I think the OP is between a rock and a hardplace on this one. Personally I’d right a letter to both the manager of the centre and the Chief Exec further up the foodchain explaining that you had given up your time, wont be seeking financially redress but feel let down and wont be volunteering in the future.
This isnt a sweeping generalisation, alot of the main/big charities are awash with money/a fair chunk of revenue is eaten up before it even reaches the frontline on administrative costs so to say its uncharitable or unfair to claim any sort of redress is a tad niave. Sorry. Plus, like I said rock and a hardplace- with hindsight (great thing after the event!) you shouldnt leave your bag in an unlocked room near homeless peeps.

What’s your source for that figure?

it was a major news story a few years back.

I’m still boggling at the £600 contents. Not being a legal bod, my opinion is pointess, but that won’t stop me giving it. It strikes me that someone saying it’s ok to leave something somewhere, just means they are giving you permission to put something somewhere, it doesn’t imply any sort of contractual agreement where they are guaranteeing that no harm will come to your contents. In much the same way as a company can say it’s ok to use their private carpark, doesn’t mean that they held liable if your car is nicked from there.

In much the same way as a company can say it’s ok to use their private carpark, doesn’t mean that they held liable if your car is nicked from there.

But to the same token, if a premises provide coat hooks they are liable for the coats UNLESS they put up a disclaimer notice to the contrary (at least I understand that to be the case – never actually checked legally).

This requires a certain number of staff with expertise, that might not be tied to particular projects – whether it’s termed as ‘admin’ or ‘overhead’ costs isn’t really relevant. A move towards the short-termist view that ‘admin’ costs need to be kept to a minimum

We had someone at a party once say to my wife, who was working for a charity – “don’t you feel guilty taking money from a charity”! He did have a bit of a warped perspective on money I think though, being someone who owned much of Herefordshire or something (and wacky right wing christian views about things to boot.)

I think people are pretty stupid about charities, and don’t realise that much of the work they do actually takes skilled people and training, which makes it cost less to hire people with experience than to use volunteers, as volunteers are quite expensive to train up, and have a tendency to bugger off at inconvenient points, thus wasting the money spent on training them.

Joe

cynic-al – Thanks for that, its answered my original question.

As for the moral highground etc well thats down to the girlfriend who’s bag it was whether or not she is comfortable in persuing it but the charity have not done themselves any favours in taking such a hard nosed business view on this towards someone who has been helping them out. This on a day when they really struggle to get volunteers & when most of those who are critisising us were, no doubt, tucking into dinner themselves in their homes surrounded by their families & friends having opened all their presents already while getting half cut, not so worried about the state of your local homeless charity then were you?

We went out of our way to help out, not wanting any thanks or reward but because we wanted to hopefully make a small difference to a few peoples lives at least for a few hours and end up get treated like this by a rather large organisation (charity or not) whos staff we were being supervised and who’s premises we were on. It’s easy to take the moral highground when your not the ones who have suffered the loss, no matter how large or small. Yes £600 of goods does seem like a lot to be carrying around in a handbag but it was a big bag with some specalist make up in it that is not easily available and so is not cheap to buy or replace. This is why the value of the good was so high coupled with the fact that there was a nearly new mobile phone which cost the best part of £200. Whats the reaction you get from your non biking mates when you tell them how much your bike and all the bits cost, same reaction as you have given to the value of my other halfs handbag, in short ‘you must be mad’!!

For those of you on here who do charity work then i salute you and thank you for your input, its not something i could do on a regular basis. For those of you who don’t, try it sometime 😉

Cheers

Bigsi

Those that think that think most charities are awash with money are deluding themselves with Daily Mailesque naff journalism and naive middle class preconceptions. Yep, there are some big charities with big budgets and large overheads and similarly large remits and reponsibilities but these are in the minority. These have to, quite rightly spend money on staffing and employing the very best people to give the charity direction and essentially operate like a business.

Most charites, and certainly all I have had contact with (I have worked for a chairity that ran a youth project in the past for disadvantaged kids in Coventry and my wife is a director of a charity that provides residential and day care for adults with learning difficulties) that work in the less glamerous sectors (dealing with those with drug dependancy, the homeless, adults with learning difficulties etc – i.e. not fluffy cuddly dogs, cancer which most can relate to, or search and rescue heros) live a pretty hand to mouth existance.

the charity have not done themselves any favours

It sounds like they took it as far as they could with their insurers.

(at least I understand that to be the case – never actually checked legally)

Don’t let that stop you from posting on STW though 🙄

Whats the reaction you get from your non biking mates when you tell them how much your bike and all the bits cost, same reaction as you have given to the value of my other halfs handbag, in short ‘you must be mad’!!

But then I wouldn’t leave any of my bikes in a “staff room” at a homeless hostel, even if the room was locked! I’d suggest that’s the issue more than whether it’s reasonable to have that much valuable stuff in a handbag.

Talking of the homeless- Im still miffed at those two scallies who started an arguement with me in the North Quarter Manchester. One was asking me for money as I was trying to get out of my car and the other was banging on the window on the otherside winding up my dog. All I did was say ‘please stop doing that’ and they both kicked off!

Lets not forget, not all homeless people are innocent kids who have run away from an abusive home.

This isnt a sweeping generalisation, alot of the main/big charities are awash with money/a fair chunk of revenue is eaten up before it even reaches the frontline on administrative costs so to say its uncharitable or unfair to claim any sort of redress is a tad niave.

It is a sweeping generalisation as well as an idiotic one, and it shows no understanding of the way major charities are organised, funded or scrutinised.

Whats the reaction you get from your non biking mates when you tell them how much your bike and all the bits cost, same reaction as you have given to the value of my other halfs handbag, in short ‘you must be mad’!!

I’m a woman and I’m stil struggling to see how it could add up to £600, and if it did, I’d be very careful where I left it, sorry.

£600 – that’s a lot of White Lightning

Find who did it, then wee in their shoes. Again.

I am finding it hard to understand how they can be held responsible for something they were cleary misslead about. Take for example this situation

Visitor to my office asks if they can leave a bag in my office for 5 mins
No problem

Visitor asks if he can leave £600 in my office
Not a chance in hell

Of course you didnt intentionally misslead them, but the office although marked for staff, sounds like it was neither signed as a safe or secure environment. They werent charging you for a service either. It was not designed or used as a safe store otherwise i would imagine lockable lockers would be provided. If that were the case, i would back you 100%, but it isnt.

Just like the wrong fuel thread, its all a BIG mistake and we have to learn by them. In the grand scheme of things she has lost a mobile phone (Usually insured) and some makeup.

As a lawyer i think the littlestHobo has the correct answer in law. If any duty of care is imposed on the charity it would be to take reasonable care in all the circumstances . A marked separate room for keeping the usual property that one would expect someone to bring to a shelter seems reasonable . To assume that it is safe to leave £600 in such a room when it is only defended by a bit of paper seems unreasonable and to impose liability on the charity i feel you would have needed to make the member of staff aware of the value of the item.

It may be worth having a professional crack at the insurance company though and not just accepting their word, as this was clearly a burglary and the”no break in” point is essentially a red herring.

usual terms and conditions apply to all advice given in lunch break.

Bigsi, what do you actually want them to do if their insurers say they are not covered?

a lengthy and patronising lecture from Rudeboy, who’d have thought it?

The is similar to a mate – he stayed in a B+B last year and was told it was safe to keep his new carbon full-suss stumpy in the outbuilding. It was stolen and he wasn’t insured; he took the loss but wonder if he should have sued the B+B?

mudshark, Ive never ever trusted what a hotel or B&B say. Ever. Bike always stays in the room with me and even then its a worry. If the B&B emailed/put this in writing then its implied laibility IMO.

I assume he just arrived with the bike and he was told to put it there. I usually leave mine in the car covered up which isn’t ideal but don’t think many places would be happy with a muddy bike in the house. I’m hoping to keep my bike in my hotel rooms on my tour in France next week….

I wouldnt even ask or alert them that there is a bike in the bedroom! Wheels stay in boot of car. Frame/forks come with me in my groundeffect bodybag. Its my luggage/none of their business if its covered up.

I have never, ever, stayed in a B&B where I had serious concerns that the owner might be in league with local bicycle thieves. I think you are paranoid. Or that you choose terrible B&Bs. 🙂

cynic-al – Member

a lengthy and patronising lecture from Rudeboy, who’d have thought it?

How’s it patronising?

You’re just sore, because your professional legal judgment has been contradicted, and your ego has taken a dent.

Don’t worry, I won’t be asking you to join my legal team any time soon. 😉

You do it deliberately and you’re doing it now and you know it. 😉

I do love it how everyone has an opinion on the morality of just about any question asked. What a bunch ejits you get on here.
I am no legal expert, so I ll try some common sense. If you have legal advice cover on your house insurance maybe they might be able to fight the charities insurance company!
p.s. Wouldn’t bloody catch me volunteering on xmas day, dont think you ll do it again mind!

Nice use of an italic operand.

Sorry if this has already been suggested, I haven’t been able to read every word of this thread, but if you are intent on recovering something from the charity – did you think about asking them to cover the cost of your insurance premium rise?

And to the original question: unless they explicitly told you the room was SAFE for your valuables I don’t think you have a hope anyway.

If they said “It’s OK to leave things here”, that is by no means the same thing.

I hope this experience doesn’t put the charity off having rich people volunteer for them again, as then everybody will lose out.

Don’t let that stop you from posting on STW though

No I won’t thanks – I am not a lawyer and wouldn’t want to suggest anything of the sort. I was posting my opinion just like so many other people do.

How’s it patronising?

You’re just sore, because your professional legal judgment has been contradicted, and your ego has taken a dent.

I’m quite happy to admit when I#’m wrong, I don’t thin kit’s clear that I am here and I am not about to spend my spare time researching the point in the caselaw.

As for you being patronising, it’s something about your tone, I’d try to explain it but I doubt you’d understand.

No, go on; give it a go. You’d be surprised at just how understanding I can be…

I’m off down the pub to meet WCA, I’ll catch up with you later. 😉

You just seem to like the sound of your own voice. Like it’s more important than anyone else’s. You appear to put alot more effort into your posts than others too. You tend not to let things go.

Yadda.

Yadda

That’s what 4 hours in a pub with WCA does to the usually verbose fredbra.

Verbose…sober.v.e….

ha ha

Powned

‘Powned’? Don’t you mean ‘pwned’?

Oh dear..

I did…I was using IRONING

If you wanted to push it you’d probably win but, whats the point its a charity ffs. Claim it on your house insurance and swallow the extra £10 on your next policy