"Woman arrested for salvaging perfectly good food dumped on street corner"

Wolfe Tone · 14-03-2011 7:54pm #1

"When Sasha Hall, a 21-year-old woman from England, was approached by police officers for trying to salvage some of the 3,000 pounds of perfectly-good food that had been dumped on the street following a power outage at a Tesco grocery story, she had no idea that she would later be arrested at her home for it. Police tracked the woman down after she had taken the goods and charged her with “theft by finding,” despite the fact that the food was just sitting on the curbside in bags for anyone to take.

“It had been thrown out, so I thought I could put it to better use,” Hall told reporters. “I would think the police have better things to be doing with their time than going after people who pick up potato waffles from the street. It’s all been blown totally out of proportion.”

During a time when oil and food prices are skyrocketing and millions of people are without employment, Hall makes a very good point. And the scenario was not a typical one involving expired food that had simply been discarded in the store’s dumpster after going out of date, which is a common practice among grocery chains. The vast majority of the food in this case was literally just sitting on the curb following the unexpected power outage.

Ironically, Tesco’s motto is “Every Little Helps,” but apparently salvaging perfectly good food from a curbside does not apply. The chain would rather have a ton-and-a-half of ham, pies, and other goodies needlessly rot than to allow individuals to put the food to good use. Due to the unique circumstances of the event, the company could have at least chosen to donate the food to local charities or homeless shelters, say critics."

http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/woman-arrested-for-salvaging-perfectly-good-food-dumped-on-street-corner/

Another source:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0224/1224290733484.html

Hopefully there isnt another thread on this!

I read this earlier and I was disgusted, the food was dumped, destined to be burned, and she was arrested for taking it? Absolute joke.

Poor Uncle Tom · 14-03-2011 7:57pm

That's just using the law to commit crime...wasting food.

Links234 · 14-03-2011 7:58pm

what a disgrace

conor-mr2 · 14-03-2011 7:59pm

So stew-pid

AlmightyCushion · 14-03-2011 8:00pm

It certainly does seem like an idiotic decision all right and a poor interpretation of the law as I understand it.

amacachi · 14-03-2011 8:02pm

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/woman-arrested-for-salvaging-perfectly-good-food-dumped-on-street-corner/

Another source:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0224/1224290733484.html

Hopefully there isnt another thread on this!

I read this earlier and I was disgusted, the food was dumped, destined to be burned, and she was arrested for taking it? Absolute joke.

On the thread about Dublin Bus originally not having Irish on their new signs you said it was the law, so is this. So why are you disgusted by this? She broke the law and the police are upholding the law.

Rodin · 14-03-2011 8:03pm

At what point is it no longer property of Tesco?

Captain_Generic · 14-03-2011 8:04pm

Now, she is facing a charge of theft by finding for allegedly taking £215.16 of food, including 100 packs of ham, after a store manager heard footsteps on the roof and saw men pulling the bags of food from the bins.

Who were these men and why is she being charged?

dollyk · 14-03-2011 8:04pm

They dont like you to take food that has been binned , because if you get sick, because you refroze it, or become ill you can still sue the store.

Aodan83 · 14-03-2011 8:06pm

Rodin wrote: »

At what point is it no longer property of Tesco?

The point where you give them money for it. If you find it in a landfill in 6 months (because it was preserved by witchcraft) you still have to pay them for it.

AlmightyCushion · 14-03-2011 8:07pm

dollyk wrote: »

They dont like you to take food that has been binned , because if you get sick, because you refroze it, or become ill you can still sue the store.

That can't be true and if it is it certainly shouldn't be the case. Do you have anything to back it up as I'd be interested in seeing if it is actually true.

My name is URL · 14-03-2011 8:07pm

Absolute madness. It happens here too.. a mate of mine is a manager of a supermarket in Dundalk and he was telling me that they had to lock up their bins and place them under security cameras because 'freegans' were taking newly thrown out food from them. That's what the law should try to tackle.. not the people availing of the waste these conglomerates produce.

phasers · 14-03-2011 8:09pm

How could you sue the store? You pulled it out of their bins!

The law should be as soon as it's in the bin it's not the shop's responsibility anymore. Wouldn't this suit everyone?

amacachi · 14-03-2011 8:09pm

My name is URL wrote: »

Absolute madness. It happens here too.. a mate of mine is a manager of a supermarket in Dundalk and he was telling me that they had to lock up their bins and place them under security cameras because 'freegans' were taking newly thrown out food from them. That's what the law should try to tackle.. not the people availing of the waste these conglomerates produce.

Superquinn used to give out all the leftover bread on a Sunday to the staff, I always wondering why they didn't just bake less. :pac: Also Tesco on a Saturday evening can be good for meat bargains!

Kimono-Girl · 14-03-2011 8:10pm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It certainly does seem like an idiotic decision all right and a poor interpretation of the law as I understand it.

i agree, why they don't apply common sense to certain cases :rolleyes:....

smk89 · 14-03-2011 8:10pm

Well she is hasn't been judged yet. I have the suspicion that the second the jury hear how ridiculous the charges are they will be dropped.

phasers · 14-03-2011 8:11pm

/remembers when lidl used to give away free plants and bunches of flowers every Sunday evening

Sofiztikated · 14-03-2011 8:11pm

amacachi wrote: »

On the thread about Dublin Bus originally not having Irish on their new signs you said it was the law, so is this. So why are you disgusted by this? She broke the law and the police are upholding the law.

