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Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

Floyd1 said:
It really is surprisingly easy to shoplift.
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Unless you're a copper who thinks he can shoplift a box of 12 donuts by putting a 'marked down' sticker on it. What a knob.

PC Simon Read attached a 7p barcode sticker for loose carrots to a £9.95 box of donuts while on duty. The respected PC, who helped police several Royal Weddings, claimed it was a prank after getting caught scamming Tesco self-service tills in uniform.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-55089146
 
ChasFink said:
Well this is very minor, but still strange. A car drove past me today, driven by a woman no older than her 30s, and I could hear the music she was listening to. It was the theme from To Sir, with Love, a song I have not heard in many decades - outside of broadcasts of the film - and one that I can't imagine gets any airplay these days.
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I love this — I love that song (and film)!!!
 
Floyd1 said:
It really is surprisingly easy to shoplift. On occasion I've done it accidentally on purpose. All you need to do is mistakenly leave an item in your trolley as you're going through the checkout/self service tills. Have a bag in your trolley that 'falls' onto said item and you're good to go. Garlic/limes etc are the easy ones - bottles of olive oil takes a bit more daring.
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hunck said:
Thanks for the tip.
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Agreed! Very helpful tip in these inflationary times. :wink2:
 
We've actually got a gang of kids giving us problems in the shoplifting department at the moment. All local, they come into our (not huge, very rural) supermarket in a gang of about fifteen, and split up. One is the designated 'lifter', there's only four staff on and we can't watch them all the time (which they know). We've got CCTV but it's not great, and the little buggers think they're untouchable.

I think the police are scheduling a visit tonight. We're putting the word out that we've got AMAZING CCTV footage and the police will be watching it. But, to be honest, the real toe rags don't care.
 
catseye said:
We've actually got a gang of kids giving us problems in the shoplifting department at the moment. All local, they come into our (not huge, very rural) supermarket in a gang of about fifteen, and split up. One is the designated 'lifter', there's only four staff on and we can't watch them all the time (which they know). We've got CCTV but it's not great, and the little buggers think they're untouchable.

I think the police are scheduling a visit tonight. We're putting the word out that we've got AMAZING CCTV footage and the police will be watching it. But, to be honest, the real toe rags don't care.
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:mad:
 
catseye said:
We've actually got a gang of kids giving us problems in the shoplifting department at the moment. All local, they come into our (not huge, very rural) supermarket in a gang of about fifteen, and split up. One is the designated 'lifter', there's only four staff on and we can't watch them all the time (which they know). We've got CCTV but it's not great, and the little buggers think they're untouchable.

I think the police are scheduling a visit tonight. We're putting the word out that we've got AMAZING CCTV footage and the police will be watching it. But, to be honest, the real toe rags don't care.
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I went to a small shop in Peckham in the mid 90s and even back then there was a sign on the door saying only two schoolkids allowed in at a time. Mind you, that was Peckham.

I was speaking to a lady the other day who has recently stopped working at our small co-op (now Morrisons) and I asked her why she'd left. She told me it was because of having to deal with, not so much teenagers, but drunks/druggies late at night, when only her and another lady were on duty.
 
catseye said:
We've actually got a gang of kids giving us problems in the shoplifting department at the moment. All local, they come into our (not huge, very rural) supermarket in a gang of about fifteen, and split up. One is the designated 'lifter', there's only four staff on and we can't watch them all the time (which they know). We've got CCTV but it's not great, and the little buggers think they're untouchable.

I think the police are scheduling a visit tonight. We're putting the word out that we've got AMAZING CCTV footage and the police will be watching it. But, to be honest, the real toe rags don't care.
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As a kid in high school, we had a local (walking distance from school) variety store that limited the numbers of kids to two at a time. Often there would be several kids waiting turn outside.
 
Floyd1 said:
I went to a small shop in Peckham in the mid 90s and even back then there was a sign on the door saying only two schoolkids allowed in at a time. Mind you, that was Peckham.

