Unclaimed belongings "disposed of" by gym

joannaspanner

You ok up there on your pedestal Sebd?

[Deleted User]

Was there a big sign saying "Items left in lockers are not the responsibility of the management and use is at your own risk" ? or words to those effects

Or.. is there anything in the terms and conditions of your gym membership?

SebD

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Was there a big sign saying "Items left in lockers are not the responsibility of the management and use is at your own risk" ? or words to those effects

Or.. is there anything in the terms and conditions of your gym membership?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Yes, there is a sign, much as stated. I believe these signs are not legally binding, however. If I had left it in an OPEN locker, then anyone could have taken the items. As the locker was locked, when I left, the only people with access to the items would have been staff, at the end of the day. My point being that I had, therefore, left the items "in their care", thereby making them duty-bound to exhibit a reasonable duty of care.

I would be very interested to learn if anyone knows whether membership-operated lockers (as opposed to the coin-operated variety) record who used which locker and when, as that would make it a simple procedure (not undertaken) to contact said member.

That's a good idea, to check terms and conditions of membership - Thanks.:)

Optimist

You might argue that when they removed your belongings they became bailees and as such subject to the Tort (interference with goods ) Act 1977

It isn't clear cut and there is no certainty a judge would agree but its possibly your best bet.

SebD

Optimist wrote: »

You might argue that when they removed your belongings they became bailees and as such subject to the Tort (interference with goods ) Act 1977

It isn't clear cut and there is no certainty a judge would agree but its possibly your best bet.

This is exactly what I'm looking for.....ideas that can prompt the drafting of a reasonable letter-of-complaint that will be taken seriously and hopefully negate the need to seek legal redress.

Thanks to the past two contributors. :beer:

d123

SebD wrote: »

I would be very interested to learn if anyone knows whether membership-operated lockers (as opposed to the coin-operated variety) record who used which locker and when, as that would make it a simple procedure (not undertaken) to contact said member.

That's a good idea, to check terms and conditions of membership - Thanks.:)

not that simple, you can be sure the gym doesn't have a staff member employed to run after "forgetful" customers who cant be bothered to empty their rented locker at the end of their session.

Would you want to pay for the extra staff the gym would need to run around after these forgetful customers ensuring they get their abandoned goods back?

poet123

How long was it in there for?

SebD

poet123 wrote: »

How long was it in there for?

It would have been emptied at the end of the shift. I left around 4pm and the gym closes at 10pm so around 6 hours, I guess.

Evilm

I can't see anywhere in this thread that you've actually asked the gym if they have it. Have you asked? You might have to wait until office hours in case its in a central location and the front desk person may not always know what's in their unclaimed property box/locker if they have one.

Its very possible that the lockers are not set up to retain records of who accessed them and link it to their membership number in order to contact them - that's another thing you'd have to ask the office staff or front desk.

Most places with lockers etc seem to say they'd keep stuff for 30 days before disposing of it.

However I can't find anything about the organisations legal liability for stuff left behind and disposed of.

In the absence of a legal requirement it would really depend if they have put it in the contract that they will keep stuff for a certain amount of time or not.

poet123

SebD wrote: »

It would have been emptied at the end of the shift. I left around 4pm and the gym closes at 10pm so around 6 hours, I guess.

Right, then yes, I do think that there is a legal onus on them to hold the items for a reasonable period to allow someone to claim them. They surely have a lost property book? Or a policy re items found on their premises. Is it a small concern or a chain gym?

I would be asking to see their policy on lost and found items, and putting my complaint in writing. Have they stated they disposed of them or that they were never found?