Is there anything more annoying than losing your phone? Knowing that, eventually, the battery is going to run out and you're never going to see it again?
Transport Canberra feels your pain. And some angels in the Lost Property section are doing something about it.
They collect the phones misplaced or handed in from the Transport Canberra buses and keep them charged in the hope that someone, some time, may call in, in an attempt to retrieve it.
Transport Canberra's business operations manager Deb Chamberlain said the idea to keep the phones charged came from operational support worker Leanne Hynes.
"It makes Leanne's job a lot easier as well. She can find 'mum' and 'dad' contacts as well, if the phone is unlocked. And if it's locked and we can't get contacts, we have them on charge in the hope that somebody will ring it," Chamberlain said.
Lost property for all the buses is based at the Tuggeranong depot where Chamberlain and Hynes work. They have no idea exactly how many lost phones turn up.
"Thousands," Chamberlain said. "It'd be in the thousands."
And it's not just school kids who lose them.
"Oh god, it's everybody," Chamberlain said. "It's 100 per cent not one group of people. Everybody loses their damn phone."
Transport Canberra has a legal obligation to keep the phones for three months, after which they are sent to non-profit organisation Mobile Muster to be recycled.
So how do people react when they get their phone back?
"Some are really excited. Some people just snatch the phone out of your hand and walk away. You get all sorts in Lost Property," Chamberlain said.