I was speaking to a lady the other day who has recently stopped working at our small co-op (now Morrisons) and I asked her why she'd left. She told me it was because of having to deal with, not so much teenagers, but drunks/druggies late at night, when only her and another lady were on duty.
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Oddly enough, the drunks and druggies are normally very polite. I think, because they tend to be regulars and don't want any trouble.

We can't police the 'only two kids at a time' and they know it. Not enough staff to have someone on the door, and by the time they are in and a member of staff has got to them to send half of them back out again, they've already got their pockets full. I'm on the kiosk (which I can't leave), I can't yell across to the door (too far away, and past several very noisy self serve tills) and by the time I've got on my headset to tell someone else to stop what they are doing and come to the door - kids can be in and away.

The note on the door only works in small shops and where you can enforce it. They'd just laugh.
 
We had lots of little scrotes playing up in the library. Most got away with it but two got it very wrong.

One put a snooker cue through the window behind my desk (I wasn't sitting there at the time) The police saw him and he was giving them a lot of lip when one remembered that it was his birthday last week and he could now be prosecuted. He was led off in tears by two coppers who'd put up with him for a couple of years.

The other was an Asian lad caught nicking DVDs. Police spoke to him then me. They said his excuse was Ramadan and fasting and he hadn't been thinking straight etc. so they were minded just to give him an unofficial warning as they suspected a court would let him off. I said OK but he objected loudly to being warned by a female sergeant and was very loud about it. He was cuffed and led off!
:evillaugh:
 
Tunn11 said:
We had lots of little scrotes playing up in the library. Most got away with it but two got it very wrong.

One put a snooker cue through the window behind my desk (I wasn't sitting there at the time) The police saw him and he was giving them a lot of lip when one remembered that it was his birthday last week and he could now be prosecuted. He was led off in tears by two coppers who'd put up with him for a couple of years.

The other was an Asian lad caught nicking DVDs. Police spoke to him then me. They said his excuse was Ramadan and fasting and he hadn't been thinking straight etc. so they were minded just to give him an unofficial warning as they suspected a court would let him off. I said OK but he objected loudly to being warned by a female sergeant and was very loud about it. He was cuffed and led off!
:evillaugh:
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Seeing as Ramadan ended on May 2nd, that's one heck of an excuse.
 
Floyd1 said:
It really is surprisingly easy to shoplift. On occasion I've done it accidentally on purpose. All you need to do is mistakenly leave an item in your trolley as you're going through the checkout/self service tills. Have a bag in your trolley that 'falls' onto said item and you're good to go. Garlic/limes etc are the easy ones - bottles of olive oil takes a bit more daring.
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You're a bit of a scamp on the quiet you are F.
 
catseye said:
We've actually got a gang of kids giving us problems in the shoplifting department at the moment. All local, they come into our (not huge, very rural) supermarket in a gang of about fifteen, and split up. One is the designated 'lifter', there's only four staff on and we can't watch them all the time (which they know). We've got CCTV but it's not great, and the little buggers think they're untouchable.

I think the police are scheduling a visit tonight. We're putting the word out that we've got AMAZING CCTV footage and the police will be watching it. But, to be honest, the real toe rags don't care.
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No the real toe rags don't care and that's the main problem. Some act as though they have nothing to lose. Recently saw news that a druggie had received a suspended prison sentence - he had 130 previous convictions.
 
Coal said:
It's almost as if a lack of consequences encourages people to break the law.
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I think most people simply don't get the workings of the legal system anymore. In stark contrast to the above, I saw that a teacher ( ok a bit of a nutter) fell out with the head teacher at his UK school because he refused to use the pronoun "they", preferred by one particular pupil. The relationship got so bad that he was excluded from the school, but refused to comply and ended up with a 2(?) year prison sentence. The world is indeed mad sometimes.
 
