Why won't the Police Take Action?

[Lloyd90]

51 minutes ago, moose man said:

If it’s in his taxi , which is parked up his drive ....? 

I also find it unbelievable the taxi firm gave out an employees home details ..surely they should have contacted there driver before dishing out his home address ..

It’s perhaps an everyday occurrence. 

 

Thinking back, just a few months ago I found a smart phone in the back of a taxi. 

I phoned one of the numbers in the address book and told them my postcode and they came and picked it up, they were very thankful. 

[fern01]

Update

After making a very strong complaint to the taxi company which included sending them the tracker screen shot showing where the phone was  they made the taxi driver return the phone in person to my son.  A replacement would have cost around £600, so all's well that ends well

 

[eddoakley]

"Made the driver return the phone"

Do you mean that when he got to work they told him your son's address and he dropped the phone off?

The way you have phrased things makes it sound as if the driver was refusing to return the phone when it could easily be the case that he didn't know it was in his car and then got it back to your son at his earliest convenience.

Having friends who have been in the taxi business for many years (business owners as well as drivers) I know which scenario is more likely with the companies that I know.

 

Edd

[Boristhedog]

2 hours ago, fern01 said:

Update

After making a very strong complaint to the taxi company which included sending them the tracker screen shot showing where the phone was  they made the taxi driver return the phone in person to my son.  A replacement would have cost around £600, so all's well that ends well

 

I hope you covered the cab driver’s costs for returning the phone. It’s the least you might have done. 

[fern01]

2 hours ago, eddoakley said:

"Made the driver return the phone"

Do you mean that when he got to work they told him your son's address and he dropped the phone off?

The way you have phrased things makes it sound as if the driver was refusing to return the phone when it could easily be the case that he didn't know it was in his car and then got it back to your son at his earliest convenience.

Having friends who have been in the taxi business for many years (business owners as well as drivers) I know which scenario is more likely with the companies that I know.

 

Edd

He was rung and sent a message on the phone and he turned it off.

There was loads of power left on the battery 

 

 

1 hour ago, Boristhedog said:

I hope you covered the cab driver’s costs for returning the phone. It’s the least you might have done. 

Why reward someone for trying to steal a £600 item?

[hedge]

12 hours ago, eddoakley said:

"Made the driver return the phone"

Do you mean that when he got to work they told him your son's address and he dropped the phone off?

The way you have phrased things makes it sound as if the driver was refusing to return the phone when it could easily be the case that he didn't know it was in his car and then got it back to your son at his earliest convenience.

Having friends who have been in the taxi business for many years (business owners as well as drivers) I know which scenario is more likely with the companies that I know.

 

Edd

Agreed. There seems to be a belief that the taxi driver took the phone when it was in fact left in his cab. 

It may be that the calls/texts were annoying him (maybe he was on a day off) and he switched it off. Probably not the first punter who demands their phone back within 24 hours. 

I know it can be stressful but I agree that your attitude is not one of `please may I have my phone back` but more `I demand my phone back right now, at your cost, you thief`. 

I think that's a little harsh.

9 hours ago, fern01 said:

He was rung and sent a message on the phone and he turned it off.

There was loads of power left on the battery 

 

 

Why reward someone for trying to steal a £600 item?

How was he trying to steal it? Prove it. "There was loads of power left" - so what? He would be perfectly within his rights to drop it at the taxi office or a police station (or a bin). Instead, it's been hand delivered to you, at no cost, by someone who gets nothing at all from doing that (apart from your accusations that he's a thief).

Taxi drivers must hate punters leaving phones in their cabs, who then expect it to be returned immediately for no reward or thanks.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

 

 

[Dave-G]

I think there is something about data protection regarding a taxi firm passing on a drivers home address.

[Blackbriar]

So, a phone was left in a cab and the driver is accused of stealing it, and when he returns it to it's rightful owner, at his own expense, he so STILL accused of stealing it - and we wonder what happened to community spirit !

Dear, oh dear..........

[dodgy dave]

your son was an idiot for loosing £600 worth of gear 

[Guest]

Bet he looses it again 

[harrycatcat1]

2 hours ago, Blackbriar said:

So, a phone was left in a cab and the driver is accused of stealing it, and when he returns it to it's rightful owner, at his own expense, he so STILL accused of stealing it - and we wonder what happened to community spirit !

Dear, oh dear..........

I agree with blackbriar, the world has gone mad, if it had been my lad he would have been toast, not the taxi driver.

[Green hornet]

Few years back I had 2 policemen turn up at my door at 7am demanding I return a phone that was stolen that had been tracked to my address.I didn’t have a bloody clue what they were on about and said to them there more then welcome to check the property they declined and went on there way.

