Thursday, 10 December 2015

Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: The Law on Losing Things on Public Transport

Thankfully, this playground chant is for the most part not true. Although the loser may weep for the temporary inconvenience, if they go and seek out the finder- they have the rights in relation to getting their property back. The finder can however remain the keeper if after making a reasonable amount of effort to find the previous owner they aren't successful.
Misplaced a Book on the Train
Each terminal station has a lost property office where items can be claimed.
Left a Phone on the Bus
Dublin Bus has a lost property office on Earl Place where customers are welcome to come and collect their property with a  €2 maintenance fee attached to every claimed item. Items will usually arrive after one working day. Dublin Bus also sporadically tweets pictures of phones that have been recently found in an attempt to reunite them with their owners.
Forgot an Umbrella in a Taxi
Taxis, hackneys and limousines are bound by the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 to hand in any lost property left in their vehicle to An Garda Síochána. Your local Garda station can tell you if it's been handed in anywhere. When something is handed in, it is kept between 31 and 366 days at the discretion of An Garda Síochána depending on the nature or a value of the item, to enable the owner to reclaim it. You will be asked to give ID before your property is handed back. It is much easier to claim your property if you have the license number of the cab you are in, this can be found on your receipt.
If your item has not been handed in when you first make the enquiry, don't despair!  It’s worthwhile to ask again a week or so later because it might not have been handed in immediately after being found. An Garda Síochána have a new online service to help people find lost or stolen property that can be found on the 'Property in Garda Possession' link on the homepage of the www.garda.ie website.
Parker v British Airways Board, [1982] 1 QB 1004 [EM1] 
This is an English case which governs the law of finding.  Irish law follows a similar precedent. In this case Mr Parker found an expensive watch on the ground of an airport lounge. It was held that since the original owner could not be found, Mr Parker, the finder was allowed to keep it. 
Some useful resources to check out if you’ve lost property are


 [EM1]Eric, I think you need to explain the relevance of this case?

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