Posted on 01/20/2023 6:20:36 AM PST by Red Badger
Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A British library said a patron will not be charged late fees of approximately $52,400 after returning a book that was 58 years overdue.
David Hickman, 76, said he checked out a book called The Law for Motorists from the Dudley Library in 1964, when he was preparing to go to court to defend himself against a minor traffic charge.
Hickman said the book proved to not be very useful in the case, and he ended up paying a minor fine for driving without due care and attention.
The man said the book came with him when he moved to London in 1970.
"I used to come across it now and then and think 'I must pop that back next time I'm in Dudley,'" Hickman told the Express & Star newspaper. "I even considered posting it anonymously, but then I decided I would face the music and take it back in person."
Librarians said they decided to waive the overdue fee of about 25-cents per day, saving him from a fine of about $52,400.
Dudley librarian Sharon Whitehouse said the book might soon have a new home at the Black Country Museum.
The Toowoomba Grammar School in Queensland, Australia, said a book returned to its library in December 2022 was even more overdue -- about 120 years.
The school said the copy of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens was returned by a man whose grandfather had checked the tome out in 1903.
Don’t Bundy that book.
if this was america they would of seized his house sold it for a million and kept the difference!
At some point a book’s value will far outweight the fine amount. A fine should be max’ed out at like 10 times the price of the book.
That would be a heartstopper.
Book was due 58 years ago. British cop probably stopped him and asked ‘who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?’.
After two weeks overdue, just treat it like a lost or damaged book and and charge them the price of the book and a reorder fee. They keep the book. The idea is to encourage reading, hence the public library. Not to fill some bureaucrats fine account. The children’s book departments have always been gracious when i used to return books damaged or drawn on by my sons. They waived fines or replacement because they wanted kids to experience books.
Al’s monolog from that episode is my favorite scene in that whole series.
Depends on the book and the amount of time that elapsed. Anything Hilary wrote would still be worthless in 500 years.
Some really great comedy writing in that show.
It would never get past the woke censors todayā¦
“George Washington’s 221-year overdue library book:”
https://theweek.com/articles/494173/george-washingtons-221year-overdue-library-book-timeline
Just report the book lost and offer to replace it, or pay them what they paid.
Snicker,snicker
He was a slow reader...
Either that or he had short term memory loss and had to keep restarting the book every evening.
But not before a predawn raid ..
This
You aren’t far from wrong. I lived in a small NH town and was 2 weeks late returning a book when the police came to my door! Failure to return could be construed as theft of the book.
The school had taken one of my kids to the library to borrow books without my consent so I wasn’t aware of the book being at my house.
I returned the book and told the teacher that if she wasn’twilling to take responsibility for the fines, then I don’t want any more book borrowing.
I worked 2 jobs and had a growing family...too much going on. But the penalty was falling on me. Nope. Ain’t happening, cops at my door.
Guess I’m still POed about thatš¤£
I just knew I wouldn’t need to scroll far to find a photo of this famous library cop. Cheers!
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