On the Overground (or similar metro service), WWYD?
More details - you spotted it after a tradesman of some sort got of the train and it was left where he sat. You picked it up and got off at the next station, and tried to hand it into the desk - but because the person who you suspected it belonged to didn’t get off at that station, they wouldn’t take it. So:
Probably keep it. Would feel quite guilty about it/sorry for whoever has lost it, but there’s minimal chance of finding the actual owner of it, so them’s the breaks.
If you are that wracked with guilt about it, give it to charity.
They already have plenty of money for their Xmas party from speed awareness courses and that - if you are going to offload it, give it to charity at least.
i’d probably make some attempt to go back to the station they got off at and have a look about, see if i could see them, etc. think any notion of handing it and hoping it will be returned is pretty much pointless.
Slowly work the £1 accy thread and then when you see the person again in 6 weeks time on the same commute hand them their half of the £14k winnings so far
Hand it in to the police. The tradesman has then got 28 days to claim it; after which, you can claim it as yours. (My friend did a similar sort of thing after finding a load of money scattered in a car park).
It’s a win:win - if the tradesman collects it, he gets his money back and is thankful for genuine people like you; if he doesn’t collect it, he’s obviously just written it off as back luck and you get to keep £120.
I’d probably intend to hand it in but not actually get around to it, so it would just sit there on the side for ages like all the mail that’s come to the wrong address that I’ve been meaning to repost
Additional: I’ve left a fucktonne of stuff on trains in the past: phones, bike helmets, season tickets, etc. I am so absent-minded it’s embarrassing. I’m always exceptionally grateful that someone’s not just pocketed it for themselves.
I would always hand items in somewhere… but money? I dunno… MAYBE. Maybe. After reading this thread I’d probably hand it in to the police because if not I’d have Epimers voice in my head saying I’m a selfish tory.