Five years jail for theft from model shop.

[SteveyDee68]

5 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Since it was the owners son, probably another job was found for him pretty quickly!

I would guess probably with the same company, once that contract was over with our college. Maybe with a good ear bashing about not getting caught in future? After all, it was the owner’s son…

 

Bearing in mind how long ago that was, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the son wasn’t now the new owner/managing director etc. After all, blood is thicker etc etc…

 

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

I would guess probably with the same company, once that contract was over with our college. Maybe with a good ear bashing about not getting caught in future? After all, it was the owner’s son…

 

Bearing in mind how long ago that was, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the son wasn’t now the new owner/managing director etc. After all, blood is thicker etc etc…

 

I used to work for a large government department and one day I attended a business to install stuff.

The business was a 2 man private investigation outfit, specialising in divorces and he had complained to my bosses about everyone else that had been out to start this job.

Anyway, I completed the job and the boss came up to me and asked if I would do work at his house on the side. Given I had been told of his reputation, I promptly declined. He insisted I had to come to his place, I flatly told him that I wasn't interested and had better things to do on the weekend. He told me that he 'would look after me'.

Since he had a recent black eye, apparently from a surveillance gone wrong, I had trouble not laughing at that one!

 

Fast forward about 20 years and I attended this large modern office building and sort of thought the name sounded familiar (it turned out a corporate version of the same name and now a large debt collector).

I looked at the job and realised that it was something that I had not been trained on, so I would have to pass the job onto someone else.

 

As I came out of the room, a man came out of another room, dressed in an expensive suit and came down the corridor towards me, when he stopped, studied me and then scurried back to where he came from! Yes, he remembered that I had turned him down years ago!

 

Glad that I didn't get tempted by the creep, all those years ago.

[rocor]

When it comes to what is the largest, by number of participants, criminal activity prevalent amongst the general population, I would say from personal observation over a long period of time, that after motoring offences, it would be receiving stolen property.

 

The number of people that will buy something for a bargain from someone with whom they are barely acquainted, with no questions asked as to its provenance, is legion.

 

In the past, within companies that I had been employed, I witnessed employees from other departments regularly coming into the office with an armful of samples, taking orders from staff members (leather jackets seemed particularly popular). These budding Arthur Daley’s seem to spend more of their time tending to their own “enterprises” than they did on company business.   

[62613]

On 19/12/2021 at 12:26, 2E Sub Shed said:

I have a friend who's company policy where a negative reference would be appropriate is "we do not issue references", otherwise he is OK with giving them.

That's actually quite common, isn't it? An entry of "Decline to comment" or "DNC" in a seamans' Discharge Book was always a flag.

[Kickstart]

One company I worked at had a lorry turn up one weekend when they were having some refurbishments done. Lorry driver went to security and said they were there to collect the old computer equipment. Security let them, and they emptied one floor of the building of PCs.

 

Mind you, company was part of a large group, and the overall owner was a bit over controlling, and only allowed 1 piece of paper on each desk, among various other quirks. Hence when he was coming there would be a mad panic to do things; this could include hiring a lorry to be loaded up with needed papers to be driven around until the boss went again. The bridge job of decorating when he was coming was amusing - open plan office with a walkway down the middle and pillars which would only be decorated on the 3 sides he would see while walking through.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[Allegheny1600]

On 31/12/2021 at 19:11, rocor said:

When it comes to what is the largest, by number of participants, criminal activity prevalent amongst the general population, I would say from personal observation over a long period of time, that after motoring offences, it would be receiving stolen property.

 

The number of people that will buy something for a bargain from someone with whom they are barely acquainted, with no questions asked as to its provenance, is legion.

 

In the past, within companies that I had been employed, I witnessed employees from other departments regularly coming into the office with an armful of samples, taking orders from staff members (leather jackets seemed particularly popular). These budding Arthur Daley’s seem to spend more of their time tending to their own “enterprises” than they did on company business.   

Having worked in and been the supervisor of the “property” department of a constabulary where I used to live, that is very true. We had more things stolen than I could possibly list.

It’s human nature. 
The only thing that was safe was if you left a bank note lying around as staff would consider it to be a test.

The most incredible theft was that of a large food warmer that was kept just outside the entrance to the custody suite. It must have weighed half a ton and was naturally, covered by security cameras yet it was never recovered.

Yet, a different incident where I was called as a witness was where a long serving officer was caught stealing towels!

He lost everything but that’s the penalty I suppose - he was in a trusted position and abused it.

 

[2E Sub Shed]

15 minutes ago, Allegheny1600 said:

Having worked in and been the supervisor of the “property” department of a constabulary where I used to live, that is very true. We had more things stolen than I could possibly list.

 Never issued kit to a line of PC's without sight of the individuals  warrant card, else "PC 99" "Micky Mouse" would appear on the receipt.

