From lawnmowers to lions: NS reveals the craziest lost and found items of 2021

When travelling back and forth on Dutch public transport, it can be easy to accidentally leave something behind on one of the empty seats. A glove perhaps, or some earphones - or an electric lawn mower? According to Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), some rather peculiar items ended up in their lost and found this year. 

40.000 items landed in NS lost and found office 

Over the past 12 months, around 40.000 items ended up at NS lost and found, after being picked up on various trains and at stations across the country. The top five objects at their Central Office for Found Objects were:

1. Keys
2. Mobile phones
3. Bags
4. Glasses
5. Apple Airpods / Airpod cases

These all sound like fairly generic lost and found objects, but there are some more unexpected items that landed in lost and found this year. One passenger managed to misplace their electric lawnmower, while another left behind a large Samsung television. 

While this year saw an increase in the number of items that ended up at lost and found, the figures are still considerably lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2019, over 100.000 objects at the Central Office for Found Objects.

#Weekvandeverlorenknuffel: Reuniting children with their lost toys

This week, the public transport operator set out in an attempt to reunite one of the many many lost stuffed toys with their owners. More than 120 cuddly toys were left on trains and at stations this year, and this week NS hoped their seventh annual #Weekvandeverlorenknuffel (“week of the lost cuddly toy”) would help to make sure they got home in time for the Christmas holidays.

“It's cold and wet outside. Izzy the Polar Bear has lost his owner at the station and longs for his warmth and love,” NS writes on their website. Izzy wasn’t the only animal facing homelessness this winter; Danny the Dino, Petra the Poodle, Churandy the Cheetah and Katja the Rabbit were also looking for a warm and loving home.