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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think people who keep lost property are idiots?

72 replies

cantgetanickname · 10/09/2015 21:28

Local Facebook page... Yet another person has found something lost by somebody else. It's a mobile phone this time. They say they will keep it for 2 days and then hand it in to the police.

Why, oh why, do people not hand lost items to the police straight away? It really winds me up when I see these posts. If I lost my phone or my car keys or something, my first thought would be to call police lost property. Not to check Facebook on the remote off chance that the person who posts a photo of my missing item will somehow appear on my Facebook page even though they have absolutely nothing to do with me. So irritating. Many people do not have Facebook and if their mobile phone was their only means of accessing Internet then they have absolutely bugger all chance of seeing the posts anyway.

Rant over. Aibu?

OP posts:

seastargirl · 10/09/2015 21:31

YANBU the latest near me is someone finding a change bag in tesco car park and taking it home, why on earth wouldn't you just hand it in at tesco! If you really want to be seen to be a hero then take the picture, post it in Facebook but say you've left it at flipping tesco!

Mrsmorton · 10/09/2015 21:41

I saw a cyclist drop his keys this week, he was off before I could get to him and he didn't hear me shout. There was a dongle on there so I took the keys with me until the dongle company had replied to my tweet asking what I should do with them... the answer was hand them into TfL. I asked one of my patients to do it for me as I was working til 7pm!

I was sort of hoping it would go viral and I could tell him where they had been handed in but I only have three followers...

Hope he got them back, I did try.

revealall · 10/09/2015 22:55

Yes! YADNBU

Nearly posted a sarky comment on Facebook this evening.

Lost phone at V festival. FFS they will have had lost property won't they? But no - loads of people will pass this on to no effect and it will never be claimed.

And lots won't share it anyway because you'd have to be pretty stupid to share stuff on strangers when you have no real idea of the motivation. Could be a lost phone - could be a mad stalker, absuive partner bloody anything.

JeffsanArsehole · 10/09/2015 22:58

Apart from there's no police stations any more

Seriously, ours in a major town has shut down and you can visit it only with an appointment in the mornings. It's a big town, 70,000 and not rural

JuJuMun69 · 10/09/2015 23:02

Idiots? why are they idiots? So if someone did the same with something of yours then handed it in after a day or two, you'd call them an idiot? nice.

sproketmx · 10/09/2015 23:15

Depends on the length of time really. We have a lost property log book and box at my work, if it's not claimed in a month it's up for grabs. Ovs High value things are different but it's usually just jumpers, riding crops, lead ropes and headcollars, the odd welly sock etc. We can't really be expected to store these things indefinitely.

Plomino · 10/09/2015 23:38

And there is always the point that police don't always accept lost property anyway . If it's not of high value , isn't dangerous to the public , or the owner isn't easily identifiable , they won't take it in anymore . Couple that with the fact that if you find something , then you have a legal responsibility to try and trace the owner , or you could get accused of 'theft by finding ' . Hence the recent increase in such posts . It's not as easy always to hand something in as you would think .

Squishyeyeballs · 10/09/2015 23:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sooperdooper · 10/09/2015 23:52

Really winds me up when people do this, it's usually something they've found in a shop or car park where you can definitely hand it in - randomly posting on social media is a stupid thing to do and I think it's more about the person who found it wanting the attention than actually trying to help - if you've lost something you might not even be local to the area so how the hell will a photo on FB help??

JuJuMun69 · 10/09/2015 23:54

Jesus there are some nasty sods on here. So what, they're still doing something nice for god sake.

JuJuMun69 · 10/09/2015 23:56

You lot obviously saw it

JeffsanArsehole · 10/09/2015 23:58

You'd have to be daft to hand in to a shop or car park an iPhone or wallet stuffed with 20's though

I'd give the shop/car park my name and number and tell them if anyone came in to ask about it to give it to them

Id take the actual money or phone home and if I had Facebook I'd post on it

That's what I think most people are doing. Telling the shop or wherever that they've got it and have taken it home.

