Diamonds, designer goods, dentures and dosh: All left behind at London City Airport, Silvertown!

Where can you find £50,000 in cash, a bag of diamonds, a Rolex watch, the key to a Porsche, and a book of signed blank cheques?  Aside from Simon Cowell’s house… these are all items from the Lost Property department at Silvertown’s London City Airport.

The airport has published Top Tens of the most unusual and the most common items left at the airport, to encourage people to take extra care of their belongings when they travel.

Adult toys, false teeth, a glass eye and an artificial skull all feature on the unusual chart, while the most common items include ipads, mobile phones and laptops.

Darren Grover, Chief Operating Officer at London City Airport said:  “Because London City is so close to central London it is popular with business travellers and celebrities, so we see more than our fair share of valuable items left in Departures.  As summer approaches we’ve published the Top Tens to help travellers avoid that stomach-churning feeling you get when you realise you’ve lost something.  I imagine the person who left the £50,000 felt particularly sick at that moment.”

The airport’s location so close to central London

       

makes it popular with travellers wanting speed and privacy. Customers include members of the royal family, British Prime Ministers, high profile sportspeople, and well-known musicians.

One item where the owner was easily tracked down was an achievement award presented to a British Olympian.

“The award had the athlete’s name etched on it so was quickly returned to its rightful owner,” added Mr Grover.  “The £50,000 cash was also claimed, but the owner of the false teeth never did come forward.  Our advice to travellers is to take care when moving around the airport as things can easily get left behind.  Going through security is a key time to make sure you’ve collected everything that passed through the x-ray scanners, and again before you head to the departure gate.”