At some point in our lives, most of us have spotted a loose £10 or £20 note on the floor, and have considered pocketing it for ourselves. However, according to legal experts, you could be breaking the law by sticking it in your back pocket.
Ahead of National Honesty Day (April 30th), this inspired the experts at BestCasinoSites.net to survey 3,800 Brits across the country to see who would risk it all and keep £1,000 if they found it on the floor, and who would hand it into the police.
Highlights from the research:
- 47.2% of Brits would keep money found on the street
- Glaswegians are the most honest – 65% would hand in the money
- Women (47.5%) are more likely to keep this money than men (46.9%)
- Nottingham residents are most likely to keep money they found on the street (53%)
Regional breakdown
| City | Hand it over % | Keep it % |
| Nottingham | 47% | 53% |
| London | 49% | 51% |
| Leicester | 50% | 50% |
| Leeds | 51% | 49% |
| Coventry | 51% | 49% |
| Southampton | 51% | 49% |
| Manchester | 53% | 47% |
| Bristol | 53% | 47% |
| Hull | 53% | 47% |
| Belfast | 54% | 46% |
| Bradford | 54% | 46% |
| Stoke-Trent | 55% | 45% |
| Birmingham | 56% | 44% |
| Wolverhampton | 56% | 44% |
| Cardiff | 57% | 43% |
| Sheffield | 57% | 43% |
| Edinburgh | 62% | 38% |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 63% | 37% |
| Glasgow | 65% | 35% |
| Liverpool | 65% | 35% |
| TOTAL AVG. | 53% | 47% |
Out of the Brits asked, over half of those from Nottingham (53%) would rather keep the money than hand it into the police.
Just behind, the country’s capital saw 51% of Londoners voting to keep the money rather than hand it in. And folks in Leicester were completely evenly split at 50% either way.
Out of the surveyed, Liverpool and Glasgow had the least number of voters who would keep the money with a small 35%.
Weighing in on the survey results; BestCasinoSites.net Online Slots and Statics Expert, Kiera Miller said:
“The results certainly demonstrate an extremely interesting insight into whether Brits would or would not keep money found on the street, but I think this has raised a bigger question of if people know this is an offence. Whilst pocketing cash on the street has parallels to winning the jackpot, it is ‘theft by finding’ and unfortunately, ‘finders’ keepers’ won’t hold up in a court of law.
To avoid being guilty of theft, the law requires the finder to make enquiries as to who the owner is and make efforts to return it where possible. The most obvious way of discharging this responsibility is to simply hand the cash in at a police station.”
Methodology:
- BestCasinoSites.net were interested in revealing whether, if found on the floor, Brits would pocket £1,000 or hand it in to find the owner.
- To find out, they conducted a survey which surveyed 3,800 Brits in 20 different UK cities between August 1st – August 3rd, 2023.
- Respondents were asked “You find £1000 on the street. No one sees you picking it up. What do you do?” and to choose one of the following responses:
- I hand it over to the police in case someone claims it.
- I keep it.
- Responses were recorded city by city, as well as broken down by gender and age.