At last I can update you on this!
Most of you know from Chat that I lost my phone, that it was eventually located via an app, and against the odds I got it back.
To recap and for those who havent read anything about it on Chat -
if you are sitting comfortably, I will begin
Last Friday afternoon I went on my regular school run for GS2. DD and GS3 were with us for the day and came with me.
On the the road to school we met a long traffic queue, several miles from school. This happens from time to time so I allow a lot of extra time each Friday. This time, with DD and little GS with me and getting the little one into his car seat I was slightly later. This meant we hit the time of the train passing through the village so were held up further at the barriers.
Once we met the traffic hold up I said to DD that I thought we would still be on time, but if not I have the school phone number programmed into my phone and could let them know we may be a bit late. But the phone wasn't where I keep it in the car. As it was the traffic moved on in time and weren't late. I presumed my phone was at home. I remembered unplugging it from the charger but somehow it didn't make it into the car.
We collected GS2, went back to the car, and drove home. This takes 45 minutes or more on a Friday. At home we searched house, car, driveway and surrounding areas. No sign of the phone and we couldn't hear it when DD3 and OH rang it.
My debit card was in the phone wallet so I cancelled that and was reassured to find out it hadn't been used by anyone else. I am still awaiting a replacement, hopefully it will arrive soon.
I began to wonder if I had rested it on the top of the car when getting GS3 into his carseat. I posted on the street WhatsApp group in case anyone spotted it. No one had but my neighbour very helpfully told us about Google Find Hub. We put this onto OH's phone. I then signed in to it as Guest using my phone number and Google password
Straight away it found my phone. We were astonished to learn where it was. At least 3 miles away, on the outside lane of a 70mph dual carriageway leading to Leeds. To get there I had taken several turns and been around a big roundabout! We presume as it was in the outside lane near the crash barrier, it must have slid off when I was overtaking. Either the movement of that or the increased speed had done it.
By the time I had realised it was missing I had already lost it as we had left that road .
This was the worst part of the whole journey to have lost it and retrieving it ourselves would be difficult and dangerous and probably impossible.
The service who can retrieve such things is this "National Highways traffic officers are the primary, authorized personnel who can retrieve a lost phone from high-speed motorways and major A-roads in England. They patrol 24/7 and are trained to safely manage traffic and recover items."
So we contacted them. They were helpful on the phone and said no one would go then as it was dark but the early team would be on it next morning. To cut a long story short they didn't find it despite us giving the location as closely as we could and it we are not convinced they actually looked.
This was upsetting as I had so much information on that phone. Even phone numbers. People like my friend M who has no online presence, I would have had to go to her house to tell her I had no phone, or write to her, as unlike most of my friends, no Facebook, What's App etc. The same for my auntie.
Anyway we contacted EE who sent a new a sim card and disabled the other so that in the unlikely event of anyone finding the phone, they couldn't run up a big phone bill for me.
I was upset and disappointed but it was me who left the phone on top of the car, me who hadn't backed things up and made a note of phone numbers and all the info in my Keep notes elsewhere, so no one else to blame.
OH was sure we could get it however and we drove around several times trying to spot it. You can't slow down in the outside lane of a road like that so its not easy!
Then she and her friend went to look for it the next day, drove around at least twice and were sure they had spotted it, in its turquoise wallet.
They hatched a plan to go at 6 am on Monday when was light and the roads were quieter. They parked in a layby, and walked. In fact it was a lot further to walk then they had thought.
Our friend saw the phone, or so she thought, and crossed to the central crash barrier to get it. It was a phone, but not in any sort of wallet, but she took it in case it was mine. A lorry was thundering along, which OH saw and told her to wait, so she stood with it going close to her. Heaven knows what the lorry driver thought
I hasten to add I was totally against them doing this as it wasn't safe and I didn't want either of them injured or worse!!
Once she was safely back across she gave OH the phone . She looked at it, and saw my photo of DD and GS3 on the screen so knew it was mine!
We have no idea where the wallet case went. It has a tiny bit of the phone casing chipped of one corner but otherwise totally intact, no scratches to the screen and working. It still had 15% charge on it. It was so lucky that nothing had run over it and there was no rain during that 3 days and nights.
I was amazed when OH brought it back to me. They are my heroes, both of them. I had already bought a new phone and was just waiting for the sim card to arrive. However having the old phone back meant I could transfer everything from it to my new phone. This is wonderful
Of course lessons have been learned. I will not rest ANYTHING on my car roof again. I will back up my phone and make a note of phone numbers and important information stored on there.
The new phone comes with Google Find Hub and OH now has it on hers, so we will have a chance of locating lost phones, if we need to!
A happy ending and most importantly all parties alive and in one piece!!
