To wonder if this can really be classed as stealing

[bittersweetvictory]

I live at about 2 minutes away from the sea shore and wanted some stones to make a border in my garden, i needed about 20 so went down this afternoon with my son to collect some, i was in the middle of doing just that when an old man came tearing out his house screaming at me that what i was doing was stealing and that if i didnt stop then he was calling the police, i thought he was joking but he kept ranting and raving at me, i took them anyway and told him to go ahead and told him my address, the shore stretches for about 3 mile and there must be about 64848465757 million stones on the shore, is this really classed as stealing ? can the police actually do anything ?

[SuePurblybilt]

I don't think it's about taking a shell memento or driftwood or hunting for fossils. The fossil coastline down sarf (or where I'm thinking of in Dorset anyway) is constantly monitored and managed by conservation agencies, they obviously don't see it as a major issue.

To me the hardline argument is the old 'take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints' thing. Most people would agree with that to an extent but not worry about children picking up sea glass, the odd shell or whatever. Taking a wheelbarrow or sacks down to the shore for big stones or shovelling up gravel or sand is obviously not on. Surely?

And while we're at it - don't take logs from farmed land or managed woods for your fires. They're not yours. They may be left for a reason, they may just be waiting for the actual owner to collect them. Branches on verges are fine (public service, innit ).

[bittersweetvictory]

cant believe this thread is still going
you would think that im personally responsible for the entire coast erosion round the whole of the UK the way some of you are responding, it was 20 stones 20 not the entire coast, well the police never came up (which i didnt think for a second they would ) so im not going to be hauled into the cells anytime soon ( which i think will disapointment a few of you )

[MumblingRagDoll]

Nobody's blaming you entirely bittersweet...its moved on to people's attiudes in general...and you didn't even know it was illegal.

[worraliberty]

I can't believe you gave the ranty man your address

[dreamofwhitehorses]

So are all these people running fossil hunting walks aiding and abetting?

[MumblingRagDoll]

I think that the people who run those walks will be advised by DEFRA and won't be breaking laws.

[bittersweetvictory]

I gave the ranty man my address worraliberty because i thought he was joking and anyway he could see which house i went into.

[bittersweetvictory]

and just to clarify, the stones were between 5 and 9 inches long and around 3-4 inches wide ( they had to be this size or my gardening project wouldnt have worked ) so not pebbles but hardly half the sea defence wall either, in fact the tide was way out so they were collected from a piece of the coast which is normally covered by the North sea.

[melikalikimaka]

And... for anyone who hasn't died of boredom.

Can anyone link the part where DEFRA say you can't take stuff from the beach. Typical government site, not easy to find anything you actually want to read.

[SuePurblybilt]

I can never find anything on government sites either. .

[WowOoo]

As long as the whole population of UK doesn't do this all the time I think you'll be OK. Just this once!
I sometimes take shells, little pebbles but I always take home other people's rubbish.

Hope your garden looks nice.

[melikalikimaka]

Oh, no, here we go again .

[TrinIsASadSpottyFatRhino]

well we're going down then

almost all our firewood is off the beach infront of our garden

the kids take stones, shells, wood, sticks

we take crabs, fish, stones, shells, wood

we also build up the sea defenses with garden rubbish as we are asked to do

oh well

[melikalikimaka]

Get in line everyone except the perfect ones who knew the rules!

[duckdodgers]

"On one hand the MN mobs may want to storm their offices for stony genocide" - thats just hilarious

Yes this thread has certainly been an education but most importantly gave me a good laugh today @ all the "my garden looks lovely" comments against a backdrop of outrage.

[melikalikimaka]

[fedupofnamechanging]

Still not clear on how it can be stealing, as no one owns the shore line. There may well be very sensible reasons not to take stones, but it's still not theft if you do.

[TimeForAValium]

Has anyone ever seen a sign saying you can't take stones or shells from a beach? My local beaches are covered with signs, no swimming, no dogs off leads, no parking, no driving on the beach, no lifeguard etc etc.

[HopeForTheBest]

It's all about keeping things in proportion, I think.
Carting off truck loads of stones and pebbles is obviously not ok, but nobody is suggesting that it is.

And may I point out that the garden centre pebbles have probably been sourced from inland quarries, which are simply lovely for the environment, aren't they?

[GabbyLoggon]

It would never see the inside of a court.