London transport passengers lost three devices an hour during 2013, according to a Freedom of Information request.
The request by security and communications company ViaSat UK shows almost 25,000 lost devices were handed in to Transport for London (TfL).
Mobile phones were by far the most common device found, with the majority lost on London buses (12,091 devices), followed by the rail network (7,065 devices), and finally black cabs (2,135 devices).
"We need to remember that this is just those devices found by or handed in to TfL: the actual number lost across the capital is likely far greater," said Chris McIntosh, CEO of ViaSat UK.
Laptops were most often lost on the rail network, accounting for 352 out of 755 devices. Tablets were most commonly misplaced in taxis – 294 out of 672 devices were found in black cabs.
The results also revealed that 1,449 USB devices were handed in during 2013.
"If a device is lost, then there is a whole world of data that may have already been captured and used by criminals," added McIntosh.
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ViaSat made a Freedom of Information request to TfL for the details of computing devices capable of storing sensitive data that had been handed in to Lost Property between 1 January 2013 and 1 January 2014.
