BBC loses £200,000 of laptops and phones, Crave sympathises

Absent-minded staff of the BBC and its subsidiaries lost 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerrys in the last two years. The losses were revealed in a Freedom of Information request by the curious Georges at IT security firm Absolute Software.

The Beeb's bean-counters valued the laptops at £219,000 (that's £1,500 each, amazingly), the mobile phones at £12,913 and the BlackBerrys at £9,106. With 19 missing devices rescued from the backs of sofas, the total bill comes to £217,569.

There's been the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth in the media about the waste of our licence fee. We would join in, but we've all been there: a quick straw poll at CNET Towers reveals that between us, the team has lost three laptops, 16 phones, two-and-a-half BlackBerries and a shoe -- and that was just one unremarkable frisky Tuesday lunchtime in the Goat and Sprocket across the road.

If your brand-new iPhone 4, Acer Ferrari One or HTC Desire is your pride and joy, get that baby insured, pronto. Networks and retailers offer insurance but it's usually pricey. You'll usually get a better deal adding your gadgets to your home insurance, or a specialist insurer like Talkcover. You may also find other deals: some banks offer phone insurance with selected bank accounts, and cashback sites such as Quidco are always helpful.

Are you a serial gadget-loser? Tell us about your major mishaps or insurance experiences in the comments.

Image: KB35 via Flickr