Careful if you see money on the floor & pick it up.

I found a £5 note outside the entrance to Asda late at night last week. I think a woman coming in the opposite direction saw it too but she never said anything as she past. I've been checking social media all last week incase I see my CCTV mugshot like they do when people steal people's forgotten change/cashback from the self serve tills.
 
How can anyone think it's fine to pocket the money, this is not the middle of a field where this was found. It's quite possible someone could realise and track back to the shop.

I know this could happen because my Dad has owned a shop for 40 years and people leave things behind all the time and come back for them, including accidentally dropping money.
 
Hotwired said:
Hey look there's some money lying about in a shop.

Oh look also some goods lying about in a shop.

Clearly it's fine to pick up and take either right?
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That's nothing like what happened here. I agree that she shouldn't have taken the money in this scenario, but to compare it to shoplifting is daft.
 
Cleisthenes said:
That's nothing like what happened here. I agree that she shouldn't have taken the money in this scenario, but to compare it to shoplifting is daft.
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The only thing that's daft is the idea that because it's money and not a thing it's more acceptable.

Taking ownership of something in a business premises is very morally wrong and so far from being risk free it's stupid.
 
I didn't realise until I was listening to LBC today that there is a law called theft by finding which is only about finding money.

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I found £20 once in a bush after a boozy night out, it bought me a kebab and a taxi.
 
Frankly i'm of the opinion that the money belongs to the closest person at the time.

I remember noticing a fiver or something on the floor near a self-checkout and the lady had left, i quickly paid for my things and gave it to her. It was a subjective opinion obviously, but it clearly wasn't mine ( I rarely carry cash), and was at least most likely hers.

If it was just sitting in the corner of the shop or something, then it's mine.
 
I found a fiver at hamsterley forest, just sat on a bit of fire road. Caught a couple of lads up who were just ahead and asked them if they'd lost anything. They said no, so I asked if they were sure. They rifled through their pockets and one said "oh damn, lost my fiver :(" He got his fiver back.
 
Hotwired said:
The only thing that's daft is the idea that because it's money and not a thing it's more acceptable.

Taking ownership of something in a business premises is very morally wrong and so far from being risk free it's stupid.
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I agree in this instance that it was a little more serious due to it being within a business's premises but a charge of theft seems a little OTT.
 
Jono said:
I found a fiver at hamsterley forest, just sat on a bit of fire road. Caught a couple of lads up who were just ahead and asked them if they'd lost anything. They said no, so I asked if they were sure. They rifled through their pockets and one said "oh damn, lost my fiver :(" He got his fiver back.
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Nice one :)
 
Thinking about it the story reminds me of an experience I had in a London bar. I was waiting to be served and a loud guy with an American accent got the drinks in for a group of people and managed to drop a wedge of £20 notes on the floor behind him. No one noticed this so I picked it up, tapped him on the shoulder and said that I thought he had dropped it. He shoved the money back in his pocket and carried on being loud talking with his crowd. If the situation had been reversed I'm sure I would have at least offered to buy the finder a drink!

Anyway to my mind if you think you know who has lost some money then keeping it is theft. If you find it blowing down the street with no one around then maybe it's just your lucky day.
 
Mr Badger said:
Anyway to my mind if you think you know who has lost some money then keeping it is theft. If you find it blowing down the street with no one around then maybe it's just your lucky day.
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I agree with that and I think jonos story above is the perfect action for the grey area between those scenarios
 
Criminal record is too harsh. It's not like she was filling her pockets with stuff from the shelves which belongs to the shop.

If she handed it in to the shopkeeper, nobody came to claim it and shop ends up keeping it, shouldn't they be done for theft as well? No way would they bother taking it to police. If you find money on the floor like that and there is nobody about you just don't know who it belongs to.

She should have got a warning or a small fine.
 
SilverTongue said:
Handing it in to the staff would have just resulted in it either being pocketed by staff or chucked in the till. Even if the person who lost it came back do you think staff would give it to them?
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This.

I once found a £5 note and pocketed it. Mind you, that was just on the street of a busy fairground. On the other side of the coin, I have also found a wallet on a bus and handed it over to the driver on the principle that he could determine which passenger it was from the CCTV footage.
 
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