SilverShins · 11/09/2015 00:11

I recently went to a festival and a load of stuff has found its way back to the people who lost it via the fb page. So yeah, it works.
And recently someone's son lost a gymbag in my local park and posted it on a local page. I could see it from my window so let them know. Don't knock it

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 11/09/2015 00:11

YABU I got my phone back this way. The woman who found it posted a picture of the lock screen on local mums Facebook page. It was a picture of my kids and was spotted by my neighbour, the manager of kids old nursery, loads of school mum, a lady from my evening class literally loads of people some of whom rang my landline, emailed me or knocked on my door. It's the big society in action. I'm wasn't even on Facebook but joined to thanks everyone :)

anotherbloomingusername · 11/09/2015 00:21

Well, of course you'd hand it in to a shop if that's where you found it! They have procedures for dealing with lost property, so if it's an item of value (phone, wallet, card, etc.) it'll go in a safe until the owner is identified.

I work with vulnerable adults, and I can't tell the number of times I've gone along with a client to customer services of a large store and described their missing item in detail so they can reclaim it. People are usually amazing at handing in lost property-- sometimes even things like a £5 note have been handed in instead of shoved in someone's pocket.

KanyeWestPresidentForLife · 11/09/2015 01:41

it's usually just jumpers, riding crops, lead ropes and headcollars, the odd welly sock etc.

Jesus Christ. I was wondering if you worked in some kind of S & M dungeon for a minute! Then I realised you probably work in a stable!

sproketmx · 12/09/2015 01:45

I work on a farm Kanye. Multiple use as working farm, riding and breeding stables and motocross/quad track. I recently aquire a Nike hoodie that had been lying for months. It's fab and warm and I love it then the farriers lad came in and told me it was his, I offered him it back and he said no because Everytime it gets washed it dyes everything else green

QwertyBird · 12/09/2015 05:31

Someone recently found my friend's list passport. They handed it to police, who promptly cut it rendering it void. She missed her honeymoon, and wishes someone had found her on social media instead.
The police are not lost and found. They make no attempt to find the owners of lost items. Social media has reunited people with belongings, pets etc. yabu

QwertyBird · 12/09/2015 05:34

Lost* stupid autocorrect

londonrach · 12/09/2015 06:42

Yabu. I know of lots of lost soft toys that found they way home via fb. I myself posted one on fb which i found in the street and the mother of the owner found it. If in a big shop eg tesco makes sense to hand it in there but in the street!

BigGreenOlives · 12/09/2015 06:58

Our local police station no longer accepts lost property.

The only time I found some keys & took them there I had to wait 40 minutes in a queue.

AsTimeGoesBy · 12/09/2015 06:58

Because the police station might be miles away with restricted opening hours.

Because many people suspect shop assistants will just pocket it themselves if it's handed in.

Because it's human nature to be a bit curious as to who it belonged to and want to try and reunite the owner with it themselves, it's just a nice thing to do.

I agree that things found in a staffed location should be just handed in there as that is most likely where the owner will try, but random stuff found in the street no harm in trying the FB route first especially if some way from the police station.

XCChamps · 12/09/2015 07:12

I have twice handed items of value into the police. One was an unidentifiable £10 note. The "rules" are/were that if not claimed within so many weeks the finder gets it back, but strangely both times when I went back they had been claimed.

Maybe the original owners did turn up but I'm afraid it's far more likely to me that someone at the police station had it...so i won't be handing anything else in there.

I think it's the same in shops etc, people don't believe that things will get back to the owner if they hand them in.

Idefix · 12/09/2015 07:13

Yabu in being so scornful of this method. I think one issue with handing things into the police is that people don't seem to go there to check if property may have been handed in.

A few yrs ago I found a brand new top of the range (so I was told) iPod. It was not locked but there were not identifying features to reveal the owner. Over the weekend I put up posters (our equivalent of a police station was closed) I also contacted both local schools. I handed it in and 6mths later got a call to say no one claimed it and we could have it if we wanted it.

Was not on fb but wonder if that would have reunited it with its owner? I suspect it was a child/teen who lost it who then hid the fact from their parents.

eurochick · 12/09/2015 07:20

Others make a good point about police stations being closed.

I recently saw a lovely example of social networking lost property at work. Someone posted on my local site to say that she had left her diamond wedding and engagement rings in the park after taking them off to sun tan lotion her kids. She was distraught. Someone on the site said that she had seen a post on a neighbouring site about rings being found. The relevant people were put in touch and the owner was reunited with her rings. She was very grateful and made a charity donation to a charity of the finder's choice.

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