Pensioner hands in a large quantity of cash he found in Southport town centre

Pensioner hands in a large quantity of cash he found in Southport town centre

A quantity of cash was handed into Southport police station on Tuesday 27th March. A pensioner walked into the station and handed it into officers at around 10am.

Did you you lose money on Tuesday morning? If so and you can prove that the money is yours – go and claim it!

Does finders keepers stand up legally when you come across some cash?

If you found a gigantic wodge of banknotes, what would you do? This was the dilemma faced by a dog walker in Spalding, Lincolnshire, when she spotted £60,000 floating in a waterway. She handed it over to the police, who are carrying out a forensic examination of the money to trace where it came from. But is it ever finders keepers?

Yes, according to the police, who say it is up to the individual what they do if they find any amount of cash – there is no requirement to hand over money you find, or even any other items. A spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers says: “There are no laws that I am aware of governing what you should do with a find – it is down to your conscience. However, if an item can be traced as it includes information about the owner, such as a mobile phone or handbag, then you might want to make sure to hand it in.

“However, the law doesn’t seem to be as clear as that suggests, and there have been occasions where people have ended up in trouble for keeping hold of an item that they knew wasn’t theirs – like this one of a couple who claimed the winnings from a found lottery ticket – so it may be wise to err on the side of caution.

Most of us would probably think twice about pocketing more than the odd coin or note. If you do hand a large sum of money to the police, however, you shouldn’t assume you will get it back if it goes unclaimed. A builder who found almost £18,000 in a burnt-out flat recently discovered this after the courts decided the cash was probably the proceeds of crime, meaning it became the property of the public purse.

The law is different if the money you find is antique, however, as there are all sorts of regulations governing what you must do with significant finds. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the Treasure Act of 1996 states that finds of gold or silver that are older than 300 years must be claimed for the crown, and reported within 14 days. If your find falls in this category it will be independently valued, and museums have the option to raise funds to acquire the find and the money is divided equally between the finder and landowner. Discoveries of two or more precious metal coins of any age need to be reported, according to The British Museum. Scotland has a different set of regulations, as any archaeological find has to be reported to the National Museum of Scotland.

What would you do if you found, say, £300 on the pavement? Keep it, donate it to charity, or hand it in to the police?