I,m not a THIEF!!!!!!!!

tracye1923

Please can anyone help me with some advice or suggest where to get some legal help?
I was suspended from work on Friday at 2pm and have to return on Monday at 2pm to find out if i'm to be sacked!
Apparently covert cameras are in operation in part of the warehouse that i work in and they have filmed me taking a plastic container. I did admit during Fridays interview that i took it but that it is STILL IN THE BUILDING with my lunch inside! I reported that there was a "fly infestation" acouple of weeks prior and am also aware of rats so decided to take action. I admit that maybe i,ve been stupid but does that make me a thief?!?!:(

marybelle01

So why didn't you bring your lunch in your own lunch box? I am a bit confused that you would bring your lunch to a place where you say there are flies and rats, on the off chance that there was a lunch box hanging around the premises for you to put it in.

gibson123

If you took stock or some-one else's property for your own use without permission from the owner, then I am afraid you are a thief. Best way forward is to explain the circumstances and that it was the purpose of food hygiene and so that you were not further encouraging vermin. That you intended returning or paying for the item and had had it leave the premises, or you could protest your total innocence and insist that if you are being accused of a criminal act that they involve the police. Good luck.

kingfisherblue

tracye1923 wrote: »

Please can anyone help me with some advice or suggest where to get some legal help?
I was suspended from work on Friday at 2pm and have to return on Monday at 2pm to find out if i'm to be sacked!
Apparently covert cameras are in operation in part of the warehouse that i work in and they have filmed me taking a plastic container. I did admit during Fridays interview that i took it but that it is STILL IN THE BUILDING with my lunch inside! I reported that there was a "fly infestation" acouple of weeks prior and am also aware of rats so decided to take action. I admit that maybe i,ve been stupid but does that make me a thief?!?!:(

Your post doesn't make much sense. You took a plastic container that presumably belonged to the company that you work for, yet it had your lunch inside it? When did you put your lunch into the container? Where did you take it from? Where did you put it? Why didn't you simply bring a container from home?

Being stupid doesn't necessarily make you a thief, but you have to admit that it does look rather suspicious.

Hillbilly1

Is the item now saleable? If not then you have taken something with out asking or paying. It is then at the companies discretion if they regard this as theft.

Notmyrealname

Theft is taking someone elses property with the intention of depriving the rightful owner of it, something which you have done.

The fact it is in the building is completely irrelevant. It wasn't yours and you took it for your own use, thus depriving the rightful owner of it.

anamenottaken

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Theft is taking someone elses property with the intention of permanently depriving the rightful owner of it, something which you may have done.

The fact it is in the building is completely irrelevant. It wasn't yours and you took it for your own use, thus depriving the rightful owner of it.

Definition required slight adjustment.

The question of intention to permanently deprive the owner needs to be addressed. For the company's internal decision-making on this the weight of evidence does not have to be as strong as for a criminal case in court. They just need to hold a reasonable belief that there was such intent.
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dacouch

What sort of sandwich was it, a takeaway?

colino

Some of the clients I have worked with have very high value, small components in their warehousing and have a very strict, nothing-in nothing-out policy in that area. Taking a bag or a box into these areas is, and has been swiftly applied, a sackable offence. Are you in the same boat?

1940sGal

I'm puzzled as to why you would take it in the first place. Lunch boxes cost as little as a couple of quid, if that. At the end of the day, you took something knowing full well that it wasn't yours to take. I'm sorry but that's theft. Where it is is irrelevant. Your employers are under no obligation to believe that you didn't intend to keep it. Fact of the matter is they've seen you take an item and you have yet to return it. Chances are most employers would react in the same way.

dandelionclock30

dacouch wrote: »

What sort of sandwich was it, a takeaway?

.

Very Funny, lol.

Im surprised that nobody has said that you deserve to go to prison on this board!.

I would just explain again you borrowed the box as you were concerned about your sandwich being spoilt by pests. I would also get my own box in future.
If your sacked for this it would be very harsh and I would take it further if you been there over a year(or is it 2 now).The workplace shouldnt have infestations of rats etc and they need to be adhering to H and S legislation and addressing the problem properly.
They would probably pay you off as what buisness would want everyone knowing they were infested with flies and rats.!! Not good for buisness!