It’s amazing what people leave behind on trains up and down the country. Whether it is dropping an item by mistake, or in the rush of getting off the train forgetting to pick up luggage, it is something that happens every day.
Last year a violinist made the headlines when he left his prized 310-year-old instrument, worth £250,000, on a train. However in this case there was a happy ending and the passenger was reunited with his violin.
One lost property service proving a big hit and helping to reunite many with valuable possessions is MissingX, a principal supplier to British Transport Police, FirstGroup, Abellio, LNER, Tramlink, Transport Scotland and Transport for Wales.
Director Nick Ellenden has written an article for railbusinessdaily.com about the working relationship with the UK train operators and how lost and found should operate in the future.
“From the mundane to the truly bizarre, lost and found property has never been more interesting.
The ongoing rollout of MissingX single search Lost Property system through the UK Railways has been fast and efficient but so has improving the identification of owners for those items left behind.
From drugs, weapons and terrorist related items to those of a rather more, ahem, personal nature the MissingX lost and found property suite of solutions has improved repatriation rates from industry wide 13% to a stunning 57%.
Glass eyes, teeth, antique firearms, prosthetic limbs, adult toys, toenail clippings saved in ‘snuff’ boxes to name but a few of the more esoteric items we get logged.
MissingX is the UK’s leading partner for the safe and efficient delivery of innovative, integrated lost property solutions with rail, bus, airport, hotel and NHS capabilities.
Mobile Apps and a Cloud Based Portal ensure that passengers can easily search, claim and register property either on the MissingX website or via a White Label portal making it easy for every passenger to ‘self-help’ rather than tying up phones, using complex webforms or emails improving repatriation rates and reducing work flows for staff.
Reducing calls by some 90% to call centres also builds on time and cost efficiencies and improving customer service. This is the first global, single search capability platform that the DfT and Transport Focus have been requesting for years.
Not only does a single search system network wide increase property return but it also reduces crime and the perception of crime for both staff and passengers.
We enable our partners to deliver best practise based built on the 16 years’ experience we have partnering with our clients and helping them solve their issues.
A key to the company’s success is the importance placed on passenger self-help. Empowering passengers to be part of the solution to their problem is key to building confidence, relationships and reducing challenges and burdens placed on staff.
Revenue generation is now a key factor in drawing further interest in the platform. The emphasis of customer experience and cost savings are a must but in this present climate of COVID-19, maximising innovative and ingenious new methods of building revenues from ‘left field’ are key to making the system, not only pay for itself, but drive huge revenues whilst still delivering its core functions.
Automated emails to police on the logging of weapons, drugs and other ‘items of police interest’ are just one of the ways MissingX provides a safety net for staff in challenging times.”
MissingX Director Nick Ellenden. www.missingx.com
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