[Old Boggy]

22 hours ago, fern01 said:

Update

After making a very strong complaint to the taxi company which included sending them the tracker screen shot showing where the phone was  they made the taxi driver return the phone in person to my son.  A replacement would have cost around £600, so all's well that ends well

 

Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever, firstly with your son being so lax as to mislay his phone in the first place and secondly with your attititude accusing the taxi driver of potentially stealing it.  You deserve to be charged with wasting police time. 

What's the betting that you didn't even thank those involved in the phone's return.

OB

[fern01]

5 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever, firstly with your son being so lax as to mislay his phone in the first place and secondly with your attititude accusing the taxi driver of potentially stealing it.  You deserve to be charged with wasting police time. 

What's the betting that you didn't even thank those involved in the phone's return.

OB

If somebody keeps something worth £600 for four or five days that isn't theirs that's stealing in my book.

Of course in this day and age you should thank a thief profusely when they have to return property they have stolen

[harrycatcat1]

10 hours ago, fern01 said:

If somebody keeps something worth £600 for four or five days that isn't theirs that's stealing in my book.

Of course in this day and age you should thank a thief profusely when they have to return property they have stolen

Your lad lost it, the taxi driver didn't steal it.

[Newbie to this]

29 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Your lad lost it, the taxi driver didn't steal it.

I think you are misinterpreting steal, it is all there in black and white. 

You are stealing if you find something and do not return it or hand it in. Just because you didn't take it by force or deception, doesn't mean it isn't stealing.

Now I'm not suggesting the taxi driver had no intention of returning the lad's property, I have no idea.

But just because the Lad lost his phone, doesn't make it any less his, it is still his property.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Newbie to this

[harrycatcat1]

1 hour ago, Newbie to this said:

I think you are misinterpreting steal, it is all there in black and white. 

You are stealing if you find something and do not return it or hand it in. Just because you didn't take it by force or deception, doesn't mean it isn't stealing.

Now I'm not suggesting the taxi driver had no intention of returning the lad's property, I have no idea.

But just because the Lad lost his phone, doesn't make it any less his, it is still his property.

Not disagreeing with you but the bottom line is the lad lost/misplaced his phone and if hadn't done this we wouldn't be talking about it. The taxi driver did not ask for this to happen.

[Dave-G]

Well your book is seriously flawed.

Its not the drivers fault your son was careless enough to leave it in the cab - he, or perhaps you should have been willing to communicate with the driver or firm by phone to arrange its collection, not expect a driver to incurr loss of fuel and earnings elsewhere to deliver it - assumong he even knew it was somewhere in the car.

I've been accussed of stealing a phone left in my cab, but I'd picked up three other fares before the loser contacted the firm too late, it had been stolen. I've also had passengers get into my cab and hand me a phone that somebody else had lost, quite a few times, and sometimes got aggro off the drunk who lost it the night before for not returning it urgently enough, and most won't pay the fare to drive their property to them.

 

You simply cannot hold somebody else responsible over what happens to your sons phone if he loses it somewhere.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Dave-G

[Newbie to this]

7 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Not disagreeing with you but the bottom line is the lad lost/misplaced his phone and if hadn't done this we wouldn't be talking about it. The taxi driver did not ask for this to happen.

[Jaymo]

Maybe he did intend to keep it by the old fashioned method of ‘finders, keepers’ ( don’t tell me you’ve handed everything you’ve ever found in), but in this case and if it were me then I would say “ you left it, you come and get it”

Im assuming it was an iPhone and you used ‘find my iphone’ - did you notice the phone move ? As in, the taxi was still driving around with what may be an undiscovered phone in a footwell? Had your son left it on silent or had ‘do not disturb’ enabled? 

As others have said, maybe he did turn it off just to stop being disturbed- did you report the imei number to your mobile provider so they could block it and disable it via ‘find my iphone’ 

Maybe as you knew it’s location and driver details, you could have gone round personally and not effectively wasted Police time with accusations.

Next time, tell your son to be more careful and grow a pair and get his own damn phone back 🙂

Too many people are quick to judge these days, hence my ambiguity to this situation 

[strimmer_13]

41 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

Next time, tell your son to be more careful and grow a pair and get his own damn phone back 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Years ago a "customer" left an expensive hand made pair of shoes on a train and they were found by one of the cleaners. They were handed to me and I put them on a shelf, confident that the owner woukld soon come looking for them. He telephoned at about 2 in the morning and was disapointed that I would not forward them to him and that he should come and collect them.

He was not particularly greatful that they had been found and when told they would be sent to Birmingham in the morning decided he would come along and get them.

When he arrived and found me, he again forgot to say the magic words "thank you"

 

Just goes to show too many people expect far too much!