Woman collects £35,000 in small change
| Related: | Personal Finance•Tax•Income Tax |
A woman in Germany operated 50 Toilets and paid the cleaners a minimum rate of pay and pocketed the change they picked up off the floors and which they handed it into her. She is now being investigated for not paying tax. Someone tipped off the Police and they found a garage full of coins. Perhaps she could have shared it with her employees and they could all have had a good living.
Responses (7)
I thought I was doing alright with my 'sweetie tin' where all loose change gets flung. I cashed it in a few weeks ago and there was £400+ ...... now trying to fill it up again but it looks very empty and lightweight still.
The sad thing about this tale is that I have never seen loose change lying around on toilet floors. How on earth could she fill a garage with coins just picked up off toilet floors? And who'd want to touch it anyway, you just don't know where it's been! And how was this small change 'lost' I wonder. I mean, I've heard of 'shake a leg' but this is ridiculous. £35000 in lost small change is a vast amount to lose collectively .. or in light of tough fiscal times,was someone making 'drastic slashes'?
PLus should she be paying tax on 'lost or stolen' items I wonder? With the image of a white toilet bowl of fortune, I think the police should look into it again and then close the lid on it all.
The world is indeed a strange place!
Have you ever been in a German public loo, Snoops? You could eat your lunch off the floor in 99% of them! As for the amount of the loose change...when I lived in Germany, there was always a saucer/bowl out where you left your 'tip'...I'm sure quite a lot of loose change was dropped on the floor by those rummaging through pockets and purses to find money for the tip. Unlike the Brits, the Germans always leave a tip! :-)
Puts a whole new slant on 'going for a p', Snoops. I bet the police felt flushed with success when they found her stash.
Well Feline this is one stash that didn't go down the pan. This was one police raid where they would have had a lot to go on and wiped the floor with so much evidence. But why keep £35000 in small change at home? She could have tinkled all the way to the bank! Or splashed the cash! Or used it in loo of wages!
It does tend to make the case though for attended and paid for toilet facilities in the UK. The British culture of free but disgusting local authority toilet facilities needs a radical overhaul and I have always said I would be happy to pay say 50p a throw to use attended 'eat your lunch off the floor' facilities. Chuck in piped music, scented soap and freshen up wipes and I'll make it a quid. Ablutions should be a happy experience, don't you agree?
I agree, Snoops. Underneath all this lavatorial humour is a real need for properly supervised, clean facilities.
Like you, I would be prepared to pay.
Lavatorial humour Feline? I haven't spotted any? Anyway, one thing this woman was clearly guilty of was taking the p's! ( that's pees or pennies, as in plural of p )
Yes - but Snoopy how do you know that any change you handle anywhere has not just come off a toilet floor? Dirty money.
Good thinking, Sidesalad. Even if it hadn't actually been on a toilet floor it might have been handled by somebody who never washed their hands. Euuugh!
Eeewwww, that's also just reminded me of a documentary I saw years ago, all about tap water and how often it has 'gone full circle' so to speak - I won't elaborate or we'll all have to rush out and buy expensive bottled water for evermore.
If any of you have ever worked in a job where you handle money, notes or cash, you will know that your hands get filthy very quickly. Sidesalad has a point...all money is dirty!
Hmm fruiters I like the comment but i dont fancy trying to eat my sausage and chips off the floor.
Only time i ever see the tip plate is in the toilets in night clubs!
Lol, Omen! And what are the loos like in night clubs these days? I don't do night clubs anymore, more of a country pub girl! :-)
Designer toilets in some places - the last one i went to the guy serving in the toilets had a choice of about 10 aftershaves , lotions potions etc quite a choice and toilets were pristine with urinal walls made of mirrors with a chandelier in the centre and cubicles of marble and gold handles etc.
Worth the £7 entry fee just for a visit to the toilets.
lol
Thanks, Omen, but take that tongue out of your cheek before it sticks like it!!!!!!
Like fruits, I don't do clubbing any more. I would hate the scenario where I went into the loo and had to dodge the people snorting coke off the lavatory cisterns.
Omen. You have me confused. What was the man serving in the toiletes? Also what does a designer toilet look like as I need a new bog and you might be able to give me some good ideas. I don't like the idea of mirrors on the walls showing everything!!!!! Have I got the wrong idea here?
Go for it Sabre designer toilets are cool!
