Nexus, which owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, has raised over a thousand pounds for charity from its Metro lost property auction.
A total of £1,258 has now been officially handed over to good causes, while many other unclaimed items have been recycled or donated to charities.
The Metro Lost Property Auction - the first one to be held by Nexus since 2009 – saw 4,000 items go under the hammer.
The auction was held at Park Lane Interchange in Sunderland on 19 June, with an array of lots up for sale, from the mundane, to the more weird and wonderful.
The money raised has been donated to the chosen charities of the Mayor of the City of Sunderland, Cllr Stuart Porthouse. The charities are Age UK Sunderland, Action on Dementia Sunderland and NSPCC Childline Sunderland.
Scores of other items of lost property have been recycled or donated to charities, both locally and overseas.
• Almost a hundred items of new clothing were donated to the cancer care charity St Oswald’s to sell in their shops.
• Sixteen pairs of crutches were returned to local hospitals and all of the remaining walking sticks were given to local care homes.
• Around 300 pairs of glasses have been donated to Sepcsavers for its Third World recycling scheme.
• Five pushbikes were donated to the Newcastle-based community project called ‘Recyke y’Bike’. Their volunteers will fix the bikes up for resale.
• Local libraries were re-united with 15 missing books
• 277 mobile phones were sold to O2 for recycling.
Cllr Porthouse was officially handed the proceeds from the auction at a cheque presentation at Sunderland Civic Centre on Wednesday 30 July.
Director General of Nexus, Bernard Garner, said: “The Metro lost property auction was a huge success and has raised money for some really worthy causes.
“Many other items have also been recycled or donated to various charities who can make good use of them. It’s wonderful to see these items of lost property being put to such good use.”
The Mayor of Sunderland, Cllr Stuart Porthouse said: “I’d like to thank Nexus for their hard work organising the auction, and everyone who took part for the generosity of their bids which helped raise so much money for charity.
“It’s great to think that lost property can be put to such good use. It’s a great and unusual way of fundraising which certainly seems to capture people’s imagination.“
Some of the more unusual items up for sale at the auction include a pair of boxing gloves, a pogo stick, a guitar, a snooker cue, a picnic hamper, a set of bunk bed ladders, a foot spa and a fishing rod.
There were 289 items of brand new clothing, 77 CDs, 62 DVDs, 27 vinyls, 47 computer games, 29 walking sticks, four golf clubs, five tennis rackets, 76 umbrellas and four pushchairs.
Previous Metro lost property auctions have included a false leg, several wigs, Barry Manilow records, a stuffed dog affectionately called "Day Rover" by Metro staff, and even a kitchen sink.
Nexus rotates the venues of the Metro lost property auction between the five districts of Tyne and Wear on a rolling basis so that all these areas get to benefit.