What an idiot!
 

http://tinyurl.com/2tdag4

Can you imagine that anyone would be so stupid as to leave an unattended bag at Heathrow?

Josser asked: "Can you imagine that anyone would be so stupid as to leave an unattended bag at Heathrow?"

Sure I can. One lesson I have learned in life is that, no matter how stupid a thing is, there is no shortage of people to do it.

Sadly, you can substitute the word "evil" for "stupid" and my observation still holds.

"three abandoned fire extinguishers" not a bag.

s

the fire estinguishers was Hammersmith.

as for people behaving stupidly at airports - it's quite common - I suspect people put their brain in checked luggage

I managed to do it myself at London City on the way home once - stopped to reorganise between different bags, and didn't notice I'd left my daypack behind in the terminal until I was halfway home. Fortunately it was small and empty enough not to have caused a major alert, but I got a deservedly frosty reception when I arrived to claim it back.

Oops!

s

>Can you imagine that anyone would be so stupid as to leave an unattended bag at Heathrow?<

Not only imagine it, have seen it, have done it.

When you are tired, disoriented, trying to do too many things at once, you lose track of stuff.

Now, people standing in the middle of an intersection looking at a map is dumb. :)

((I))

Successfully remembered my picnic lunch, brief case and my paperback when I got off the commuter train in Rome for a day trip from Lanciano once. Left my purse sitting in my seat. After a frantic phone-call, I picked it up two days later at the station master's grille with all intact.

It can happen to anyone who is multi-tasking and in a hurry, don't you think?

Last year, in a small Dallas airport I walked past a chair that had a laptop which was open, powered on and cabled to the wall. There was also a brief case wide open next to it and no one around. I walked past it, looking around as I past. I even walked back to it in disbelief. I stood there for a moment expecting the owner to come over any moment and no one came. Dozens of people passed it by seeming not to notice.

Soooooooo, what did you do, Sandi Travelnut?

I did notify a security person as I left the airport.

In going through life in general I am of the opinion that everyone, including myself, will drift in and out of various levels of idiocy/forgetfullness/brilliance/stupidity/etc. so, Yes, I can easily imagine someone that stupid and if the stars align properly it could be me. Or you.

LJ, 4 different items is too many for me to keep track of on a train. i know that'd be an accident waiting to happen for me!

A BBC Radio 5 reporter managed to leave a bag full of equipment in the middle of Euston Station a day or so ago

Therre are idiots everywhere.

I wa flying out of LGA a couple of months ago, the flight was delayd, and a woman sitting near me in the gate area just got up and walked away, leaving a large carry-on there. I called her back, saying she forgot her bag. She replied no - she was going to the ladies room and didnt want to bring it with her.

I tried to explain that she had to

1) to ensure it isn;t stolen, and

2) to ensure no one puts anything it

She said - she doesn;t believe in all this nonense and she wasn't going to drag it with her.

When she left I called the gate agent, who called security, who took the bag and went looking for her. The last I saw security was taking her - and the bag - into a side room (presumably to inspet it and try to knock some sense into her).

OK, this raises a question...when in an airport and waiting to board, have you ever asked someone to watch your bags while you trot off to the loo/store/coffee place/check-in? has anyone aked you to watch their bag? do you agree?

I have been attending to the luggage of others for years and have no hesitancy in requesting the same. (I try to pick folks who "look safe"). In this age of caution, is this an unsafe idea?

I'd never leave my bag with anyone I didn't know and I'm sorry to say, I'd have to decline to watch the bag of someone I didn't know. It's not so much for the security issue but I don't want to be put in a position where I can be accused of stealing something out of it.

I don't ask people to watch my luggage. I check my suitcase and have a carry-on with me in the airport only as big as I can easily manage to take into the bathroom, shops, bars, with me.

Years ago I would "watch" another travellers bag while they went to the restroom or whatever but quite some time ago, way before 911 I stopped doing that. And I have never asked some stranger to watch my carryon, like Suze I can manage to take it with me just fine.

As far as a person "looking safe" IMO there is really know way to tell. Sort of reminds me of comments from neighbors when they discover the fellow down the street is a murderer, child molester etc. "He was always quiet and seemed quite nice", lol.

BTW, my carryone has a zippered side pocket that I put all my documents, wallet in etc. Documents, wallet and so forth are put into a smallish zippered bag and put in the side pocket of the carryon so that I can take that with me if I need to leave my seat while on the plane. I put my purse into my checkin luggage (with items stored inside so no wasted space). That way I only have one item to deal with while in the airport.

One time, a woman asked my daughter to watch her baby while she visited the restroom. My daughter even had to hold the baby!

I guess we looked safe.