Alex Trelinski
A RECORD number of objects were left behind on EMT Valencia buses in 2024, with 9,698 items found- up by 1,398 on the previous year.
The list included mobile phones, sunglasses, headphones, lottery tickets, baby carriages, bras, and beach coolers.
EMT President, Jesus Carbonell, said: “More mobile phones have been recovered and returned than ever before, totalling 214, along with 131 headphones- most of them wireless units.”
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Carbonell said 35 beach coolers and 17 baby carriages were also on the lost property lists.
845 wallets, 340 card holders and 38 fanny packs were recovered, with the last one found on December 31 with €980 in it.
A few weeks earlier, another one had been returned containing €790.
In October, a branded bag belonging to a French tourist had aiound €1,000 in it and and was returned to the Citizen Assistance Office (OAC).
Other items included six hearing aids, 542 glasses( most of them sunglasses) 333 umbrellas, 280 jackets, 97 sweatshirts, 94 scarves, 64 gloves and five coats.
The more unusual objects included a medium-sized drone and 12 crutches.
A large wheelchair was left behind which the owner used to access a bus via a ramp.
On his exit, he left on his own two feet and forgot about the chair, but called the OAC a few hours later to retrieve it.
Two large sets of keys were forgotten by a person in charge of cleaning work at two Valencia City housing estates.
A Spanish tourist left the negatives of photos he had taken during his stay in Cuba and a high school teacher who had forgotten a folder containing exam papers taiken by 34 of his students.
Other recovered goods included 57 bracelets and 29 earrings, 34 wristwatches, 227 caps, 36 hats, 23 lottery tickets, 46 pairs of shoes(in their boxes), and 24 shopping bags, most of them including purchased items.
The list continues with 386 backpacks, 12 computers and 815 plastic or cloth bags with various objects including bras or socks plus six glucose meters used by diabetics.
153 books- mainly tourist guides- were left behind including four tablets.
But the biggest single item were EMT Valencia transport cards totalling 1,791.
Jesus Carbonell said: “The OAC is in charge of managing all cases of lost property on municipal buses and usually these objects spend only a few hours on company premises.”
“The vast majority are usually claimed immediately and are usually delivered, either in the afternoon, or in the early hours of the next day after a loss,” he added.
Those few items that are not claimed are transferred to the Valencia Policia Local.