Because it's Tesco, and Wolfie don't like dem Brits.

:P

It's daft, but think of it like this, if she got food poisoning from some of it, due to improper storage conditions, they'd probably get screwed in court.

Guy:Incognito · 14-03-2011 8:12pm

phasers wrote: »

How could you sue the store? You pulled it out of their bins!

Who's to say you didnt buy it and got sick? I;m sure there are people willing to perjure themsleves and say they bought it.

peasant · 14-03-2011 8:13pm

But get this ...if Tesco had wanted to donate the food, hand it out to the poor, make a barbeque and invite the homeless ...whatever ...

They themselves would be in huuuge trouble with the law because of 'elth and safety issues and anybody eating that food could later fake an upset tummy and successfully sue them.

Something's badly broken here ...

AlmightyCushion · 14-03-2011 8:15pm

smk89 wrote: »

Well she is hasn't been judged yet. I have the suspicion that the second the jury hear how ridiculous the charges are they will be dropped.

Very true but still a waste of tax-payers money.

barleybooley · 14-03-2011 8:16pm

It's food for thought alright.

smk89 · 14-03-2011 8:18pm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Very true but still a waste of tax-payers money.

English tax-payers money. Their problem.

It seems like the kind of thing that the daily mail would feature prominently on one page complaining about the decrease in intelligence while showing Jordans new tits a few pages later on

grungepants · 14-03-2011 8:29pm

Freegans are awsome.Corperations are ****e.

Knasher · 14-03-2011 8:30pm

amacachi wrote: »

Superquinn used to give out all the leftover bread on a Sunday to the staff, I always wondering why they didn't just bake less.

I'd guess it's because if they run out, their customers will have to go elsewhere to buy their bread and may get into the habit of shopping elsewhere. Better for them to give away free bread to their employees than lose customers.

jackiebaron · 14-03-2011 8:31pm

amacachi wrote: »

On the thread about Dublin Bus originally not having Irish on their new signs you said it was the law, so is this. So why are you disgusted by this? She broke the law and the police are upholding the law.

Wait a minute. What law did she break? Granted there's probably some law that this "theft by finding" applies to such as finding a wallet and keeping the contents or any other opportunistic infraction but this gear was dumped. This whole mentality of wanting to prevent anyone from catching a lucky break is sick. People just want to prevent anyone from having a spot of luck from once in a while. I worked in a country club in the US for several summers and the amount of food dumped in the bins each evening was shocking. Massive bowls of fruit salad, vats of lovely soups, cakes with one slice cut out from them. Needless to say me and the other (Irish and Mexican) waiters helped ourselves to a bowl of soup or fruit salad before it was tossed out but the American kids just thought it was normal. Not one of them suggested bagging up a load of it and bringing it home to their mothers. Amazing.

drunkmonkey · 14-03-2011 8:32pm

There's no way the headline of this thread is fact. If it was dumped on a street corner it's Tesco who would be in court.

From a quick glance of the story the accused was in a private area of a business premises and took it upon herself to go through their bins and take goods without permission of the business.

She was thieving somewhere she shouldn't have been without permission, hang her high.

jackiebaron · 14-03-2011 8:35pm

dollyk wrote: »

They dont like you to take food that has been binned , because if you get sick, because you refroze it, or become ill you can still sue the store.

Not true. You can only sue if you get sick after PURCHASING something that was within it's sell-by date but turned out to be off. You can't sue Tesco if you get sick from stuff they've dumped.

jackiebaron · 14-03-2011 8:37pm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

That can't be true and if it is it certainly shouldn't be the case. Do you have anything to back it up as I'd be interested in seeing if it is actually true.

So if the binmen took it away are they guilty of theft?

amacachi · 14-03-2011 8:40pm

Knasher wrote: »

I'd guess it's because if they run out, their customers will have to go elsewhere to buy their bread and may get into the habit of shopping elsewhere. Better for them to give away free bread to their employees than lose customers.

You'd be amazed how much it was though, not just a few loaves or buns, and it was every single week without fail.

jackiebaron wrote: »

Wait a minute. What law did she break? Granted there's probably some law that this "theft by finding" applies to such as finding a wallet and keeping the contents or any other opportunistic infraction but this gear was dumped. This whole mentality of wanting to prevent anyone from catching a lucky break is sick. People just want to prevent anyone from having a spot of luck from once in a while. I worked in a country club in the US for several summers and the amount of food dumped in the bins each evening was shocking. Massive bowls of fruit salad, vats of lovely soups, cakes with one slice cut out from them. Needless to say me and the other (Irish and Mexican) waiters helped ourselves to a bowl of soup or fruit salad before it was tossed out but the American kids just thought it was normal. Not one of them suggested bagging up a load of it and bringing it home to their mothers. Amazing.

I don't think she should be done for it, I was asking Wolfe Tone why he was using different logic here than elsewhere. One minute "the law is the law and should be upheld" and the next it isn't.

DubTony · 14-03-2011 8:41pm

The Irish Times report says that the store manager heard footsteps on the roof and that he saw men pulling the bags of food from the bin. Not exactly sitting on the road, was it? If it's in a bin, it's still the property of the bin owner. And in court, a prosecutor said that the bin was in a service yard, not out the front.

Sounds like theft to me. Plain and simple.

"Woman arrested for salvaging perfectly good food dumped on street corner"

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