value and had no idea how they could get anything out of it, other than a substantial prison sentence.

 

[greatkingrat]

Actually it did get found in the end, although it took three years

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cri...n-is-found-after-three-year-hunt-8737440.html

 

[dk1]

Yes, that was at Euston, but not on a train. I believe it was stolen from the Costa just outside the station entrance, probably from one of the outside tables. The female musician owner had put it on the ground and an opportunist scrote (plenty of them around Euston, even in my days working in the vicinity over forty years ago) nicked it and it's never been seen since. It probably got destroyed when the thief (or, more likely, the fence) realised its value and had no idea how they could get anything out of it, other than a substantial prison sentence.

Pret I think.

 

[Hartington]

A bit difficult to lose but.....

My father was a concert pianist and owned a Steinway 6ft Grand Piano. Maintenance was done by a Steinway employee "on the side". What is known as "the action" is a single assembly that has all the keys, mechanism and hammers. You undo two screws, slide the whole action towards you and it comes out of the frame of the piano in one piece. He would turn up at our house in southwest London, remove the action, wrap it in blankets and take it home to southeast London to work his magic. He never lost it!

When it comes to diamonds it certainly used to be the case that Hatton Garden merchants simply used the mail to send their merchandise; no registered post, not even recorded. The best way of hiding things is often in plain sight!

 

[Holly]

Most valuable cargo ever to pass through Euston station, in the charge of a railway porter no less, was Cavity Magnetron No. 12 in August 1940. A priceless war secret at the time on its way to the US government and said to be the most important part of "the most valuable cargo ever to reach the shores of the USA".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizard_Mission#Moving_the_secrets

 

[ChiefPlanner]

One of my colleagues found 81 plastic wrapped bricks of Nepalese Hash on a local train off Euston way back ......the BTP took charge and wisely commented the "courier" would be dealt with by other sources ....

 

[Trackman]

it was a problem in the 80s and 90s for thieves dressed as well-dressed businessmen to steal from first class before the train set off.
I can't seeing it being an insurance scam, no way they would pay up.
He/She could have been working with an accomplice so not to pay 'Mr.Big' at the destination.
Maybe it was an opportunist thief seeing the briefcase.
All very iffy.

 

[Adlington]

didn't someone have a Stradivarius violin stolen a few years ago

Yes, in 2010. From a cafe @ Euston.
Stolen £1.2m Stradivarius found by police

 

[kevconnor]

There are worse things to steal from a train

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/man-who-stole-bomb-kit-fears-retaliation-by-ira-1416060.html