The owner of a DIY store made almost £200 on Boxing Day although his shop was completely un-staffed.
Tom Algie runs Practically Everything in the North Yorkshire town of Settle. He had planned to spend Boxing Day with his family but didn’t want his two part-time staff to have to work either. But valuing his customers, he was determined to give them the opportunity to buy batteries and other necessities they may have forgotten to purchase before Christmas.
His solution was to open up the shop and supply an honesty box for customers to leave money for goods purchased. Mr Algie opened the shop at 10am and on returning to shut up at 4.15pm he found that despite having no CCTV, nothing had been taken and the shop was undamaged.
On looking inside the honesty box – made from a bucket, hosepipe and a funnel – Mr Algie found takings of £187.
“The box was pretty secure and would have taken a bit of effort to take, but no one even tried,” Mr Algie said. “I would do it again, but I don’t think I’d publicise when.”