What's the law on finding something, please?

kevanf1

A few days ago I found a nice digital camera in a case in a local supermarket. I hand this in straight away to the help kiosk in store and was given a receipt for this. Now, 3 days later nobody has gone in to claim it I would like to state right now that I would really like to find the owner of this camera as there may well be photographs on it that are precious. I have been told that after about 3 days any lost items are taken to the local police station. Ok, in the meantime I shall get a listing put into our local paper (it's free for items found). But what happens if the owner does not turn up to claim the camera? Can I place a legal claim on it after a reasonable amount of time? As I have stated, I would really prefer the true owner turned up to claim the camera.

Please help

Thank you.

Kevan

spacey2012

The person who registers it with the police as found gets to keep it if it is not claimed.
Next time, take it to the police station.

JReacher1

spacey2012 wrote: »

The person who registers it with the police as found gets to keep it if it is not claimed.
Next time, take it to the police station.

If you take it to the police station it tends to be because you want the item for yourself but in a legal manner.

If I lose an item in a shop I would ask the shop if anyone handed it in. I doubt I would bother checking the local police stations.

Really if you want an item returned to its owner 9/10 it's best to give it to someone in authority in the place it was found.

kevanf1

JReacher1 wrote: »

If you take it to the police station it tends to be because you want the item for yourself but in a legal manner.

If I lose an item in a shop I would ask the shop if anyone handed it in. I doubt I would bother checking the local police stations.

Really if you want an item returned to its owner 9/10 it's best to give it to someone in authority in the place it was found.

Which is what I have done I found it in a local supermarket so I handed it in there within 5 minutes of me actually finding it. It would have been quicker but I can't walk that fast....

Cheers all so far.

SuperHan

If you want it legally at the end, go to the supermarket, say you lost a camera, take away and hand in at the police station, and in the advertisements say it's at the police station.

That way you could also look at the photos, and maybe post one on a local social media group to see if the owners can be identified.

patman99

Most of the large supermarkets will have a policy regarding how long an item remains unclaimed before they contact the person who handed-in the item.

carmel11

In my experience, lost and found property is very haphazard in stores.i once lost some expensive makeup in a department store, enquired and was told it hadn't been handed in.Contacted the security department myself, they went and looked and lo and behold, they found it, under a counter.

Cycrow

patman99 wrote: »

Most of the large supermarkets will have a policy regarding how long an item remains unclaimed before they contact the person who handed-in the item.

not really the case with Tesco, i've seen lots of items in the lost property that had been there for years, and dont recall them ever handing something back to the person who found it

fluffnutter

London Underground periodically has a sale doesn't it? You go along and take your pick from 18 billion umbrellas.

JimmyTheWig

spacey2012 wrote: »

The person who registers it with the police as found gets to keep it if it is not claimed.

In which case I guess you need to check with the supermarket what their policy is on things handed in to the police station.

Mallotum_X

The person who lost it will hopefully go back and get it.

Its not like you have any legitimate claim to keeping it for yourself, so i'd just leave it be. You did the right thing and hopefully it will get returned.