Police track lost camera to owner using car number plates

Officers used the registration number of Julia Bainbridge's car pictured in a photograph to track the item back to her after she dropped it.

She said: "I was in Pelham Road car park putting the ticket onto the windscreen.

"I remember the car next to ours was a bit too close so I had to struggle through.

"The camera fell off my neck and must have rolled underneath the car. I didn't realise at the time that it was lost."

Mrs Bainbridge, of Farningham, Kent, had spent two days visiting Eastbourne before going to Hastings on August 12.

She said: "We got a call from Hastings police saying they had found the camera. They went through all of the photographs and saw one picture of my husband standing by the car.

"Police did a fantastic job of tracking me down by checking the number plate on the car, which was barely visible.

"I would also like to thank the kind person who found my camera under their car and took the time to take it to Hastings police station."

Mrs Bainbridge said she often visited Hastings as her mother was born in St Leonards and spent most of her life there.

PC Duncan Cleverley, of Hastings District Police, said: "It's very satisfying to hear that my colleagues were able to get this camera back to it's rightful owner by a bit of quick thinking.

"Every year hundreds of lost items are handed in to the police and it is always pleasing to reunite owners with their property."