£20 note!

[Chelseablue]

I'd def send it to moya ,,she's very hard up you know,,,

[coxie]

I would deny all if ever asked about it, no proof whatsoever

[freelunch]

Twenty quid was once a lot of money.
Nowadays kids roll 'em up to snort some white then screw 'em up and chuck them in the street for posties to live on

[Lounge Lizard]

Don't bother about what the do-gooders on here say, I'd have gone to the pub and downed a few with it.

Not a case of 'do-gooders', what would you do if it was on the Delivery Office floor instead of in the street ?

[2pints]

OP any update on this? I found a mobile phone the other week,a really fancy one by the looks of it.It was outside someones house.I rang the number listed as mum and turns out she lived 3 doors down so i posted it.£20 is different,if you ask anyone if they have lost £20 they will prob say yes.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

i dont believe finding money is theft... i believe finding money that is clearly someone elses is theft...

Playing devils advocate - unless you dropped it then it is clearly someone else's.

http://uk.practicallaw.com/books/978184 ... /chapter14" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Theft by finding
Theft by finding may be considered as a type of theft by appropriation. A person does not steal goods merely by finding them, even if he retains the goods for some time after the discovery. Such a person may, for a reasonable time, be presumed to possess the goods with the intention of returning them to their true owner[45]. Once that reasonable time has elapsed, however, it may be presumed that the finder has appropriated the goods to his own use, and at that point, theft has occurred.
In MacMillan v Lowe[46], a man claimed to have found a cheque book and card in a telephone box. These items clearly bore the owner's name and that of his bank. The accused retained the items for at least four hours without making any attempt to return them to the owner, and when initially apprehended and searched by the police, he attempted to conceal the items. It was held that there was enough evidence to justify a conviction for theft[47].
Once again, the conduct of the accused is vital to the question of whether there has been appropriation. A finder may be found guilty of theft if he pawns the goods shortly after finding them and without attempting to trace the owner[48]. Similarly, there may be theft if a farmer puts his own brand on sheep which he has found straying[49].
There is, however, some doubt as to whether every appropriation of found goods is theft. For example, a rich lawyer finds a £5 note in the street and puts it into a tin rattled by a passing collector for charity. Is he guilty of theft?
In theory, the answer must be yes, since there is clearly appropriation of property belonging to someone else. In Campbell v MacLennan[50], however, the accused was acquitted in circumstances very similar to those given in the example above. Lord Young said[51]: 'A man of large property may find money in the street, and may give it in the way of alms to the next beggar; that is undoubtedly appropriation. Yet who would call it theft, even if the finder had denied having found it?' In Angus McKinnon[52], Lord Justice-Clerk Inglis took the view that a finder might innocently retain property while he tried to locate the owner, and that any subsequent appropriation would not be a 'grievous violation of moral right'. This view certainly accords with common sense, but it is hardly consistent with cases such as John Smith[53], and MacMillan v Lowe.[54] Sheriff Gordon argues that it may be a defence to a charge of theft to show that the finder took all reasonable steps to locate the owner before making the decision to retain the goods[55]. The argument would be the stronger if the goods in question are of 'no great value'[56].
14.9 But this argument does some violence to the idea that finding coupled with appropriation amounts to theft[57], and it may be better to regard the appropriation of articles in such circumstances as a matter for prosecutorial (and personal) discretion, rather than as an exception to the substantive law. In any event, a person who finds any article is obliged by the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982[58] to take reasonable care of it, and within a reasonable time to deliver it or report its finding to a police officer or to the owner or occupier of the premises on which the article is found. Failure to do so constitutes an offence in itself[59], and might well demonstrate an intention to appropriate the article such as to form the basis of a theft charge[60].

[dblad]

Don't bother about what the do-gooders on here say, I'd have gone to the pub and downed a few with it.

Not a case of 'do-gooders', what would you do if it was on the Delivery Office floor instead of in the street ?

Different scenario altogether.

[venger]

I found more than £20 and I know people who have found more. No, I didn't hand it in to anyone. It's blowing around on the street. Someone dropped it. Tough luck on them. It'd be the same if I dropped money. My tough s**t.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I found more than £20 and I know people who have found more. No, I didn't hand it in to anyone. It's blowing around on the street. Someone dropped it. Tough luck on them. It'd be the same if I dropped money. My tough s**t.

I agree, and I have found money in the street on the way to work. However, I take it in the knowledge that questions may be asked. I didn't post the information on "Theft by Finding" to scare people, just to inform them and hopefully help people provide a defence if by any chance someone is "Caught"

[Lounge Lizard]

Don't bother about what the do-gooders on here say, I'd have gone to the pub and downed a few with it.

Not a case of 'do-gooders', what would you do if it was on the Delivery Office floor instead of in the street ?

Different scenario altogether.

Why ?

[dblad]

Don't bother about what the do-gooders on here say, I'd have gone to the pub and downed a few with it.

Not a case of 'do-gooders', what would you do if it was on the Delivery Office floor instead of in the street ?

Different scenario altogether.

Why ?

Cos if it's dropped at work it's a work mates and would be handed back...in the street it could have been dropped anywhere by anybody and greater chances are that handing it in to the police will just end up in the sarges pocket cos I doubt anyone would bother trying to claim that small amount.

[wannabeek]

Why? I'd say it's because the chances of reuniting the £20 note with its rightful owner are pretty good on the DO floor, but pretty slim on a public highway.

If i find cash on the street, that's all that matters. If it's a little lane with only 3 houses I'd be almost certain that I'd be able to find out who it belongs to. If it's out on a busy area with dozens of properties nearby and plenty of traffic, I'm not going to stand there waving the note in the air, waiting for the first person to claim it!

It also depends on the quantity of cash. I once in a previous job found a roll of banknotes in the street, just lying in a gutter. I didn't even unroll it, just handed it to a local bobby. I had a few sleepless nights kicking myself for stupidly doing the decent thing, then found out it was some poor daft old bird who was having a nervous breakdown about her life savings.

That made me feel better, got some good karma out of that one!

In the OP's position, I'd just deny all knowledge, sounds like a nasty piece of work to me.

[NWpostie]

If you didn't pick it up, somebody else less worthy would have.

I would pocket it and deny all as you cannot prove ownership just because somebody says its his doesn't necessarily means it actually is, its difficult to prove as one £20 note looks like another £20 unless you have the specific serial number. I would disregard and deny.

[Pat Ostman]

There seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread between what's morally wrong or right and the law.

The law quite clearly says a £20 note should be handed in, its potentially criminal if you don't, especially in this case (thread). However dubious, someone has claimed the cash is theirs. Since you are a postman I would assume your job takes precedence over the potential hassle this £20 could cause?

Yes you should have informed your Lino/Police. And yes, especially since you were in uniform.

Right or wrong, cover your backs, especially in this job and ask yourself is it really worth it?

[Lounge Lizard]

There seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread between what's morally wrong or right and the law.

The law quite clearly says a £20 note should be handed in, its potentially criminal if you don't, especially in this case (thread). However dubious, someone has claimed the cash is theirs. Since you are a postman I would assume your job takes precedence over the potential hassle this £20 could cause?

Yes you should have informed your Lino/Police. And yes, especially since you were in uniform.

Right or wrong, cover your backs, especially in this job and ask yourself is it really worth it?

Absolutely right. Why risk £20,000 a year for a one off £20 ? Madness
And comments such as "I would pocket it and deny all as you cannot prove ownership" suggest that any crime is acceptable if you can get away with it - the attitude of someone NOT "of good character".