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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Just found £90 on the pavement

265 replies

berri · 18/08/2010 18:52

Do I keep it???

DH reckons if I hand it in to the police it'll just make it into one of their pockets, but I can't help thinking it might be some little old lady's gas money...or not!

WWYD?

OP posts:
sweetheart · 18/08/2010 22:27

I lost £15 in town on Sunday - it never even crossed my mind to phone the police!!!!!!

TeaTwoSugars · 18/08/2010 22:33

Headbanger I agree, it's infuriating and downright shameful to think that this is the opinion of Police Officers. Given the examples of what we've seen the police dealing with in the news of late. Which one of you lot would be happy to go out to work and know that you could potentially faced with those types of situations.

Also if you kept the £90.00, it's theft by finding. If you don't take reasonable steps to trace the owner of the lost item then you are guilty of theft.

Original poster
berri · 18/08/2010 22:33

I'll report back as to whether I hear anything back about it...

OP posts:
Headbanger · 18/08/2010 22:38

Thank you TeaTwo. Every time I kiss my husband goodbye for a 12 hour night shift of single patrol in a large and violent city I live in terror he won't come back. He (and those of his copper pals I know) are the most stoic, patient, well-trained, honest people I know, and yet every single week I have to listen to this stuff. I was tearful but now I'm not . Thanks. I'll slink off and stop hijacking a perfectly ordinary thread Grin

TeaTwoSugars · 18/08/2010 22:41

No worries Headbanger.

sanfairyann · 18/08/2010 22:59

just don't hand money you find in the cash machine back in to the bank - they really do keep it if noone claims it! Shock

NarkyPuffin · 19/08/2010 12:44

Headbanger I was not saying police pocket cash. I was saying people spout shit like, 'the police will only pocket it' to justify there own dishonest behaviour. I've said several times that if you hand stuff in you'll get it back if it's not claimed by the owner.

Don't know what Al thinks though Smile

PurpleRayne · 19/08/2010 12:51

Hand it in. They will log it and give you a receipt. If it isn't claimed within a set time, it will be yours with a clear conscience.

My husband did this (£80)as he thought it could be somebody's rent. He was contacted after a time (think it was 6wks) by the police and got to keep it, knowing he did the right thing.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 19/08/2010 12:58

I would hand it in because I remember how it is to live on £90 a fortnight.

squirrel42 · 19/08/2010 12:59

But what is the cut off point? I would definitely hand in a purse or wallet, or contact the person directly if it had their name and address in - that is someone else's property in my book. But if I found a £1 coin, a £5, £10 or even £20 note lying on the ground, unless someone was actively looking for it in the vicinity then I'd keep it. Larger sums, and big wads of cash in moneybags, then yes I'd probably hand that in because it'd be a recognisible amount. But anyone could go to the police and say yes I dropped a £20 note in the high street yesterday, have you had one handed in?

In my office we semi-regularly get emails from security saying "an undisclosed amount of money has been found in the gents/ladies, come and see us if you think it's yours" - I don't know how many chancers try asking them if it was a £10 or £20 note and hope they get lucky!

Madascheese · 19/08/2010 13:01

My lovely Mum lost a purse with more than that in, it was not handed in, not even the empty purse.

She consoles herself by saying she hopes it was found by someone who really needed it.

I think she needed it, she'd earned it by doing her job and it was her money, not the thief who found her purse.

Made me really cross for my lovely Mum who would probably have handed over the cash if she'd met someone in genuine need anyway.

People who don't hand stuff in are stealing. I've no patience with any other srguments.

willsywoo · 19/08/2010 13:04

Sorely tempted if not in a purse or wallet...but i'd hand it in to the filth as my ds age 20 lost money and i rang them to be told that some fantastically honest person had given it in to them...could'nt beleive it!...restores my faith in humankind Smile

Altinkum · 19/08/2010 13:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MunchMummy · 19/08/2010 13:14

I found £40 once, miles from a police station, and kept it.

Later that day though we travelled to a friends wedding in the middle of nowhere. The married couple were going to drive 30 miles back to their house, so I gave them the money to get a taxi so they could have a drink.

