Our reporters headed to cash dispensers across the country to “accidentally” leave £10 behind. We then watched to see what would happen.
After revealing the story of the shopper who left £150 at the ATM machine and was handed it back by a stranger, we looked to find out what other people would do.
In West Jesmond, Newcastle, our reporter absentmindedly walked away, leaving his hard-earned tenner behind. Only seconds passed before an elderly man shouted after him: “You’ve left your money, son.”
Another man, Lee Richards, 35, who was visiting from York, was on his way to meet a pal for a drink when he walked past the cash machine. Again our reporter took out a tenner from the cash point before walking off. Believing our reporter had been unaware of his “mishap”, Lee chased after him to tell him of his error.
Lee, a dad-of-one, said: “It was just instinct really. I’ve left money in a cash machine before and it’s really annoying when you go back and someone’s taken it.”
In Glasgow, two afternoon shoppers ran after us to pass on the money we’d left at two different cash machines. Chef Tom Sloan, 24 who found our £10 note at a machine in Finnieston said: “The money’s yours, not mine. Who wouldn’t have returned it?”
Yvonne Light, 53, visiting Glasgow from Cumbria, said: “That money belongs to you and was never ours it would have been so wrong to take it.”
However, in Edinburgh one man pocketed our cash after finding it in the mouth of the ATM. The pensioner denied all knowledge of having seen the money, despite having waited directly behind our man in the queue outside a Clydesdale Bank in Gorgie.
Tell us what you would do – and if you’re surprised by what we found others do. On Facebookand Twitter.
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