looters on Branscombe Beach?

Question

what do you think about the looters of the containers on Branscombe Beach? i think it's a disgrace that people think it's alright to crack open containers and take whats inside. to me it looks like plain stealing

Answer 1

If it was up to me I would have put a bloody big machine gun up on those cliffs and shot the bloody lot of them. Thieving scumbags!!!

Answer 2

It seems many of the answers here failed to read the correct and accurate replies, so I'll re-iterate: Its NOT theft, or looting or stealing. The police didn't get involved because NO CRIME was committed. Under maritime law this is allowed so personal interpretations of the law are worthless as answers.

The insurance company for the ship isn’t interested in salvaging as the cost in this case would outweigh the gain and if these people hadn’t salvaged the stuff it would have gone back out with the next tide and sunk. Generally anything in salt water for longer than 24-48 hours is next to worthless. On top of this it makes the clean-up operation easier if half the stuff has been taken away and 'recycled'.

But like someone else said, I’m more concerned with the potential ecological disaster with all that oil on board than moaning about a few enterprising people *not* breaking any law.

Answer 3

If you are on the beach and you find stuff that no-one has claimed or will claim fair do's. But these English gypsies were breaking into the containers to get the stuff out when it quite clearly belonged to people who were moving house. That's just scummy and trashy and if the jails weren't too full, they should all be thrown in for a stretch!

Answer 4

If they find it on the beach it's not stealing it's called salva these people are getting the correct forms direct from the police they need to report what they take and the owners have 28 days to claim the property back and the (finders) can claim a reward. Not sure about opening containers though.

Answer 5

I say fair play to them, if I lived nearer I'd been down there too. As long as they fill in the correct forms they are entitled to take whatever they get their hands on. It's a centuries old salvage law so it's all above board and legal. If they don't declare what they are taking then it's theft plain and simple.

Good luck to them. At least something good has come from yet another ecological disaster in the making.

Answer 6

Think that this is a great example of 'grey areas' in life & law.

Under old local & maratime laws as it was washed up and therefore it was okay for people to 'take' - remember, they did have to fill in forms.

Although it is interesting to note that if a lorry had overturned & you took stuff it would be THEFT.

Where people did overstep the mark, was when they went through the container with that families personal posessions in it.

Answer 7

Best of luck to them,the shipping company is responsible for what happened,I was always under the impression that anything lying on the beach between high and low watermark was salvage,

Answer 8

looters ? scavengers ? call them whatever !! what i want to know is why these people are not in work ? never mind filling in forms to give to the receiver how about the DSS getting involved ? get a few photographers down there picking them off like flies !!!

Answer 9

A bit weird that people went down in gale force conditions and left kids on beach all night while nicking empty barrels, nappies, etc, bunch of thieving pikeys!!!!

Answer 10

They are just utter scum and what they have done amounts to the same as stealing . What I can't understand is why the police just stood and watched these louts break the law.I feel so sorry for that lady whose possessions were in a container on the boat and she watched helplessly on TV as the scumbags took her property.