PeteS said:
No the real toe rags don't care and that's the main problem. Some act as though they have nothing to lose. Recently saw news that a druggie had received a suspended prison sentence - he had 130 previous convictions.
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Unbelievable. It's the ones that have many convictions over the years and are let off, or let out of prison after a short term and then end up killing someone that really makes my blood boil.
 
Coal said:
It's almost as if a lack of consequences encourages people to break the law.
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I always thought that the whole point of prison was to a) stop the person doing crime again and b) to keep dangerous offenders away from the public. If there's no real deterrent for the former, then it's a pointless exercise.
 
Coal said:
It's almost as if a lack of consequences encourages people to break the law.
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That is exactly the problem, yes. There are no consequences, so they keep pushing the envelope to see what they can get away with.
I'd suggest a '3 strikes and then consequences' way of doing things. After 3 strikes, body parts start getting removed.
So - crims would realise that they can't get away with things indefinitely.
 
ChasFink said:
Well this is very minor, but still strange. A car drove past me today, driven by a woman no older than her 30s, and I could hear the music she was listening to. It was the theme from To Sir, with Love, a song I have not heard in many decades - outside of broadcasts of the film - and one that I can't imagine gets any airplay these days.
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This is one of my all time favourite songs. It was a No 1 in the US but was surprisingly never released as a single in the UK, only as a B side. I remember many years ago talking about the song to a mate of mine who was a big music fan and I said I could not get hold of a copy and hadnt heard it for years. One night we went to a party and my mate went straight to the stack of records and sorted out what tracks were going to be played (as he always did!). When he had finished sorting them out I asked him what he had put on. "Just wait" he said. Then I heard the opening bars of To Sir With Love and my mate just stood there with a big beaming smile on his face. Happily I now have a copy and its on all of the playlists on my ipod!
 
These days the worst miscarriages of justice are when people who have abused kids or violently attacked someone get 'suspended sentences' (which as we all know basically means they've been let off and walk out the front doors of the court), and yet someone can be banged up for 5 & 1/2 years for sending a few emails asking those in the public eye about their misuse of public funds, which has been deemed to have been 'non-traditional stalking' and to have 'hurt their feelings / scared them'.
(See Alex Belfield case)
 
Trevp666 said:
These days the worst miscarriages of justice are when people who have abused kids or violently attacked someone get 'suspended sentences' (which as we all know basically means they've been let off and walk out the front doors of the court), and yet someone can be banged up for 5 & 1/2 years for sending a few emails asking those in the public eye about their misuse of public funds, which has been deemed to have been 'non-traditional stalking' and to have 'hurt their feelings / scared them'.
(See Alex Belfield case)
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Alex didn't help his case at all. He didn't use a legal representative in court and arrogantly assumed he was going to win.
But yes, he has now been locked up for much longer than those who've done much worse.
I expect if he can get a lawyer and get an appeal, he may be able to get out in a year.
 
Bit of an odd one today. I’m not saying there is anything fortean in it, but it was definitely strange, so I thought I’d post.

I always work from home on Monday’s, and always treat myself to lunch in the pub in the next village – nothing major, just a couple of pints, a sandwich and which is a good 25-minute walk from my house.

I set out at a quarter to one, and within five minutes noticed the lack activity around me. The walk to the next village takes you through back country lanes, it’s a pleasant walk and is popular with walkers, joggers, and it acts a cut though from the main village traffic. This afternoon however there was nobody around. No walkers, no joggers, no one walking their dogs, and zero cars went by me for the entire 25-minute walk.

I got to the pub only to find the door locked and the lights off inside which is unusual , even the village shop opposite the pub was closed which is again unusual. I had no choice but to retrace my steps and go back home. Again, I didn’t see anyone, no cars went past me and even the guard dog to a farm that I have to walk past just sat there and looked at me – normally it barks and grows at me for the entire 50 yards that I walk past the farmyard.