I like parking my posterior on pure 24 carat!
And wiping my bahooki with natural aloe vera triple quilted blanket sized sheets with the added scent of Wild Cherries from the small orchard up left behind Malcesine , third right second tree from the left (Its the best)!
lol
Tongue firmly in cheek!
Omedata ..... only one thing to say .......
Dissssgustinnnnnnnnnnnnn !
Funny you should say the clubs are 'very gay' these days, Omen, as they're the only ones I'd consider going to. Only gay men can dance!!
Talking of gay men and loos...(ahem!)...I went to a Madonna concert in London a couple of years ago, the queue for the girls' loo was about 10 miles long, so I marched into the mens (I often do that, they never mind!) and couldn't get near the washbasins or mirrors for all the gorgeous gay men preening themselves! Fabulous, dahling!;-)
Gay clubs are the coolest fruiters
No violence no trouble and most important of all no ass-pieces!
I used to go all the time until my reputation as a hard man took a nose dive!!!
lol
>;o)
Hmm That could be a double-entendre there!
Had to add that before that durty dog snoops got in there first!!!
Lol, Omen! But you're absolutely right, no trouble in the gay clubs, not enough testosterone flying around! Also they don't like getting their duds messed up! ;-)
Definitely agree. If I ever went to a club these days it would be a gay club.
Many years ago, in another life, I used to date a guy who swung both ways and we used to go to the gay clubs in Manchester.
You're so right, fruits, all the guys could dance and, yes, I always used the men's loos!
'Swing both ways' Feline? You do get about .... is that the same as a bicyclist? My command of the English language is a bit limited today ....
lol, Snoops!
I agree about your command of the English language as you got the tense wrong.
You should have said I did get about, not I do get about. I did say that was many years ago in another life, as I'm now a respectable, elderly married woman. :D
Hi Feline I bet you still swing on a Sunday lunchtime with all your pals at the pub. Enjoy yourself and think you are 21 it will be a long time coming round again. I act like a thirty year old sometimes and my kids think I'm mad. They are quite right of course but I don't care any more. Live for today eh !!!!!
Really Sabre 30 ? That old?
Me I act my shoesize!
>;o)
My motto : Think Young=Stay Young...
Wow, Omen, you've got to be older than me then, if we go by shoe size (or in my case, boot size!)...as that makes me 5 and a half!:-)
Now that's what I call 'Dirty Money' Sabre, uurrggh.
Yes she should have shared her grubby money with the cleaners and at the very least paid her taxes.
I hope they throw the book at her.
Lol Feline, going for a 'p', ha!
Erm, am I missing something?
Why would she owe tax on money recovered from the floor? I don't tend to write to the tax man when I find 5p on the pavement...
Absolutely G-Man ... but I suspect that on this occasion, the wonga accumulated through years of emptying the 'tip saucer' into her handbag and stashing the cash in her garage ... is she stupid or what? There must be a ruling for 'dropsies' in Germany to be assessed as part of income ( as many professions also suffer here ), hence the tax evasion bit. I think the 'finding it on the floor' bit was a ruse to soften the alleged offence.
Pity the mark is now obsolete so the value must be greatley reduced.
If you have a "garage full of coins" you probably need to go live in a mental asylum as obviously you are not benefitting from your "thieving" because you are not gaining anything from it.
This type of "business" is pretty popular in London I noted on my visit in November. I went for a "20P" in a private loo in Camden Town market, but it was very clean with a lady attendant on hand with the obligatory tip-dish. Plus theres some on train stations in Birmigham and London. My older kids even report that some clubs have a lady-in-attendance in the loos that provide some perfumes, tissues for make-up and "free" lollipops for an entry fee to use the loo! I say its fine as long as the price isnt excessive and the loo is kept really clean and nice.
Surely the German lady was in trouble as she hadnt declared all of that as income? She couldnt put it in a bank account as checked by her accountant and the tax man so what do you do with it? Cant exactly use it to buy your shopping at Tesco's so difficult to spend too. I bet 50 loos really rake in the cash cos its not an option not to buy when you need to go! Wonder if we'll see more of these here?
Posts within the money.co.uk community represent the views, experiences and opinions of members only. They should not be taken as financial advice and should not be followed without further research.
More Discussions for Income Tax
Get fast answers to your money questions, Expert insight, top tips & much more...
