You could get in trouble with the law if you pick up cash in the street… believe me, I’m a lawyer
- Martin Pizzey, partner at Stephensons Solicitors, warned against pocketing cash
- ‘Theft by finding’ is an offence and you could be in trouble if you don’t take ‘reasonable steps’ to find the rightful owner, according to The Theft Act 1968
- Mr Pizzey recommends taking found cash to your local police station
See a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck, as the old saying goes – but what about a crisp £10 note?
Spotting a stray tenner in the street could see you dancing all the way to the pub, but those eagle-eyes might earn you a hefty tap on the shoulder and a few questions from PC Plod.
You’ve just committed the little-known offence of ‘theft by finding’ – and people have been convicted for this seemingly innocent crime as recently as six years ago.
A legal expert has explained that ‘theft by finding’ is an offence – so pocketing lost cash could get you into trouble with the law (stock image)
A British woman fell foul of this very law in 2017 after being spotted on CCTV picking up a £20 note from the floor of a convenience shop.
Her chance finding won her a trip to her local police station, a day in court and a £175 bill because she had pocketed the cash, rather than seeking out the customer who had dropped it.
Martin Pizzey, a partner at Stephensons Solicitors explained The Theft Act 1968 protects people who come across lost cash, but only if they take ‘reasonable steps’ to locate its rightful owner.
For example, taking it into the nearest shop or taking it to your local police station to hand in.
Mr Pizzey told The Sun: ‘Tell the officer on duty your name, where you found it, at what time, and that you don’t know who it belongs to.
‘Ask for a receipt, and ask that if no one comes to claim it in four weeks, can you come and collect it.’
He added that, if you decided to pocket someone else’s lost cash without doing this, you could be protected by the law if you had reasonable grounds to believe the money had been discarded.
This is only likely to stand, however, if it is a very small amount of money like £1 because ‘no one is going to search for an hour for a bit of loose change they’ve dropped,’ he said.
Martin Pizzey, a partner at Stephenson’s Solicitor, recommended to hand in any cash found at your local police station and leave your contact details for if it is not claimed
He added: ‘Anything of greater value, and the person who dropped it out of their pocket or wallet, wouldn’t consider it as discarded and they are likely to go back and look for it. That is why reasonableness is on a scale.’
For this reason, it’s always best to ‘err on the side of caution’, he argued, especially when there’s CCTV around.