KIRKLEES ratepayers seem to be in safe hands when it comes to the amount of items lost by council staff.

A report of missing items has revealed that council workers have lost just 15 items over the last four years – with a total value of just £519.

The log book of lost items shows that just 10 mobile phones have been lost by officials since January, 2008.

Other items to go ‘Awol’ include one coat, a camera, an adjustable wrench and a pack of four snow shovels and gloves.

Reasons given for the missing phones include, “phone fell out of pocket whilst working”, “employee took extended leave but was unable to find his phone when he returned”, “employee no longer works here but the phone was not returned”, “employee thinks it went into the tip when he was disposing of rubbish” and “employee passed away and the phone could not be found”.

In comparison, a survey by Big Brother Watch found that nationwide, 132 councils were involved in 1,035 incidents of data loss this year alone.

At least 244 laptops, 98 memory sticks and 93 mobile devices were lost and the information of at least 3,100 children, young people or students was compromised in 118 cases.

Meanwhile, another study has revealed £1.5 billion worth of gadgets are lost each year in the country.

Some 17.5 million gadgets – including laptops and mobiles – are left in lost property centres across the country annually, research by O2 Recycle has found.

Business mobiles are the most likely work gadget to be lost with a staggering 5.2 million mobiles going missing each year in Britain.

One London cab driver, 61-one-year-old Phillip Caston, says that around 25 mobiles a year are left in the back of his taxi.

“It’s so easy to drop them,’’ he said. “They are small and black and you can miss them if you look quickly.

“So now I ask them to make sure they have everything with them and then check the cab after they leave.”

The study revealed that 29% of people do not even realise that they have lost their gadget, while almost one-in-six (59%) lose their gadget in a public place.

Perhaps, reassuringly, one-third say they have just mislaid their missing device within the home.

Half of those questioned by O2 revealed that they never retrieve the stray technology, while only 6% make an insurance claim on their item.