Pigmentation dispute amongst kitchen utensils

Ship scavenger 'greed' condemned

That would of course be in contrast to the owners of the unseaworthy
hulk^H^H^H^H ship

Maybe they should have spent more fixing it after it ran aground in

Quite. I did feel sorry for the couple who watched their personal family
possessions being picked over on the beach - photos, and things. Not
pleasant.

Shouldn't have picked such a pikey shipper. But yes, that is the sad
bit. OTOH, shipwrecks happene every day and stuff gets lost. It's no
worse than having the delivery truck catch fire.

Yup. I'd like to think that someone might be decent enough to return the
obviouslty personal stuff.

Interesting moral stance. You seem to think its ok to steal a BMW,
but not someone's 'personal stuff'. But it's all stuff that belongs
to someone else.

There's a significant difference. The equivalent would be the ship
and all its contents sinking to the bottom of the sea. This is more
like the truck breaking down, and people stealing stuff off the back
of it while it's waiting for the breakdown truck to arrive.

Most people probably do think like that. But it doesn't really stand
up to examination.

Point of order. It definitely is not theft. Not according to the law.
That's why the blokes pushing the BMW were allowed to do it. It is
legal to remove it, and only theft if you thereafter keep it, or flog
it.

Or don't declare it before keeping it, if you see what I mean?

But Shirley the legal definition of theft itself includes the intent to
permanently deprive the owner.

Given that it seems, to me, hard to see the legal difference between
somebody wheeling your bike away from in front of your house and
wheeling one off the beach.

Salvage/wreck law is different to terra-firma law.

So, if you see a fit bird on the beach with her boyfriend, you're in the
wrong if you move in on her.

But if she goes swimming, she's fair games as soon as she comes back
out?

Party on!

But even then, most people done for nicking cars aren't done for theft
either, TWOC, as the former is so difficult to prove.

As a copper mate of mine explained, as soon as they remove the original
number plates it becomes theft.

Yes, but as soon as they take it away it becomes taking without consent.

Not that much different - stuff was amended quite heavily in the 1997
Maritime Act.

Well, yes. I'm just wondering whether our pet Biggles here had any
worthwhile comment to make, given that he's under the impression hat
"pretty close to theft" and "theft" are one and the same thing.

Yes, agree absolutely.

As I said to Champ elsewhere, though, simple removal of the goods from
the seashore was (and is) *not* theft under the law as it stands.

You could use the same argument saying that; you see a dropped wallet
and "remove it" from the pavement. Its not theft, but as soon as you
take money, credit cards, other stuff, and use them as your own, I've
no doubt it breaks some law.

I've no idea if there's a time limit within which you're supposed to
notify the police about found lost property?

I wouldn't argue against a change to the law, except that I fear it
would be (in the way this government does things) so broadly worded as
to be applicable in all sorts of instances unrelated to the original
intention.

OI! YOU! Yes, I said you! Put that conker back NOW!

I appreciate that this appeals in a "Whisky Galore" sort of way, but
the fact remains that it's other people's stuff. If the insurers have
to cover stolen cargo that could have been recovered, then shipping
insurance will go up. Which will put up the cost of imported stuff.
Which you and I will have to pay.

And, have you seen the photos of the beach? There's stuff strewn
everywhere, as the looters (and I use that word on purpose) have

Good word innit - "stuff".

ripped containers open and rifled through it. Someone has to clean
that up. Guess who's going to be paying for that.

Wow!

If only I smoked.

#Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do then..

Under maritime law, it won't be you and I. It's still the shipowner's
responsibility.

So, the ship owner has a significantly larger liability because the
beach is such a mess because a bunch of looters have strewn stuff all
over the place? How is that fair?

Think how it would get strewn around anyway, with a couple of days
bettering by the waves. At least some of the stuff has been removed now.

You're squirming now, TOG. If it wasn't for the looters, the
containers wouldn't even have been opened.

ah, so you want "fair" now, do you?

Yes. I am really quite English, at heart.

I'm still waiting to see what happens if security guards try and
prevent people picking stuff up. It's legal, the police have not tried
to stop it, so what will the heavies do and (equally), what will the
beachcombers do?

I'd like to see that. Beach wars between Dorset rabbit haters and
black-Puffa jackets. A cabaret.

The people who are getting there by going around the access closures
appear to be being ignored: