It literally pays to double check you have all of your belongings when leaving public transport or a station in France, as forgetting to take a bag could now lead to new levels of fines.
A new law, adopted by parliament on March 18 (loi relative au renforcement de la sûreté dans les transports) outlines new fines for forgetting your luggage or objects on public transport or in stations (trains, trams, and buses).
Until now, leaving a suitcase or parcel on a train or in a metro station was punishable by a fine of €150 from SNCF, and of €150-375 from RATP.
New fine levels
New luggage fine levelsConnexionFrance / Canva
The new law introduces three levels of fine:
In the event of involuntary abandonment in a station, train, metro or RER: Fixed fine of €72, which can go up to €450
In the event of the involuntary abandonment of unlabelled luggage if labelling is compulsory (as is the case on TGV and TER trains): Fixed fine of €150, which can go up to €750.
In the event of deliberate abandonment: Fixed fine of €180, which can go up to €1,500.
The operator can choose to levy a lower fine at its discretion, however.
These tougher sanctions aim to reduce the delays caused by frequent luggage abandonment in stations.
Ad
As police have to investigate each piece of abandoned luggage, whether it has been left intentionally or not, even one accidentally-left bag can cause serious delays.
SNCF figures show that there are 360 items left behind in stations and trains every week, and in 2022, abandoned luggage caused the delay or cancellation of 35,500 trains, affecting 12 million passengers.
