Found phone - how to return

saajan_12

I found a phone on a bus late at night, and am trying to get it back to the owner. 

Tried handing it to the bus driver, but they didn't want to know, probably the end of a long shift being bothered by drunk people. I also don't know how long it had been on the bus, so no real station / fixed place the person would go back to. 

My thoughts are either any tube station, and hope it gets through to TfL lost & found (though annecdotally I hear that barely any valuables are found that way when friends have lost theirs) or is handing it to a police station still a thing? 
So far I've tried to keep it on / charged, for the best chance of someone tracking it via GPS. But I can't see how to contact the person to say I have it.. the screen just says its been locked and has a partially hidden email address. 

Brie

hopefully the owner will try to ring it from a friend's phone and you can reconnect that way.  

DullGreyGuy

saajan_12 said:

I found a phone on a bus late at night, and am trying to get it back to the owner. 

Tried handing it to the bus driver, but they didn't want to know, probably the end of a long shift being bothered by drunk people. I also don't know how long it had been on the bus, so no real station / fixed place the person would go back to. 

My thoughts are either any tube station, and hope it gets through to TfL lost & found (though annecdotally I hear that barely any valuables are found that way when friends have lost theirs) or is handing it to a police station still a thing? 
So far I've tried to keep it on / charged, for the best chance of someone tracking it via GPS. But I can't see how to contact the person to say I have it.. the screen just says it's been locked and has a partially hidden email address. 

What make is the phone?

If it was left on a bus ideally you'd contact the bus company for that route (note you are in London) and take it to their lost property. The person is much more likely to try and track it via the bus company than a tube stop if it was left on a bus. 

With the number of phone thefts in London though it could be that the person who left it is not the genuine owner and hence why they've not made significant efforts to find stolen property.

OutdoorQueen

I think most phones have an emergency details section where you can enter information that can be used in an emergency, and you don’t need to unlock the phone.  The owner might have entered something you can use.  On the unlock screen is there “Emergency” or something similar you can press.  

Lorian

Pop the SIM out and write down the SIM card number and let the air time provider know. They of course won't tell you who it belongs to 

matelodave

In the good old days you could take stuff like that to a police station and that's where people would go and look for their lost items. I'm not sure if the Police care anymore or even if you can find a police station that's open

savergrant

Advice from British transport police (pretty much that it is someone else's problem) but gives a contact for tfl;

https://www.btp.police.uk/ro/report/lp/lost-or-found-property/found-item-on-public-transport/?tid=1343&lid=&cid=&rid=272766&stepid=1-2-2

I would be cautious because right now you could be in possession of stolen property and I doubt you have evidence that you brought it to the attention of the bus driver.