It turns out rail passengers are a forgetful lot.

But how can you leave a loved one behind?

That’s what happened on one First TransPennine train when bemused staff found a casket containing someone’s ashes!

It was just one of the bizarre collection of lost and found items on the company’s trains, which run through Huddersfield and the rest of West Yorkshire.

Inter-city rail operator, First TransPennine Express, revealed the weird and wonderful list including a 6ft inflatable dinosaur, a framed photo of Mary Berry, and even the wooden casket complete with ashes inside.

Over the year, the millions of customers that have passed through its stations and boarded its trains have left behind over 1,300 wallets and purses, 600 umbrellas, 120 bags of shopping, 70 pairs of glasses and 30 laptops.

But it seems to be mobiles that passengers lose the most, with a whopping 2,000 being found by staff. Other findings by the rail company included 73 soft toys, 62 dummies, 21 bottles of aftershave/perfume, 6 guitars and 8 hen sashes.

The company fielded many calls from people who realised they had lost something on a train - including 30 calls into lost lunches, two calls into lost dentures, three calls into lost pets on the train, including a hamster, cat and lizard, luckily all of which staff found safe and sound, and even more peculiarly, a call regarding a lost wife.

Will Munton, First TransPennine Express’ Huddersfield Station Manager, said: “We deal with over 6,000 items of lost property every year including a number of more unusual finds, averaging more than 18 misplaced items every single day.

“As we cover such a large regional spread, we expect to find some strange items when clearing out the unclaimed lost and found, however this year has really opened our eyes to the unusual. Luckily, we’re able to return a large amount of lost goods to their rightful owners, and we were thankful to return the casket in question to its loved one.”

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