Oops I DID IT AGAIN

I found a dropped fiver in the street when I was a spotty teenager in the 1980s. But unlike our correspondent Michael Smith, I didn’t feel guilty – I wanged it all on Mars bars and cans of Coca-Cola.

I also recall feeling sick afterwards, so I got my just desserts!

Michael, from Chatham, Kent, makes us wonder what we’d all do in that situation.

He explains: “I had just arrived at my station on my way home from work.

“As I alighted from the tube with dozens of other passengers, who spilled out on to the platform and began streaming towards the flight of stairs to the exit, I noticed something drop from the trouser pocket of a young man who was walking ahead of me at a brisk pace.

“When a gap appeared in the swarm of people, I bent down and recovered the item. It turned out to be a £5 pound note, which was a considerable amount of money back then.

“I quickened my stride in order to catch up to the man, but he disappeared from my view among the tide of people.”

And this is where the moral maze comes in, as Michael says: “I didn’t feel comfortable being in the possession of something that didn’t actually belong to me. Acting on impulse, I called out to a young lady who had just brushed by me. ‘Excuse me,’ I said, as she wheeled around, ‘I believe this is yours’.

“I offered her the note, and when, with some hesitation, she procured it from my grasp, I took off feeling embarrassed at having used deception to rid myself of the trauma of keeping the money for myself.

“In hindsight, I should have given the fiver to a charity which would have benefited someone from my windfall.

“But I’d like to think she spent the money wisely!”

Have you been embarrassed or made a blooper? Confess to siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk