[Closed] AIBU to want £20 that son found and handed in??

I'd spend my time getting wound up by the treasurer to be honest!!

And the school needs to hand it back or to the police not decide what to do with it. But really, it's £20 which is a round of beers...

Am I being unreasonable to want the £20 note that my 7 year old son found and handed in??

Yes, if anyone has a claim on then it's your son. 🙂

But I presume you want it so you can hand in to the police?

I presume you've reported the treasurers for theft?

http://www.solicitors.com/finders-law.html

Seems you need to hand it to the police and let them sort it.

Are you for real? £20! are you skint?

A lot of police forces will no longer accept 'found' items - too much effort.

Why not just give your boy £20 for being so honest and the next time the school ask for money for X just tell them you've already paid

jekkyl - Member
Are you for real? £20! are you skint?

It's the principle, and coincidentally that's who'll be pocketing the £20

Should we have a whip round for the OP?

Are you for real? £20! are you skint?

£20 is a lot of money to a 7 year old!!

The police have closed most of the local police stations round here so not practical to hand it in.

I agree on the principal of this....

Either it goes to the police or the finder....
It might be amusing to post a notice on a lamppost etc. saying "£20 found here on xxx , handed in to school office"

😈

The police have closed most of the local police stations round here so not practical to hand it in.

So not that much of a matter of principle then? 🙂

Take in a bag of dog shit and say you found it outside the school and see if they are so keen to keep that.

I agree your son should get money.

Why give it to the school in the first place?

Are you for real? £20! are you skint?

EDIT: And the kid didn't give the money to the school, he handed it in as lost property – they can't then take ownership of it and decide what to do with it. Do they do that with the mountain of other lost property they inevitably collect each year?

£20 is a lot of money to a 7 year old!!

Ha, my 9 year old the other day said 50 GBP that's not a lot!! I then proceeded to tell her in my day......

You're quite right to want it back for him. You're trying to teach your son the value of honesty and trust in authority, and they're undermining it.

Tell them that.

I'd be tempted go in with him and ask them to explain to your son why people should hand things in when they find them, and why they should keep the money he found when no-one's come to claim it.

The police have closed most of the local police stations round here so not practical to hand it in.

It isn't practical for the school to hand the cash back to you.

( see what I did there - either you follow the law and expect others to, or play finders keepers losers weepers ).

Your 7 year old has been honest and school is showing that honesty doesn't apply to adults. Which is a crap lesson to teach young minds.

He's done the right thing, reward him. £20 should do it.

School have shown that they are scumbags. There will come a time when you can get some serious mileage from this...

£20 is a lot of money to a 7 year old!!

£20 was a lot of money to Walter Giffard, a distant relative of William the Conqueror, who was given the Caversham Park estate after the 1066 conquest. The estate, then Caversham Manor, was a fortified manor house or castle, probably nearer the Thames than the present house. The estate was registered in the Domesday Book, in an entry describing a property of 9.7 square kilometres (2,400 acres) worth £20.

Now on sale for £25m.

The school is being a complete prick.
Tell them to give you the money back or give it to the police.
If they don't, then tell the police.

This is exactly the sort of self important, I make up whatever rules I want, bullshit that I'd expect a school to come up with.

There are laws in this country, and despite what these imbeciles think, they are not above them.

Why not just give your boy £20 for being so honest and the next time the school ask for money for X just tell them you've already paid

This. Problem solved.

This. Problem solved.

Mitigated but not really solved ....
It's not good to teach kids that effectively the school are being dishonest so Dad will give you £20 as a reward...
Lying to the kid is as bad ... telling them "the school gave it back"

I once had a 10 minute argument with a toll booth operator ... I'd left my car on the other side of a toll booth and had to cycle back and pick up the OH and had left my rucksack with my wallet.

At the toll booth (being in a RHD car with a LHD toll both I dropped the exact change I had on me) and got out to pick it up and the toll booth operator argued that any dropped money was theirs...

It was only a couple of quid.... it was just the only couple of quid (or Krone) I had on me.
or had access to without a 20 mile mainly uphill (up a ski run uphill) ride back.

So I just told her to go **** herself and call the police if she wanted.

Turns out she was just stealing any dropped money...

Just get a mate to pop into reception and ask if anyone has handed in the £20 note that his child may of dropped outside a few weeks ago.

Perhaps you could get a friend to go to the school and claim that they had lost a £20 note and wondered if it had been handed in to the school . It would be interesting to see how they reacted and if they gave the £20 to your friend then he could give it to your son . Two wrongs can make a right .

Or as i said earlier stick up a sign outside the school... see how they manage 200 people all claiming to have lost £20

I found a soggy tenner in a muddy car park earlier this year, should I hand it over to the Forestry Commission?

Are you for real? £20! are you skint?

Should we have a whip round for the OP?

why don't one of you fellas send the young lad £20 then

It should absolutely be going to your son, no 2 ways about it. The fact that they think they should keep it, screw that I'd be kicking up a fuss on principle.

Perhaps you could get a friend to go to the school and claim that they had lost a £20 note and wondered if it had been handed in to the school . It would be interesting to see how they reacted and if they gave the £20 to your friend then he could give it to your son . Two wrongs can make a right .

I also like this approach

I found a soggy tenner in a muddy car park earlier this year, should I hand it over to the Forestry Commission?

Last time I found one of those it turned out that Pavarotti had been swimming.

Just get a mate to pop into reception and ask if anyone has handed in the £20 note

do this ^

stick up a sign outside the school... see how they manage 200 people all claiming to have lost £20

then this ^

😈

agreed!

on principal, its just not fair.

Just get a mate to pop into reception and ask if anyone has handed in the £20 note that his child may of dropped outside a few weeks ago.

a mate?

surely this is the PRIME opportunity of the OP to indulge his inner Angus Young. Duckwalk into that school office like a boss.

Could you tell us the name and location of the school? Just for research purposes 😈

Local press. Boy finds money and is honest, school makes it disappear and looks dishonest.

Much public shaming!

The sum of money isn't relevant - the school deciding they want to keep it is the issue! Damn cheek. I'd tell them to return it for you to trace the owner as you see fit. If they don't I would absolutely send an email to the local paper.

I found a £20 note outside school in about 1985....

i handed it in to a teacher who probably brought drink and booze with it.

in today's money it is £20,000 ...i struggle with that every day... 8)

FWIW I really like Ned's idea. Make an appointment all official like and

ask them to explain to your son why people should hand things in when they find them, and why they should keep the money he found when no-one's come to claim it.

Then put the sign up

Perhaps you could get a friend to go to the school and claim that they had lost a £20 note and wondered if it had been handed in to the school

I am going with this approach. I am actually invited to a 'thank you' assembly tomorrow for the children to say 'thank you' to the people who help fundraise for the school and help out etc, this has left a bad taste with me and I don't think I'll be going.......

Been organised by the theiving treasurer ?
Thanks kids for my 3 weeks in the Maldives this August.

The reward should have been a valuable lesson for the importance of honesty.

Put a note on the lamppost: If the £20 lost here is yours, please form an orderly queue at the school.

I'd be tempted go in with him and ask them to explain to your son why people should hand things in when they find them, and why they should keep the money he found when no-one's come to claim it.

I'd blame whoever decided to give it to the school in the first place.
Schools are skint what would you expect to happen?

A lot of police forces will no longer accept 'found' items - too much effort.

That's the case here. They have a lost and found website instead. Hopefully the school put it on that website, I'll have to check later on.....

I do not condone the school keeping this £20 at all. Simple isn't theirs to make that decision.

I'd be reporting it to the Police (however ineffective they are) simply because there a rules about lost and found and your Son my get back the £20 in 6mths (I don't know what the delay is)

But, I'd definitely be patting your Son on the back, and yourself for that matter. Seems like you've passed on some honesty in a world lacking of it.

Dear <school>,

My son found £20. I wanted to teach him good ethics and honesty by getting him to hand it into the lost property.

No one has came forward to claim the £20, so my son should be rewarded for doing the right thing by taking ownership of the £20.

You, however, have decided to keep the £20. Which by all definitions is theft.

This teaches my son that in future he should just not tell anyone and run home with the money, and that theft is the way to get what you want, which is the unethical and dishonest thing to do.

You are a school, think about this.

Regards,

----

And CC in the headteacher if you have their email, and the local council governing body of education.

I'd also emphasise in the above letter that the son takes possession according to the law, not just that he "should be rewarded". Otherwise good.

[i]And CC in the headteacher[/i]

I thought he/she was involved in the theft! Or was that the principal? I got confused.

This is mind boggling.

Don't call the police, let them deal with actual consequential crime.

While you are at it make sure you make a sizeable donation to the PTA for being a ridiculous self entitled person.

CC in the board of governors, PTA, local rags, everyone.

I'd be doing all I could to make them regret their decision....

While you are at it make sure you make a sizeable donation to the PTA for being a ridiculous self entitled person.

nwmlarge - Member

This is mind boggling.

Don't call the police, let them deal with actual consequential crime.

While you are at it make sure you make a sizeable donation to the PTA for being a ridiculous self entitled person.

I'm not the head teacher.

Why is the OP or his son entitled to the £20?

It's not theirs, it was chance that he found a £20 note, it could have been a crisp packet.

The money is being used by a school, an organisation I daresay in dire need of funding however small or seemingly insignificant.

I'm glad its gone to the school, regardless of an unscrupulous treasurer.

It will more than likely just be some Dorris in the office. I'd go and have a polite word and make your views clear.

If no happy resolution then escalate.

[quote=nwmlarge ]Why is the OP or his son entitled to the £20?

Because he found it and it hasn't been claimed by its rightful owner, in these circumstances the law is "finders keepers"

Why is the OP or his son entitled to the £20?

It's not theirs

Neither is it the school's – it isn't for them to decide to keep it for themselves, no matter how dire a situation they are in. If you were broke do you think it would entitle you to take money that wasn't rightfully yours?

I'm glad its gone to the school, regardless of an unscrupulous treasurer.

If the OP's son wishes to donate it, then all well and good, but it's not the school's decision to make.

[i]I'm glad its gone to the school[/i]

And what amazing act of improvement could £20 make to a school? About as much as a crisp packet, I'd venture.

£20 buys a few books, maybe those are the books that sway the wayward youth to read rather than to nick mopeds and stab people? who knows.

Maybe the £20 would do well to offset the losses to the embezzling treasurer?

What great use is mateys son going to use it for?

the school made a decision based on saving time, if they had wanted the £20 for their own purposes they could have said to the son "how about making a charitable donation of it?" the son would have relented because hes a good guy, job done.

I feel like i'm owed £20 for this thread tbh

[quote=nwmlarge ]I feel like i'm owed £20 for this thread tbh

I was rather hoping you were going to donate £20 to your local school (or maybe all your local schools?) given they can clearly make better use of the money than you can.

£20 buys a few books, maybe those are the books that sway the wayward youth to read rather than to nick mopeds and stab people? who knows.

Or a round of drinks for the end of term pub trip.

£20 buys a few books, maybe those are the books that sway the wayward youth to read rather than to nick mopeds and stab people? who knows.

£20 spread eased into a school budget is going to do next to nothing, whereas the action of giving the lad back the £20 and maybe doing an assembly on the importance of honesty and rewarding good deeds might be something that the pupils would remember.

£20 buys a few books, maybe those are the books that sway the wayward youth to read rather than to nick mopeds and stab people

so what have the school said?

the school made a decision based on saving time, if they had wanted the £20 for their own purposes they could have said to the son "how about making a charitable donation of it?" the son would have relented because hes a good guy, job done.

You could list all the good things in the world that £20 is good for, but it doesn't stop the theft of the £20 in the first place, by a school - the very place you send your kids to learn how to act in the adult world.

I, for one, am outraged.

While you are at it make sure you make a sizeable donation to the PTA for being a ridiculous self entitled person.

Ha, ha, I'm part of the PTA and help to raise considerable funds (£1,000s every year) to help the school. It's not the sum of money that concerns me, what annoys me is the lack of honesty being shown by the headteacher and the poor example it is setting to my son.

Incidentally, my friend who was going to go in and 'claim it' felt uncomfortable about lying to the school, so they still have it.

Thanks to those who have expressed support

[i]£20 buys a few books, maybe those are the books that sway the wayward youth to read rather than to nick mopeds and stab people? who knows.[/i]

Wins the STW prize for living in a fantasy land. Click [url= http://www.playbuzz.com/kandykane10/wheres-your-fantasy-world ]here[/url] to claim your £20.

I feel conned, dezb's link doesn't click

Sorry, I fixed it. But it's not for you so don't go claiming it and buying bikes and things.

I do not see what claim the school has on it as you state it was found outside the school premises if I read right. Surely it is up to you what happens to the money if it unclaimed not some small minded beurocrat. If it was me I would give it to son or favourite charity out of principal

Will the school even have a mechanism for putting £20 of unaccounted for money into their funds ?

100% on side with the OP here. The school has absolutely no right to the money and you should do all you can to make this higher profile.

Will the school even have a mechanism for putting £20 of unaccounted for money into their funds ?

They will probably account for it as a public donation, but in reality, it has probably already been spent down in the pub...

OP - you should be proud that your Son has done the right thing and equally shocked that a school has behaved in such a manner.

The LEA and Ofsted would probably be interested too

GlennQuagmire - Member
... but in reality, it has probably already been spent down in the pub...

The LEA and Ofsted would probably be interested too

Great, on the one hand he gets to teach his son the importance of honesty.

And on the other he can show him how it's better to be sneaky and underhand to get your own way on fairly trivial matters, rather than deal with problems face to face in a sensible way.

Double school day for jnr

School has apparantly taken legal advice and has now contacted me to say that they will be returning the £20. Quite why they needed to take 'legal advice' to realise that they were in the wrong staggers me.................

I hope it was free legal advice 😉

quite. some common sense / call it ethics if you - reflection would have sufficed. !!

Good. Bloody idiots.