Left luggage, was it always so expensive

[Holly]

I recently had occasion to check into the possibility of leaving a couple of suitcases at St.Pancras / Kings Cross for a few hours. (to hit the library before catching a long distance train).
Sticker shock - £8.50 per item. Was it always so expensive (inflation adjusted) in post war days? Anyone know the prices back then in the 1950s or 1960s? I recall it being very affordable in days of yore. Perhaps I'm just an old fool.

 

[6Gman]

I recently had occasion to check into the possibility of leaving a couple of suitcases at St.Pancras / Kings Cross for a few hours. (to hit the library before catching a long distance train).
Sticker shock - £8.50 per item. Was it always so expensive (inflation adjusted) in post war days? Anyone know the prices back then in the 1950s or 1960s? I recall it being very affordable in days of yore. Perhaps I'm just an old fool.

I suspect the cost has increased by far more than inflation. However there are mitigating factors:

1. In many locations left luggage was provided as one function of several carried out by the same staff - now it is a discrete activity.
2. Security measures today (e.g. x-raying/ metal detecting) have added cost.

 

[Requeststop]

I recently had occasion to check into the possibility of leaving a couple of suitcases at St.Pancras / Kings Cross for a few hours. (to hit the library before catching a long distance train).
Sticker shock - £8.50 per item. Was it always so expensive (inflation adjusted) in post war days? Anyone know the prices back then in the 1950s or 1960s? I recall it being very affordable in days of yore. Perhaps I'm just an old fool.

Life is amazing. I was thinking over the weekend about left luggage at stations and even, was thinking of a thread on this site about left luggage at stations. So, congratuations on being ahead of me. I am about to start a bash of South Wales, all of West Coast Scotland and a dive down to East Anglia. I intend to post a blog in another forum on this site. I am travelling from Baku, Azerbaijan tomorrow night to London and have asked my hotel id I can leave a medium sized suitcase at my hotel as I bash the lines. I really don't want to travel with the suitcase and travel with a smallish travel case, and my computer.

I didn't get a really positive reply from my hotel about leaving my case in London for 7 days. I know that my London terminus has left luggage. On line i have discovered that many termini and large stations no longer have the option of left luggage. Whether or not my terminus an keep luggage for 7-8 days I shall find out on Tuesday evening. If not I'll have to lug my luggage around my bash around the UK.

 

[Greenback]

Which company provides this service? Sounds like the same sort of price charged at Liverpool Street. I can't remember who that was, though I hope never to use them again!

 

[nedchester]

Bring back luggage lockers!

 

[tsr]

Bring back luggage lockers!

These are actually surprisingly expensive at some European stations. I also remember several recent amusing occasions at Bruxelles Midi where the fancy electronic locker payment systems either totally failed or were unusable by actual human beings.

 

[jopsuk]

Cambridge has a fairly hopeless Left Luggage service- it is provided at the nearby "station cycles". Want your bag before 8am (9 on Saturday, 10 on a Sunday)? tough. Arrriving after 6pm (7 on a Wednesday, 5 on a Saturday, 4/5 on a Sunday winter/summer)? out of luck

(and the other way round of course)

 

[HowardGWR]

These are actually surprisingly expensive at some European stations. I also remember several recent amusing occasions at Bruxelles Midi where the fancy electronic locker payment systems either totally failed or were unusable by actual human beings.

Indeed. We tried to leave our luggage at Malaga bus station, but decided it was much too dear. Now get this, We go next door to the railway station and not only was it even more expensive but it was like going through airport security and passports shewn and so on, so we gave that a miss too.

Of course there were huge 'retail opportunity' facilities selling stuff you buy once in a full moon. Looking back, with all the high cranes in Malaga at a standstill, one can see the financial bubble about to burst and all come literally crashing down. :cry:

We think all the security (including at the platform gate) was in connection with the previous bomb outrages at Atocha, but how daft to do all that for the railway station but not at the bus station only yards away!

Sorry, I know this is a UK site but useful to make comparisons sometimes.

 

[table38]

My favourite hotel charges a whopping 50p ! (although of no use to the OP as I suspect it's a courtesy to people who actually stay there )

 

[Essexman]

Left luggage facilities are widely available Europe but there must be less than 20 stations in the UK where it's available.
In the last few years I've used it at :

Glasgow Queen St
Glasgow Central
Edinburgh
Inverness
Aberdeen
Fort William
Manchester P.
Leeds
Liverpool
York

Other than major London termini, Birmingham & Newcastle, I'm not sure where else it's available, although there are non railway outlets that offfer it eg Exeter, Penzance.

I find it extremely useful and although far from cheap it's a cost I'm willing to pay not to gave to carry luggage around all day. Indeed lack of left luggage has on occasions caused me to travel by car rather than train.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Bring back luggage lockers!

I can think of a few safety concerns regarding lockers.

 

[fraser158]

I think there is also left luggage at Kyle of Lochalsh but I'm not sure.

On the NRE page for the station it says there is no left luggage but this page seems to contradict that.

 

[snail]

My favourite hotel charges a whopping 50p ! (although of no use to the OP as I suspect it's a courtesy to people who actually stay there )

In many larger hotels you can easily blag free storage by asking at the desk, or even better, the concierge. They won't remember if you have stayed there.

Not that I am suggesting such inappropriate action of course.

 

[Jona26]

I seem to remember that the Red Star parcel points used to provide the left luggage facilities at a lot of stations.