Edited January 3, 2022 by 2E Sub Shed
Update

[john new]

One I forgot to mention earlier. Having two jobs (diff employers) and going sick with us on the days the shifts clashed as our sick pay scheme was more advantageous. We caught one clerk red handed doing that because the 2nd job was in, IIRC, the smallish Dixons in the City centre and for some reason we had to get an electrical or photographic something or other urgently - the staff member picking it up spotted the “off sick” clerk working the till! 
 

Edited January 6, 2022 by john new

[2E Sub Shed]

 

On a similar theme.

 

There is a story in the contracting world of an individual who had two contracts at the same time on opposite sides of a large multi-building site in seperate development teams that did not interact. 

 

He would leave a jacket in one office and go to the other and leave another coat, alternating attendance during the day.

[Jonboy]

A colleague of my wife’s got fired after clocking in and going home again on the day of their first unannounced fire drill in many years.

[mike morley]

Some years ago I had a job where I was one of three administrators who had to share passwords because we simply could not do our jobs with the levels of access allowed us by own our passwords.

Then the company changed hands and "things" started to happen.  A deficit of £125,000 appeared on an account to which only I, theoretically, had access and had only used once to the tune of perhaps eight hundred entirely legitimate pounds .  Another account I did not know even existed, let alone had access to, was emptied of umpteen thousand pounds.

Then, after much else, the company was raided by Scotland Yard's Organised Crime Squad, whereupon it was revealed that our new owners were in league with the Russian Mafia.

Never have I ever been so relieved to leave a company.

[Sunday Painter]

On 10/12/2021 at 14:36, Legend said:

 

Indeed . Where it fell down is that he was able to create accounts that he could then send goods to . Thats why Auditors always look at systems and segregation of duties . It gets more difficult as companies are smaller as you do come across small companies where one person does everything . Its also true people who do not take holidays are suspicious . Really these frauds always get caught its just a matter of time .

 

Interesting markups though  £76k sales value but £45k at cost.  Maybe he was going for big second hand items 

Hattons charged me £3.00p p/p for a single sheet of decals!  Hmm..

[Nearholmer]

This thread will still be going when his sentence is over.

[Free At Last]

6 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

This thread will still be going when his sentence is over.

If it had been a model shop in Bristol he would have walked free.

[SamThomas]

On 31/12/2021 at 09:58, Bernard Lamb said:

One transport contractor had a habit of putting extra material onto lorries when there was a new driver, to check if they were honest. My boss took a dim view of that and the contractor was dropped.

Couple of days into an agency HGV driving job I found a set of tyres "left over" from my run which I took back to the depot & told the Transport Manager - he did seem a little surprised.

I did wonde if it were a co-incidence that they were exactly the same size that would have fitted my van...........

 

It's a common occurance.

[Michael Hodgson]

34 minutes ago, col.stephens said:

With this in mind, at a recent model railway club AGM when the question arose as to which member of the committee was to be authorised to sign the cheques for the club's new bank account, I insisted, with the approval of the floor, that there should always be two signatures required.  Better to nip temptation in the bud, so to speak (not to cast aspersions on the current members of the committee)..

 

Terry

So your club still writes cheques?

[rocor]

5 hours ago, SamThomas said:

Couple of days into an agency HGV driving job I found a set of tyres "left over" from my run which I took back to the depot & told the Transport Manager - he did seem a little surprised.

I did wonde if it were a co-incidence that they were exactly the same size that would have fitted my van...........

 

It's a common occurance.

 

This sort of test can also be carried out by those on the fiddle within a company upon a new employee, to determine if he is as bent they are.

[Bernard Lamb]

On 03/01/2022 at 19:45, 2E Sub Shed said:

 

On a similar theme.

 

There is a story in the contracting world of an individual who had two contracts at the same time on opposite sides of a large multi-building site in seperate development teams that did not interact. 

 

He would leave a jacket in one office and go to the other and leave another coat, alternating attendance during the day.

On that theme there was a local contractor by the name of Johnny Joyce. His speciality was digging holes and filling in holes.

He once famously charged one company for digging a hole and taking away the spoil  and charged the same company for supplying material for filling a hole. Yes, the material came out of the ground as his men dug one hole and was put into the other hole about 100m away.

Bernard 

[john new]

Good business by the contractor, bad contract writing by the client. That is just the way that business works, the contractor fulfilled both contract A (muck removal) and Contract (B) supplying in-fill material, the only crime (fraud?) would be if the material from (A) didn't meet the specification for the fill material in (B) or under (A), for whatever reason, there was a specified dump site.*

 

I worked for about 15 years in support of the civil engineering sections of two LAs. 'The game' was us checking our contract docs before inviting tenders to (hopefully) plug all the loopholes that, just like that one, the tenderer would spot as omissions and either make money on selling off things like the hardcore and any other recoverables, or charge us day works for doing something we had omitted.

 

*I am assuming no one on the staff in your case was taking a back hander for the timing of the two jobs. We did actually dismiss one guy for enabling a fiddle like that with the highway scalpings from a resurfacing job.

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by john new
Remembered and added the * footnote.

[62613]

On 07/01/2022 at 12:15, Free At Last said:

If it had been a model shop in Bristol he would have walked free.

What?

 

[cctransuk]

14 minutes ago, 62613 said:

What?

 

 

Clearly you haven't heard of the verdict in the recent trial of rioters who destroyed public property in Bristol.

 

What is this obsession with trying to exercise present-day retribution for the sins of our forebears?

 

History is fact - and memorials to men of their time who committed what we now recognise as inhuman acts should serve to remind us of their wrong-thinking.

 

By all means add plaques setting out the current perspective - but attempts to wipe their memory from history are as misguided as the subjects of all this modern revenge frenzy!

 

CJI.

[cessna152towser]

On 11/12/2021 at 18:27, Derekl said:

It is interesting that in legal officed where one might expect a level of suprevision on financial issues, even quite respectable firms have fallen prey to determined operators, usually in the accounts area. A favourite use to be (and possibly still is) transferring a small proportion of funds to to an estat on probate to a differnet account and then siphoning off. Reported cases have shown this can go on for years and run  up some heavy losses before detection. In solicitors' practices, the equity partners get to make up the damage - if they can't, the Indemnity Fund pays up.

Around fifty years ago, when I was a young graduate, a solicitor and fellow model railway enthusiast laid claim to a few of my Hornby-Dublo and Triang wagons, by insisting I had stolen them from him.   The club I was in at the time took his side and despite my protests I had to hand over the wagons.  The items were of not much monetary value though one of the Dublo wagons had sentimental value having been given to me by my parents when I was seven.  I went to the police who took no action.   About forty years later the same solicitor was struck off for having frauded clients of a six figure sum over a long number of years.  Shortly afterwards I met someone from the old club who told me that the members had obviously believed the respected professional guy's word against that of a callow youth, but time and subsequent events had now proved me to be the truthful one.

[62613]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

Clearly you haven't heard of the verdict in the recent trial of rioters who destroyed public property in Bristol.

 

What is this obsession with trying to exercise present-day retribution for the sins of our forebears?

 

History is fact - and memorials to men of their time who committed what we now recognise as inhuman acts should serve to remind us of their wrong-thinking.

 

By all means add plaques setting out the current perspective - but attempts to wipe their memory from history are as misguided as the subjects of all this modern revenge frenzy!

 

CJI.

I had; they appeared on trial with a jury of their peers, and were found not guilty of the charges brought against them. While the judicial system in the UK isn't perfect, it's the best we've got. If those in charge of prosecuting people charged them correctly, there might be less of this. The authorities have form for this sort of thing; One only has to recall the acquittal of the 90 miners arrested and charged with riot after Orgreave,  to wonder if the establishment has a problem with those who don't agree with their narrative. Maybe if vested interests in Bristol had listened to their public, the thing with the Colston Statue wouldn't have happened. History is not fact; it is the interpretation of events which occurred in the past. History is constantly changing.

 

 

[cctransuk]

23 minutes ago, 62613 said:

History is not fact; it is the interpretation of events which occurred in the past. History is constantly changing.

 

Balderdash!!

 

History is fact - but  I agree that its interpretation is constantly changing.

 

History cannot be changed - if it could, I'd be amongst the first to board the Time Machine in an attempt to right all of the past wrongs done in the name of mankind.

 

How will obliterating the memory of a man who profitted from the misery of countless others remind us never to allow it to happen again - which it will, with or without statues to remind us?

 

Depend upon it, future generations will condemn us for our own misdeeds, but I hope that they will have greater insight than to believe that what is beyond question criminal damage can somehow put things 'right'.

 

CJI.

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by cctransuk

[Dodger]

10 minutes ago, 62613 said:

I had; they appeared on trial with a jury of their peers, and were found not guilty of the charges brought against them. While the judicial system in the UK isn't perfect, it's the best we've got. If those in charge of prosecuting people charged them correctly, there might be less of this. The authorities have form for this sort of thing; One only has to recall the acquittal of the 90 miners arrested and charged with riot after Orgreave,  to wonder if the establishment has a problem with those who don't agree with their narrative. Maybe if vested interests in Bristol had listened to their public, the thing with the Colston Statue wouldn't have happened. History is not fact; it is the interpretation of events which occurred in the past. History is constantly changing.

 

 

I am not sure I agree with you on this 62613.

In my opinion:-

History is fact and events are not interpretations. Events are history itself and actually happened the reason for the events occurence is open to interpretarion, not the event itself. 

We cannot change events which happened in the past but we can learn from them. Slavery still exists in the World and here in the UK.and it is to this we should be more concerned.

I have heard no reports or protests about the current situation which no doubt is a more uncomfortable conversation. The reason why we have no protests or political dialogue about this fact is open to interpretaion.

Stay safe,

Roger