“I’m writing to ask if you can help in any way,” begins the mail from Carmel.
On Friday January 10th she went to her choir’s function a local hotel – she doesn’t identify the hotel but it may not matter so much.
“My friends and I hung our coats on a rail, provided at the entrance. There were no reclaim tickets provided. Mine was a long, edge-to-edge camel coat with turned-back sleeves,” she explains.
Fast forward to the end of the evening when Carmel went to collect her camel coat and there it was, gone.
Have you seen Carmel’s camel coat?
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“I brought this to the attention of the hotel staff and the event organisers and my friends also checked among the remaining guests, in case they had seen it, but to no avail.”
She says that in the days that followed, the organisers posted “numerous messages, to those who attended, with a photo of the coat, asking if they had inadvertently taken it. In the meanwhile, I checked with the hotel’s duty and operations managers, in case the coat had been handed in. The coat was not returned.”
The story then takes a twist.
While Carmel’s camel coat was not found, the hotel did manage to find “a camel coloured jacket”.
That led them to believe her coat was not stolen but taken in error by the owner of the jacket.
Carmel hoped the coat would eventually be returned but a month has passed and there has been no sign of it.
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“I reported the incident to the guards. The hotel and the function organisers have said they are not responsible. What can be done, please?”
Generally speaking operators of cloakrooms are not liable if things go missing.
If you leave your coat into such a place only for it to be thieved by some ne’er-do-well, you might think you have some sort of comeback. After all, what is the point of a cloakroom if it can’t keep your coat safe?
If there is a sign that says coats are left at the owner’s risk then that will absolve the hotel or venue as under the law they have told you unambiguously about the terms and conditions of the contract, and you have accepted them.
They have said they are not providing security for your jacket, only somewhere to put it, so if anything happens to it, it’s your lookout.
In the absence of the sign, you could argue it is their responsibility as they have not warned you otherwise, but there is no guarantee that such a line would work.
The bottom line is Carmel’s coat is missing. And it is still likely it was taken in error. So, if you have it and have only just realised it, you might drop it back to the hotel and that will be the end of it.
