TfL Lost Property Office Stephenson Street, E16

SECRET SPOTS YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO DISCOVER

- CLAUDIA COCKERELL

You wouldn't think that West Ham Bus Garage had anything in common with Harry Potter, but TfL's Lost Property Office there might be the closest thing to the Room of Requirement on this mortal coil. "Office" is a bit of a misnomer - it's really a cavernous warehouse full of row upon row of all the possessions misplaced by Londoners on the TfL network - 6,500 a week, to be precise. It's a nosey parker's paradise.

Every day, all the items that have been left on buses, tubes, trains and black cabs arrive here in sacks, which are unpacked and labelled in the sorting room. "We try and treat everything the same," says lost property performance manager Diana Quaye, who is showing me around. This egalitarianism is clear when I see a staff member diligently labelling a snapped electric cable. "It could be valuable to that person," Quaye shrugs.

False claims, frazzled frogs

The team log the date, time and location something went missing, which prevents anyone from reclaiming an item which isn't theirs but they do still get the odd chancer.

While we are there, a man comes in to collect a bag he lost after falling asleep on the Tube.

"These are all my things, but they were in a Gucci bag before," he claims. " You have to have a sense of humour to work here," says Quaye, adding that "some items could be classed as undesirable". In the past they have received theatrical coffins, a bollard and a box of cooked frogs.