 

[dvboy]

http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php

 

[Holly]

http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php

It's a bit amusing that they say Birmingham is a "North Britain" location.
Birmingham being somewhat less than 25% of the distance from the South coast of Great Britain (as the crow flies) to the North coast that is.

But then maybe they know something we don't. More referendums?

OK, there must be some enthusiast who has the price list for 1960 +/- 5 years?

 

[PaxVobiscum]

http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php

The list of locations in 'North Britain' is like something out of the P.G. Wodehouse 'Jeeves' stories.

Damn! Beat me to it!

 

[Buttsy]

I remember in the 80s left luggage lockers being 50p a go as I used one at Shrewsbury in about 1989.

Lockers disappeared after the IRA left bombs in them...

 

[table38]

I remember an interesting "hybrid" system at Leeds maybe in the 1990s where there were ordinary coin-operated lockers, but with a barrier and someone checking your bags manually before you could use the lockers

 

[Lewisham2221]

Nottingham Broadmarsh bus station, just down the road from the railway station, has 'self service' luggage lockers. Various sizes, priced between £1 - £3 per 24hrs IIRC. Come in handy when you've been Christmas shopping and end up going for a 'few' beers.

 

[LE Greys]

Aberdeen was £4 last year, as I found out after problems with a bus getting stuck in traffic and a broken TVM meant that I missed a train at the end of Lent Term. I hadn't a bean on me, but luckily ran into a friend, who lent it to me. Otherwise, I would have had to walk back to Old Aberdeen, trunk and all. Caught the morning train the next day.

Anyway, £4 for a large trunk for one night.

 

[aelius]

This is another example of scandalous extortion particularly in major cities. No doubt someone will mention security concerns and the need for scanners etc. But many European cities seem to manage with cheaper left luggage facilities and I noted recently that Inverness seemed to manage to provide left luggage lockers at a reasonable cost.

At one time, there were different in prices between different London termini. I seemed to remember that the Eurostar Terminal at Waterloo was for a long time quite cheap.

But now Network Rail seemed to have let at concession to one particular company at most of its managed stations and the fees are excessive. There is no competition at all. The same company is used. Presumably having to satisfy an OTT specification/contract set by Network Rail and paying a huge concession fee to Network Rail.

Another example of fleecing the rail user by getting them to require them to pay a high fee instead of trying to provide a reasonably price service to them. It's not the fault of the company providing the service but those who decide what service should be provided.

As you can see this is something that I feel very strongly about and thank you for the opportunity to let off steam.
:mad::mad::mad:

 

[Flying Snail]

At one time, there were different in prices between different London termini. I seemed to remember that the Eurostar Terminal at Waterloo was for a long time quite cheap.

But now Network Rail seemed to have let at concession to one particular company at most of its managed stations and the fees are excessive. There is no competition at all. The same company is used. Presumably having to satisfy an OTT specification/contract set by Network Rail and paying a huge concession fee to Network Rail.

Another example of fleecing the rail user by getting them to require them to pay a high fee instead of trying to provide a reasonably price service to them. It's not the fault of the company providing the service but those who decide what service should be provided.

As you can see this is something that I feel very strongly about and thank you for the opportunity to let off steam.
:mad::mad::mad:

The left luggage at St Pancras was also significantly cheaper than the other London terminals before it was redeveloped into a shopping mall, it used to be run by a different company.

 

[Holly]

... Another example of fleecing the rail user by getting them to require them to pay a high fee instead of trying to provide a reasonably price service to them. It's not the fault of the company providing the service but ...

Well, it's the fault of the voters who decided they want a private enterprise system. The monopoly goes to the highest bidder and the highest bidder charges whatever the market will bear to the point of pain, but no more.

The alternative is a public service, but that is not what the people have said they want. Otherwise we would still have British Rail.

 

[Requeststop]

http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php

Very Useful Information. Thanks

 

[Blindtraveler]

Not much help on post war pricing however anyone coming to Edinburgh should be aware of a similar system of well priced lockers at the bus station which is ££££s less that at Waverley
also on Sunday I caught the Northern Isles ferry from Aberdeen and was able to leav bags for a few hours Pre Saling free!

 

[Flamingo]

- "Where can I leave my bags?"
- "I'm sorry,you have to keep them with you, unattended bags can cause security alerts"
- "That's ridiculous, what about the elderly and disabled?"
- "I'm afraid we don't have anywhere you can leave them either"

 

[island]

Most Network Rail stations have staffed left luggage costing some amount similar to to what the OP paid. Lockers have been killed off due to hysterical terrorism panic.

 

[Welshman]

- "Where can I leave my bags?"
- "I'm sorry,you have to keep them with you, unattended bags can cause security alerts"
- "That's ridiculous, what about the elderly and disabled?"
- "I'm afraid we don't have anywhere you can leave them either"

I know - we're even told to take all our personal belongings with us when we leave the train, too.

 

[theageofthetra]

In London the station luggage facilities are very expensive due in part to the scanning equipment. If you have a small airline cabin size bag or even piles of shopping you want to lose for a few hours I have used lockers provided at various free museums/attractions/gallerys. Useful ones are at The British Library right next door to the Midland road exit of St Pan, The masonic musum if you want to look round Covent Garden/Holborn. The Tate sites and the big South Ken museums have manned left luggage. Of course you need to pick up your things at all of these prior to closing time. Well worth getting on museum websites and checking their left luggage facilities as I am sure there are more.