Friday 5 June 2009

Borsetshire metal-detecting search thwarted

Followers of BBC Radio 4's "The Archers" will know that Eddie and Joe had sneaked onto Oliver's land to investiage a "tump" with their metal-detector.
Concerned that Eddie and Joe are sneaking up to Grange Farm to uncover their supposed hoard with the metal detector, Clarrie tips Ed the wink. So when Joe and Eddie are busy digging, Oliver arrives with Ed. Since they thought he was away at a conference, this is a bit of a shock.

Ed explains that, just as Eddie suggested, he told Oliver all about the tump and the coins they found there. So Oliver has come to see what they find. Cornered, and well aware that he and Ed had no such conversation, Eddie can only agree. Unfortunately, all they find is some old machinery. Clarrie apologises to Oliver, but he’s not angry. In fact, he says they can dig on the farm any time and they’ll split the findings between them.

As Paul Barford has noted, should the PAS Finds Officer have been informed?

1 comment:

Marcus Preen said...

"should the PAS Finds Officer have been informed?"

I don't see why. After all, it's legal, innit? And PAS is only voluntary, isn't it? And the customers over in the States don't ask for evidence that PAS has been told, do they? And the landowner, who is the legal owner of the lot, will be getting 50% of his entitlement, which many don't since the customers over in the States don't trouble themselves to ask for his name and address either.

So I'd say it was a fairly accurate portrayal of what often happens in the British countryside, albeit damaging on account of both the failure to mention PAS and the erroneous message to landowners that they too will profit from the exercise, when often they won't.

All that's missing is a bit of dialogue from Eddie - "I'm only doing it for the love of history"... and perhaps a phone call from his dealer "Lord bless you for not living in a socialist, retentionist country".

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