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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not hand in £5 to the local police station?

199 replies

maresedotes · 19/10/2011 20:15

On the way home from school DD1 (9) found £5 outside the local pub. I told her to keep it. DH thinks she should hand it in to the local police station.

I will honestly tot up the answers and do whatever the majority tell me to do!

BTW, if it was a wallet or purse I would hand it in.

OP posts:
maresedotes · 22/10/2011 11:36

No, he didn't laugh at her. I'm glad it was a good experience for her. I am in charge of the receipt and the irony will be that I lose the bit of paper!

OP posts:
takingbackmonday · 22/10/2011 11:36

It's a fiver ffs. Noone will miss it, keep it!

CAZ46 · 22/10/2011 12:01

I am not the majority on this. If your daughter is adament she wants to hand it in to the police station then let her. Good experience! Mind you I would keep it!

Thzumbazombiewitch · 22/10/2011 12:06

(she's done it, Caz - read back a couple of posts :))

CalamityKate · 22/10/2011 15:19

I found a fiver on the floor in Tesco the other day.

I'd have kept it, but I had the kids with me and thought I'd better set a good example, so I handed it in to Customer Services.

I thought she might ask for my name and address so that if it wasn't claimed, I could have it. But she didn't. She just said "Oh. Thanks". I bet she put it in her own pocket.

CustardCake · 22/10/2011 15:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CAZ46 · 22/10/2011 17:54

So glad your daughter handed the money in - good for her.

warmandwooly · 22/10/2011 20:20

Glad that she handed it in and had a nice experience Grin.

boohoobabywho · 22/10/2011 21:08

I have left my dd keep 'findings' but she understands when something is truly lost or belongs to someone.

We were on holiday using a cashpoint machine and a man was using the one next to me, he walked off and left £10 sticking out of the machine. She was beside herself saying that we had to find him to give it to him becuase it wasnt lost it was his.

we did the next best thing we went into the bank and handed it in and they promised to credit his account with the £10. I was a bit disappointed that the bank didnt thank us, they saw it as an inconvenience (or so it felt)

Having said all that ... i'd let her have keep the £5 in the OP dilemma

Blondeshavemorefun · 24/10/2011 12:36

Glad dd handed it in and hope to hear in 4 weeks time that she gets to keep it :)

beatenbyayellowzombie · 24/10/2011 12:38

I've left money in a cash machine twice. I didn't realise you could possibly get it back! Blush

Cathycomehome · 24/10/2011 14:07

I left £150!!!!! Shock in a cash machine (and I was sober at the time), and a man came chasing after me shouting "Stop! Are you out of your mind?!", (which was alarming til I understood why) and gave it back - phew - I'd have had a job explaining that one when I got home.

madonnawhore · 24/10/2011 14:32

I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if it's been said already, but if you find money and it's not traceable in any way (ie not in a wallet or anything) then you are totally legally allowed to keep it. It's your good luck.

No need to hand it in to the police FFS. How on earth would anyone be able to prove it was theirs?

But if you find money hanging out of a cash machine and you take it, that's theft, because it's very easily traceable. Most cash machines these days suck the money back in if it's not collected within 30 seconds or so.

mrskbpw · 24/10/2011 14:54

I know this isn't actually the point, but I don't know where our local police station is. So that would be a factor in what I decided to do!

jandymaccomesback · 24/10/2011 15:19

OP you HAVE a local Police Station?
If it was my DD I'd make her give it to charity myself (especially as our nearest Police station is several towns away).

BleurghUna · 24/10/2011 17:43

Everyone seems to have forgotten that there is a third option - leave it where you found it! It's not yours to keep!

Creamcake1 · 24/10/2011 17:48

She should keep it, it's not like it's a fortune! If there was a purse or wallet then yes hand it in, they may need other stuff in it, but for £5!!!!! Let her treat herselfSmile

madonnawhore · 24/10/2011 17:57

But that's the thing BleurghUna it is yours to keep.

If you find a £50 note on the floor, it is yours fair and square.

This is one of the only things I still remember from doing my law degree. If you find untraceable money, you can keep it.

WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT HANDING FIVERS IN TO THE POLICE? IT'S NOT NECESSARY OR REQUIRED!

BabyDubsEverywhere · 24/10/2011 18:39

I live quite happily with finders keepers :) I would keep any amount I found tbh, more the better! it all works out in the scheme of things.

noonar · 24/10/2011 19:23

sorry if this sounds smug/ pompous or whatever, but it is meant as a helpful point...

have you discussed the issue with dd and asked her what she thinks you should do? a discussion about a moral dilemma would be a very worthwhile thing to do with a 9yo, imo.

my dd1 is 9. if we're not sure what to do for the best in a tricky situation, we'll often chat and share opinions . eg earlier this week dd told me she didnt want to go to a sleepover party she'd been asked to. we talked about whether should we tell a white lie and say we are busy as we thought the truth might cause upset.

even if you then decide to let her keep the full amount, she will have some ownership of the decision of what you decide is 'the right thing to do'. after all, isnt that what its about, instilling in her a sense of right and wrong?

madonnawhore · 24/10/2011 19:33

I once found £35 on the pavement in crisp, folded up notes. Just lying there on the ground.

I used £15 to pay off a little bit of credit card debt. And I bought trees on Oxfam with the rest of it.

If you find free money, just do nice things with it.

marykat2004 · 24/10/2011 23:39

When I first came to London, when I was about 20, I had £70 cash in a home-made money belt under my clothes. It was all the money I had. I did not have a bank account at that time, and was struggling to do pub work. I lost that £70 in nightclub - ok, fair enough, night club - but I was in tears, asking everyone, and no one said they had found it. About 50 people or so, we're not talking 2000, it was a small place.

I find fivers all the time. Maybe I look at the ground too much. Especially in bars. People don't realise they drop cash.

Yesterday I found £10 at a small private party in a bar, only about 15 people. I should have left it where it lay, but picked it up, holding it and intending to ask if someone had lost it. And if not, then donate to the food or something. But in fact about 5 minutes later, someone called out, "has anyone found my tenner that I dropped?" and of course it was returned.

Not sure at all what point I'm trying make here... it just depends on where you are, what the situation is. Most people have lost money in their lives. Consider it just a bit of payback when you find some.

(I've also lost 3 digital cameras, all never handed in to any police station, 2 lost while cycling, all police stations checked... why would someone NOT hand in a digital camera? But I guess most people don't even hand in cameras, let alone cash.)

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 28/10/2011 10:41

Madonnawhore - I can't speak for other people, but I would hand in a fiver to the police because I would know that it belonged to someone else, and I wouldn't feel right just keeping someone else's money. The principle's the same for the £50 note - except that I would definitely go and check with the police if I had lost that much money (in the vain hope that the person who found it would realise that £50 is a LOT of money and wouldn't just keep it 'because it is mine, fair and square').

You, presumeably, wouldn't care that that £50 might be money a child has saved up to buy a special toy, or a pensioner's food budget for the week - or indeed that most of us couldn't afford to lose £50, in the current economic climate? Hmm

miked99 · 28/10/2011 11:51

I am truly horrified at the attitudes of all the posters who said keep it, and am delighted at the good experience your daughter had when she did hand it in at the police station.

A few years ago an ATM gave me much more money than I requested ( some notes were stuck together) and I went into the bank, explained what had happened and handed in the extra money.
When I later mentioned it to my girlfriend, she didn't speak to me for a week!

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