The Exhibition police station, manned by the Ministry of Defence Police, is the repository for Lost and Found Property during the Show.
Normally they re-unite owners with their wallets, passes, cameras and mobile phones - including one which was left on the roof of the owner's car as he drove off yesterday.
More unusual items dealt with in recent years have included a 2m demonstrators' banner saying ‘Beds not Bombs' and a python.
The snake escaped from its owner at the 1990 show. It was eventually found beneath the police station portacabin. No one could rest until the reptile was recaptured so a mobile crane was brought in to lift the police station up, allowing RSPCA officials to rescue the python.
A call was received from an embarrassed ex-Air Commodore who had lost his briefcase.
Fortunately it lay in the path of a car and was burst open, revealing the contents and avoiding a major security alert.
Another hopeful reported the loss of two £50 notes - they were not handed in - while a woman reported the loss of a white silk shirt.
The incident book did not comment on her attire at the time of the report.
Common
Lost and Found reaches its peak on the weekend public days, when the most common reports involve lost cars, children, video cameras and handbags.
The solution to ‘lost car syndrome' is to wait until the car parks empty, revealing the lost vehicle - usually in splendid isolation - in a different car park from that in which its owner swore it was parked.
PC Gerry Tobin of the Ministry of Defence Police turned midwife yesterday - to deliver his own daughter. His wife Sharen placed an emergency call to her husband at work and PC Tobin, who is working in the police control room for the Show, rushed home to Aldershot to find his wife in advanced labour. Before the official midwife could arrive, Sharen had given birth. Mother and daughter are reported doing fine.
Source: Flight Daily News
