Nguyễn Văn Bắc opens the lost-and-found closet in Hà Nội-based Nước Ngầm Bus Station. Photo saostar.vn

HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Văn Bắc, 40, a security guard at the Hà Nội-based Nước Ngầm Bus Station, has cleaned the dirt on the glass of the lost-and-found closet and neatly arranged lost items from passengers every day for a decade.

Bắc said many passengers forgot or dropped their items while they were hurrying to get on or get off the bus.

The lost items were often found via the camera systems of the bus station. Sometimes, bus drivers found them. Sometimes, bus staff found and took the lost items to the closet with the hope to give them back to their owners, he added.

The lost items include luggage, wallets, laptops, smartphones, watches, passports, ID cards, household registration books, other important papers and even cash, he said.

When the lost items were brought to the closet, Bắc and other security staff would try to find any related information of the owner on the lost items.

“We would contact the owner if we get any information,” he said.

If not, they put the lost items in the closet with a sticker, containing the day, month and year the item was lost, and wait for someone to come and claim their assets, he said.

When a person could prove the lost items belong to them, they immediately return it, he said.

Bắc recalled one day two years ago, he returned VNĐ23 million (US$995) to a male passenger, who was very upset because he dropped his savings.

Another time, Bắc returned luggage containing important papers to a passenger that was a soldier.

“The soldier said to me that he felt very lucky. He thought he had already lost his luggage and important papers,” Bắc said.

Nguyễn Văn Minh, a passenger, was given his lost wallet, containing VNĐ28.1 million ($1,200) on December 21, 2012. He had left a thankful note in the closet after receiving his lost items.

Ma Văn Lâm, 21, a student of the Academy of Journalism and Communication, a regular passenger of the bus station said the lost-and-found closet was a good idea.

“The closet might be not new in other countries but is very new in a bus station in Việt Nam,” he said.

“I think it is meaningful,” he said.

Nguyễn Văn Nam, a driver of a bus route of Hà Tĩnh – Hà Nội, said he appreciated the idea of operating the closet by the bus station’s management board.

“I always advise my passengers to go to the closet to find their lost items,” he said.

Many of them found their lost things, he said.

Bắc said he and his colleagues also felt very happy when lost items were given to their owner.

“It’s the joy of our job,” he said.

Bắc hopes the model of the lost-and-found closet will be multiplied in many bus stations nationwide. — VNS

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