Forgetful passengers have left thousands of items from purses to paperbacks on Merton's tube trains, trams, buses and black cabs.

The statistics from Transport for London's (TfL's) lost property office show 4,151 items were left on the borough's transport network in 2010/11.

The most abandoned item was bags, with 742 handed in. There were 724 books left, as well as 496 phones and 439 valuables - including wallets, laptops and cameras.

The tally includes items left found on the borough's two end-of-the-line tube stations, Morden and Wimbledon. Tfl said across London 207,000 items of lost property were received this year - including a handbag with an invitation to the Royal Wedding.