So don't feel that guilty keeping it as it went to a good cause.

BottleOfRum · 19/08/2010 13:15

(Speaking as a Police Officer here!) I don't honestly believe that any police officer would steal money handed into the station - they have to give you a receipt for handing it in, and then if they pocketed the cash and then you rang up to enquire if it had been claimed or not, then it would be discovered that the money had 'disappeared', and the officer would lose their job. Its just not worth it for a police officer to ever steal something from custody. ALWAYS hand it it, and it will be returned to you if not claimed.

For those who said it's not theft because you found it, unfortunately it IS theft. It doesn't belong to YOU, and therefore it's theft. "A person commits theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention to permanently deprive the other of it" Section 12, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

For those asking where the cut off point is, well, it's not theft if you make 'reasonable steps to locate the owner', so if you found £5 on a deserted road at midnight and kept it, it wouldn't be theft because you couldn't really make any steps to locate the owner, but if it was £5 in a school playground at pick-up time, for example, and you pocketed it, it WOULD be theft because you would have had an opportunity to locate the owner and not taken it.

moomoo1967 · 19/08/2010 13:17

I think it depends on the situation at the time. I took a taxi to work one morning as I was running late. I had £300 in my purse to take to the bank at lunchtime, it was a busy day so I didn't make it to the bank. When I went to get a pint of milk later I realised I didn't have my purse. It had fallen out of my bag in the taxi, I never got it back so someone had a lovely weekend. Sad I just hope karma does happen

Original poster
berri · 19/08/2010 13:20

Went to the police station this morning to hand it in, and they told me I could choose whether to keep it or not as I was legally entitled to!

Apparently the 'theft by finding' only applies when someone has obviously dropped something in front of you, or if you've found a wallet with an address in it and ignored it etc etc.

The bloke said he'd been on the front desk for over 10 years and nobody had ever handed cash in before, and he thought I was mad.

Anyway, like you've all said - either it'll get back to it's rightful owner, or they'll ring me in 6 weeks to say I can pick it up!

Perhaps then I'll start another thread about whether to donate it to charity or buy myself a handbag ;)

Sorry I'm nowhere near Sunderland either- bugger about your DH, maybe someone will hand it in.....

OP posts:
Original poster
berri · 19/08/2010 13:23

Oh yes also meant to say I'm putting a little note on the nearest couple of lamposts this afternoon when I walk back the same way, just in case someone is retracing their steps. Hope I've made someone's day and they do pick it up!

OP posts:
belgo · 19/08/2010 13:24

I wouldn't put a note, because anyone could see it and go to the police station.

scurryfunge · 19/08/2010 13:26

Berri , you are entitled to retain it but the advice given at the Police station is not entirely correct re theft by finding. Suspect you spoke to a civilian employee.

Original poster
berri · 19/08/2010 13:26

Yes but the police said they wouldn't give it to anyone unless they said the correct denominations of the notes etc and the time/place dropped, as it can't have been there very long and I know exactly when I walked past....so I reckon it'd be hard for someone to make up.

Or is it still a silly idea to do a note?

OP posts:
booyhoo · 19/08/2010 13:28

can i just say that the banks do not keep the money you hand in from the cash machine. it is lodged to a specific account with details of date, time and cash machine recorded against the lodgement. it stays in that account so even if someone came in 8 months later and said what had happened and gave date, time and cash machine. a quick search of ATM roll (which are all kept) and customer's account would prove it was theirs.

belgo · 19/08/2010 13:28

Just don't do the note, you have handed it in which is legally more then you had to do. Morally of course it was the right thing to do but I really wouldn;t put up the note.

If someone is panicking that they have lost it then they will go to the police.

Original poster
berri · 19/08/2010 13:28

Perhaps but if the guy on the front desk of the copshop tells me something re the law, then I'm not in a position to argue with the man!

Anyway they've got it now so hopefully the person who dropped it will get it back and it'll be a nice outcome for them.

OP posts:
purplefish · 19/08/2010 13:29

If it's in Winchester then it's obviously mine! Grin