...ah-arrrr, me hearties, we'll not be letting the Revenue men get their 'ands on our looted Barbies, shiver me timbers!

(moonfleet in Dorset) I seem to remember there's a legal right to salvage property washed up on shore so all the bluster from the insurance company is just fear-mongering in an attempt to fool the uninformed.

Sorry Neil, that's not the case.

The Merchant Shipping Act 1995 says that anyone recovering material from a shipwreck has to inform the owner of the goods *AND* the Receiver of Wreck. If the goods are worth more than £5000 then Lloyds of London must also be notified. If the salvor does not perform these actions and retains the items, or sells them on, then their actions are considered to be criminal.

The material becomes theirs if, and only if, the owner of the goods expresses no interest in its recovery. If the owner wants their goods back then they must be returned. In exchange for which the Receiver of Wreck ensures the salvor is suitably rewarded.

And I grew up in Cornwall whose wreckers made those of Dorset look like rank amateurs. Currently, my closest stretch of water is the Grand Union Canal which isn't nearly as good for the old 'donkey an' a lamp' enrichment procedure.

You couldn't sell people those motorcycles anyway so that part makes sense in fact this appears to me like a win for the shipping company as they will not be forced to clean up all the crap those people ran off with.

Those people were NOT recovering goods from a wreck.

They were recovering goods from the shoreline.

What do you call items between the high tide mark & the low tide mark?

Is it illegal to pick that stuff up?

I was always under the impression that stuff found there is free for the taking & that all the rubbish spouted by the police at the time of the incident was typical of what this country has become. I.e. The police don't like the look of something so lie in order to get citizens to do what they want....nice.

But I can't complain, I picked up my jacket & left the country a long time ago. I can't change the country but I can tell it to go fuck itself for its attitude & decline.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1995/ukpga_19950021_en_16#pt9-ch2-pb2-l1g238

(1) Where a vessel is wrecked, stranded, or in distress at any place on or near the coasts of the United Kingdom or any tidal water within United Kingdom waters, any cargo or other articles belonging to or separated from the vessel which are washed on shore or otherwise lost or taken from the vessel shall be delivered to the receiver.

(2) If any person (whether the owner or not)—

(a) conceals or keeps possession of any such cargo or article, or

(b) refuses to deliver any such cargo or article to the receiver or to any person authorised by the receiver to require delivery,

he shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Maybe of limited value without authorised BMW sales backup (maybe impossible to start without formware unlock codes etc)?

But worth plenty as spare parts.