What is a reasonable amount of money to hand in at a police station?

[Frogme]

£5, £10, £20, £50, over £100?

I don't think I'd bother going to a police station for £20 or less in just cash as I don't think most people would bother to check for that small amount. It gets a bit greyer between this and £50, purely because it would be a faff for me to take it there, but I think maybe the guilt would make me do it. Easy decision over £50.

I suspect mumsnetters will say anything should be handed in, but is anyone prepared to say differently?

[Fabulassie]

It wouldn't even cross my mind to hand it in unless it was a very large sum. Over £100 for sure. I have lost up to that amount (usually because of pulling things out of pockets) and assumed it was gone and part of someone else's lucky day. I found a $100 bill on Venice Beach Boardwalk 24 years ago and assumed turning it in was a waste of time.

And if it were a massive sum, I would still have a fight with my conscience. I can't say who would win.

I did return $500 given to me in error by a cashier years ago, so I'm not utterly without conscience, but that time I knew exactly where it came from and who was affected.

I find it funny that everyone says they would turn in £50. What people say and what they do are very different.

[paddlenorapaddle]

Not necessarily the same thing but my dad once found a ladies handbag while we were out walking as kids handed in into a bobby on the beat ( yes we had those) turns out it was evidence of where she'd been attacked. The bobby had been sent to search for it.

Still sticks in my mind so anything over £20 police station, under charity and wrong change at I always point it out

[Hakluyt]

Anything over £10. Pre children, not sure, but I have always made my children go to the police station with anything they find, so would feel a hypocrite if I didn't do the same. You always get it back because nobody ever reports small losses, so it's just deferred gratification and a lesson in good citizenship for the children.

[VivaLeBeaver]

I found £80 once and took it to the police station. Where I actually worked. Later n an elderly, upset man came in. It was his pension money and he was so upset, didnt think it would have been handed in. I'm so glad I fou d it.

[berri]

I found £90 on the pavement once, handed it in at the police station and went back in 30 days and was given it! Was a bit weird though, one policeman said it had been claimed but another said it hadn't so the first one was obviously planning on having it himself!

[chancer2014]

I do the same as Hak. Dd1 found £39 in an art gallery once (we handed it in to cloakroom staff) and another time a tenner on pavement (to police). Both times the money was returned to her after a stipulated period of time because it hadn t been claimed.

[LightastheBreeze]

Up to £20 and in the street I would keep, if it was a wad I would hand in. In a shop I would hand in any amount of notes, not coins though. In a wallet I would always hand in.

[sanfairyanne]

police dont even want lost property these days
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/396046.stm

[sanfairyanne]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11314648/Police-force-makes-270000-selling-seized-goods-on-eBay.html

although this force made £24000 on ebay selling unclaimed lost property

sorry - not exactly relevant

[Panzee]

These days? That was a six month trial from 1999!
And she was given incorrect info, anyhow.

[specialsubject]

I don't think I've ever found cash except when I've seen the person drop it and been able to return it to them. I did find a handbag once - but that was in a small town in New Zealand, with a police station handily next door. So I handed it in and got a call from the grateful owner a few hours later.

with police stations with front counters now very thin on the ground in the UK, what do you do here?

[skylark2]

I'd hand in anything which could be identifiable.

So a single £20 note, probably not. But 4 £5 notes in a cash bag, yes.

I actively make an effort to find the owners of wallets - I found one on the ticket machine in a car park a couple of years back, lots of ID but no phone number. I went in the pub next door in case the owner was there - no, but they called the police who got hold of her phone number and called her. She was in the hairdressers down the road and hadn't even realised it was missing yet!

[FamiliesShareGerms]

I've lost money but never thought to go to the police station (not least because you'd gave to be pretty certain where / when you lost it)

If I find money in a supermarket etc I hand it in - never thought to check if it had been claimed

I once found £20 on the street and kept it (having checked that there was no one obvious around who had lost it) as our boiler had just blown up and we were brassic

[FamiliesShareGerms]

And I always hand in wallets, passports etc - they're more valuable in lots of ways than a bit of cash

[pinkhousesarebest]

My dad found 400 francs on holiday in Brittany when we were little. He handed it into the Gendarmerie and thought no more about it. A long time later, he received a eurocheque in the post. Don't know if that would happen now...

[AlpacaLypse]

Both dds have spotted money (once a £5, once a £20) on the ground, and with both I helped them hand it in - one to the Customer Service desk in the supermarket, one to the Police Station. We do have an actual desk at our Station, open office hours. With both, the money wasn't claimed so they learned the good citizenship bit and got a windfall.

[sanfairyanne]

oh sorry, no this is new from 2014, was in the papers this year, must have linked to wrong story

[AlpacaLypse]

And yy Families - when my bag got nicked, the £20 odd in it was irritating, but the loss of my diary had serious implications for my business, there was the hassle of cancelling credit and debit cards and waiting for new ones, even little things like my Library Card and council swimming pool card cost time and money to sort out. And I bet all those things were probably chucked over a hedge the moment the little fuckers had driven off.

(I'd hidden the bag under the seat of my car while I walked the dogs - at least I'd kept my phone and keys with me!)

[DaisyFlowerChain]

Any notes I would hand in and coins would get put into a charity box apart from coins found at school which DS was taught to hand into a teacher.

[MissDuke]

I have never handed things in at a police station, however I always hand in money (notes)/handbags / phones etc to the nearest shop. I found a handbag on our road and kept hold of it and popped a note through the door of the nearest house to ask if it was theirs - it was. I found a fancy looking phone recently in public toilets in a quiet park - was a bit dubious about handing it in at the coffee kiosk, so my sister rang the local police who collected it and later rang to say it had been returned to its owner (my sister works there, hence the callback).

I recently left my phone in a shop and it was handed in, I have also previously left a handbag in a shopping trolley and my purse at the gym and all were returned intact - good karma I hope!!!

[PhaedraIsMyName]

Some good answers here. It's good to know that in a few cases the owner has claimed the money. Those of you who hand it in are setting excellent examples for your children.

[sanfairyanne]

content.met.police.uk/Article/Lost-and-Found-Property/1400026020816/Lostandfound

www.merseyside.police.uk/document-library/useful-information/lost-and-found-property/

example links of what the police line is now on lost property - eg its your responsibility to find the owner by putting up a poster and they dont take details of lost property any more

[ovaryhill]

I came across eighty pounds sticking out of a cashpoint once
I handed it in at a police station and then went back to the bank to tell them what I had done as it wasn't open at the time
There's no way I could have kept it, it could have been the last money anyone had to feed their family or someone's pension
What I did find sad was that whoever lost it had so little fait in human nature that they didn't bother to check if had been handed in and I got it back some time later!
I also found a young lads wallet onc
And handed it in, about a fiver in it and various cards, he arrived at my house a couple of days later with a big box of chocs to say thank you!

[PhaedraIsMyName]

eg its your responsibility to find the owner by putting up a poster and they dont take details of lost property any more

That's not what they are saying if you read the full documents. They don't file reports in the same way but they will take things if you hand them in.

[hugoagogo]

Cash points are supposed to suck the money back in after a certain time I think so best to leave them alone.
Saying that I have done it out of instinct I think and then had the hassle of handing it in.