There was no wind either, everything was perfectly still with not even the chatter of the birds in the treetops to break the silence, and with no cars or people around, the only noise was my trainers hitting the road surface as I walked

I found it a little surreal tbh.
 
"He didn't use a legal representative"

Alex did use a legal representative. However he was not available throughout all of the court days as he was ill.
And I reallyI don't think it was arrogance that made him expect a better outcome, I think it was more the case that the facts regarding his email contact with people, and FOI requests about mis-spent BBC funds, were 'not stalking' so he felt he had a pretty good case, likely to receive the most minor of slaps-on-the-wrist, a suspended sentence at worse, and to leave 'through the front doors'.
Unfortunately the facts were deemed irrelevant thanks to the opening remarks by the prosecution side in their opening statement ("This is not 'stalking' as it is known in the 'traditional sense'), which itself was not given as 'evidence' and as such should not have been allowed, but it seems they coloured the view of both the judge and jury. Clever.

AFAIK Alex is appealing both the verdict and the sentence, and is currently in HMP Stocken (a cat C prison) but due to move to a cat D place very soon.
 
Dick Turpin said:
Bit of an odd one today. I’m not saying there is anything fortean in it, but it was definitely strange, so I thought I’d post.

I always work from home on Monday’s, and always treat myself to lunch in the pub in the next village – nothing major, just a couple of pints, a sandwich and which is a good 25-minute walk from my house.

I set out at a quarter to one, and within five minutes noticed the lack activity around me. The walk to the next village takes you through back country lanes, it’s a pleasant walk and is popular with walkers, joggers, and it acts a cut though from the main village traffic. This afternoon however there was nobody around. No walkers, no joggers, no one walking their dogs, and zero cars went by me for the entire 25-minute walk.

I got to the pub only to find the door locked and the lights off inside which is unusual , even the village shop opposite the pub was closed which is again unusual. I had no choice but to retrace my steps and go back home. Again, I didn’t see anyone, no cars went past me and even the guard dog to a farm that I have to walk past just sat there and looked at me – normally it barks and grows at me for the entire 50 yards that I walk past the farmyard.

There was no wind either, everything was perfectly still with not even the chatter of the birds in the treetops to break the silence, and with no cars or people around, the only noise was my trainers hitting the road surface as I walked

I found it a little surreal tbh.
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Let us know if you find anything out.
 
Dick Turpin said:
Bit of an odd one today. I’m not saying there is anything fortean in it, but it was definitely strange, so I thought I’d post.

I always work from home on Monday’s, and always treat myself to lunch in the pub in the next village – nothing major, just a couple of pints, a sandwich and which is a good 25-minute walk from my house.

I set out at a quarter to one, and within five minutes noticed the lack activity around me. The walk to the next village takes you through back country lanes, it’s a pleasant walk and is popular with walkers, joggers, and it acts a cut though from the main village traffic. This afternoon however there was nobody around. No walkers, no joggers, no one walking their dogs, and zero cars went by me for the entire 25-minute walk.

I got to the pub only to find the door locked and the lights off inside which is unusual , even the village shop opposite the pub was closed which is again unusual. I had no choice but to retrace my steps and go back home. Again, I didn’t see anyone, no cars went past me and even the guard dog to a farm that I have to walk past just sat there and looked at me – normally it barks and grows at me for the entire 50 yards that I walk past the farmyard.

There was no wind either, everything was perfectly still with not even the chatter of the birds in the treetops to break the silence, and with no cars or people around, the only noise was my trainers hitting the road surface as I walked

I found it a little surreal tbh.
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Did you arrive back home before you'd set off?!
 
Trevp666 said:
"He didn't use a legal representative"

Alex did use a legal representative. However he was not available throughout all of the court days as he was ill.
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I'd heard that he was representing himself in court, even though he'd raised a bit of money to pay for professional help.
I do think that there was a certain amount of court bias against him, hence the completely bonkers verdict.
 
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