I pulled into a lay bye last night to watch the sun go down…and I found this…
I bought a pair of gloves for 50 pence, put the trash in the back of my car and took it to the tip.
As I was leaving the tip I noticed quite a smart case that had been thrown out. It looked interesting. I opened it and found about 240 dance CD’s in it.
I took it back to the campsite where I am staying…and sold them to a DJ who was also staying on the campsite.
£40 for an hours litter picking…
The Professional Litter Picker. 
Good on you Simon…..well deserved! Would hope the guy who left the litter in the first place squirms…..xxxM-A
Ta Ma!
Have you never “lost” or had a valued item stolen? Had this been taken to a police station the item may have been able to be re-united to a rightful owner that may have had it stolen from them.
There is all so just the chance that through the police knowing about the item you found that it could be linked to a previous crime and help a distressed victim achieve justice or some comfort from you efforts to return the item.
-You would still have cleared the litter and furthered your cause, as well as earning a whole heap of Brownie points for not only yourself but the cause you promote. It would have also endorsed the lettering in on the vehicle “professional”.
David, thanks for your comment. In reply to it! Yes, I have had stuff stolen. It’s very annoying and can make you very angry. My question to you! Are you a litter picker? I ‘find’ a lot of things in my picking. The last thing of value I found was in Cherbourg, France. It was a gold bracelet and I found it on the pavement. I that it had only just been dropped. I took it to the pawnbrokers who told me it was worth 550 euros and would I like to sell it right now? Boy did I need the money, but I said no, took it down the police station and hoped that the owner came to claim it. I went back there a month ago, 6 months after I handed it in to see if anyone had. They hadn’t. After 12 months, if it hasn’t been claimed, I can have it. I can sell it for 550 euros, (depending on the price of gold at the time!). But could I do it? I doubt it very much. Someone might walk in to the station the day after…and it wouldn’t be there anymore.
I have picked up loads of rubbish, and I mean loads. I was paid 100 euros to clean up a beach in Crete, Greece 5 years ago and a mate gave me 50 pounds recently and I went and spent half a day clearing up a canal towpath. 25 years part time litter picking for £150.
So on Friday when I pulled into that lay bye and saw yet another pile of trash I said to myself, “How can I get paid for picking all this shit up”? I took the trash down the tip, found the album with the CD’s in it and thought wow, instant payment. I found it in a TIP, where rubbish is disposed of. Most tips now set aside a place to sell ‘slightly’ valuable goods to the passing public. They do not, to my knowledge put stuff aside to take down to the police station in case it was stolen. If they do, they should have taken the CD’s!
After I had received my £40, yes, I did then think, I wonder if it was stolen? But such was the synchronicity of events, I did not think of it at the time.
I know the guy I sold them too. I found the CD’s at Atherstone tip in Warwickshire. I am not going down to the police station to see if anyone has had their “Dance DJ CD Collection” stolen, but by all means, please do publicize this story in an appropriate way to see if they are stolen goods. If we could genuinely return them to such a person that would be great. I can buy them back I am sure.
We live in a very dirty world. If it wasn’t for the thousands of volunteer litter pickers we fortunately have in this country, the state of it would be a lot worse-give us a break please!!!
Simon have just seen your reply to my e-mail in regard to the litter that you cleared.
Indeed I am a litter picker myself and have done so off an on for the past twenty five years or so.
My point is that your original “find” was in a public place ie the lay bye. Even though you found the CD’s while later depositing what you had collected at the refuse dump, You obviously, straight away attached a value to the CD’s and I would have thought that this would have made you wonder if they had been abandoned where you originally found them on purpose ?
My point is that, if circumstances give a hint that your “find” is of any value, when the circumstances in which it is found suggest a reasonable chance that they may be as a result of ill gotten gain then it does no harm to hand the item in to the local police. They are in a better position to link the item to perhaps an on-going investigation which could culminate in a person having their possessions returned to them.
David, thanks for your reply…but you’ve lost me! I found the cd’s in a tip for goodness sake. If I had found them anywhere else of course i would have handed them in. I stick to my original reply. Please, if you feel so strongly about it report it to the police. I would love to find the owner if they really were stolen…but I will not be taking it any further myself. Cheers, simon.
> Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 21:56:57 +0000 > To: owens_simon@hotmail.com >
David, maybe there is confusion here? I found the cd’s at the tip. They were not part of the builders rubble picked from the lay bye.
> Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 21:56:57 +0000 > To: owens_simon@hotmail.com >