Most of you know from Chat that I lost my phone, that it was eventually located via an app, and against the odds I got it back.
To recap and for those who havent read anything about it on Chat -
if you are sitting comfortably, I will begin
Last Friday afternoon I went on my regular school run for GS2. DD and GS3 were with us for the day and came with me.
On the the road to school we met a long traffic queue, several miles from school. This happens from time to time so I allow a lot of extra time each Friday. This time, with DD and little GS with me and getting the little one into his car seat I was slightly later. This meant we hit the time of the train passing through the village so were held up further at the barriers.
Once we met the traffic hold up I said to DD that I thought we would still be on time, but if not I have the school phone number programmed into my phone and could let them know we may be a bit late. But the phone wasn't where I keep it in the car. As it was the traffic moved on in time and weren't late. I presumed my phone was at home. I remembered unplugging it from the charger but somehow it didn't make it into the car.
We collected GS2, went back to the car, and drove home. This takes 45 minutes or more on a Friday. At home we searched house, car, driveway and surrounding areas. No sign of the phone and we couldn't hear it when DD3 and OH rang it.
My debit card was in the phone wallet so I cancelled that and was reassured to find out it hadn't been used by anyone else. I am still awaiting a replacement, hopefully it will arrive soon.
I began to wonder if I had rested it on the top of the car when getting GS3 into his carseat. I posted on the street WhatsApp group in case anyone spotted it. No one had but my neighbour very helpfully told us about Google Find Hub. We put this onto OH's phone. I then signed in to it as Guest using my phone number and Google password
Straight away it found my phone. We were astonished to learn where it was. At least 3 miles away, on the outside lane of a 70mph dual carriageway leading to Leeds. To get there I had taken several turns and been around a big roundabout! We presume as it was in the outside lane near the crash barrier, it must have slid off when I was overtaking. Either the movement of that or the increased speed had done it.
By the time I had realised it was missing I had already lost it as we had left that road .
This was the worst part of the whole journey to have lost it and retrieving it ourselves would be difficult and dangerous and probably impossible.
The service who can retrieve such things is this "National Highways traffic officers are the primary, authorized personnel who can retrieve a lost phone from high-speed motorways and major A-roads in England. They patrol 24/7 and are trained to safely manage traffic and recover items."
So we contacted them. They were helpful on the phone and said no one would go then as it was dark but the early team would be on it next morning. To cut a long story short they didn't find it despite us giving the location as closely as we could and it we are not convinced they actually looked.
This was upsetting as I had so much information on that phone. Even phone numbers. People like my friend M who has no online presence, I would have had to go to her house to tell her I had no phone, or write to her, as unlike most of my friends, no Facebook, What's App etc. The same for my auntie.
Anyway we contacted EE who sent a new a sim card and disabled the other so that in the unlikely event of anyone finding the phone, they couldn't run up a big phone bill for me.
I was upset and disappointed but it was me who left the phone on top of the car, me who hadn't backed things up and made a note of phone numbers and all the info in my Keep notes elsewhere, so no one else to blame.
OH was sure we could get it however and we drove around several times trying to spot it. You can't slow down in the outside lane of a road like that so its not easy!
Then she and her friend went to look for it the next day, drove around at least twice and were sure they had spotted it, in its turquoise wallet.
They hatched a plan to go at 6 am on Monday when was light and the roads were quieter. They parked in a layby, and walked. In fact it was a lot further to walk then they had thought.
Our friend saw the phone, or so she thought, and crossed to the central crash barrier to get it. It was a phone, but not in any sort of wallet, but she took it in case it was mine. A lorry was thundering along, which OH saw and told her to wait, so she stood with it going close to her. Heaven knows what the lorry driver thought
I hasten to add I was totally against them doing this as it wasn't safe and I didn't want either of them injured or worse!!Once she was safely back across she gave OH the phone . She looked at it, and saw my photo of DD and GS3 on the screen so knew it was mine!
We have no idea where the wallet case went. It has a tiny bit of the phone casing chipped of one corner but otherwise totally intact, no scratches to the screen and working. It still had 15% charge on it. It was so lucky that nothing had run over it and there was no rain during that 3 days and nights.
I was amazed when OH brought it back to me. They are my heroes, both of them. I had already bought a new phone and was just waiting for the sim card to arrive. However having the old phone back meant I could transfer everything from it to my new phone. This is wonderful
Of course lessons have been learned. I will not rest ANYTHING on my car roof again. I will back up my phone and make a note of phone numbers and important information stored on there.
The new phone comes with Google Find Hub and OH now has it on hers, so we will have a chance of locating lost phones, if we need to!
A happy ending and most importantly all parties alive and in one piece!!
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