What’s Inside London’s Biggest Lost Property Warehouse?

London’s transport network receives more than 6,000 lost items every week, filling Europe’s largest lost-property warehouse with everything from mobile phones and wallets to bizarre discoveries like cooked frogs and even an urn of ashes.

While perishables are thrown away, most items are sorted and stored on vast shelves that hold decades’ worth of umbrellas, books, stuffed toys, wedding dresses, and other forgotten belongings.

Yet less than 20% are ever reclaimed, leading Transport for London to auction or donate many items after a three-month holding period.

Toys are passed to children’s charities, sports gear goes to schools, and some items—like the urn—are remarkably reunited with owners years later.

Buses produce the most lost property, as commuters often relax and leave things behind.