Tools you've found at the roadside...

[sierraman]

The best pair of pliers I have got left behind by the sparky at work, use them all the time. 

[meggersdog]

Found a cross wheel brace at the side of the road once and a Halford 1/2 inch ratchet another time.Both of which I still have.

As an MoT tester I find various tools on cars. Sockets,spanners , torx and screwdrivers under bonnets. The occasional spanner still on a nut underneath and I've found a fair few magnetic torches , sometimes still on , attached to various places under the car. If a trade customer I just hand over whatever I have found otherwise I ask the presenter who's been working on the car before showing them what I have found. On two seperate occasions on two different cars the same mechanic has left an expensive magnetic torch still attached to the car. The customer has a few cars and all go to this garage for repair. The garage also brings cars to me so both times I've kept the torches until they came in and given them back to the driver. The first time the first torch had been there a week and he bought a new one. The second time the new torch was left the same day. 

[Boycie]

Snap on  5\16 socket under the boot trim of a Juke today ....bet that upset the mechanic when he lost that ....now in my box 

[Snake Charmer]

49 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Snap on  5\16 socket under the boot trim of a Juke today ....bet that upset the mechanic when he lost that ....now in my box 

Dropped from a box of stolen Snap-On gear being transported in the Juke? What would be 5/16" A/F in a Nissan?

[GMcD]

Only thing I've found by the road was this spark plug thing outside my house.

...probably used to shiv someone 😂

[N19]

Found a bottle jack left outside my lockup garage door - suspect from one of the neighbours who's probably seen me working on cars etc. And a spark plug socket on top of a petrol pump.

In my old job we used to have contractors come in to do works (renovate offices or exhibition spaces, rewire or whatever) and the stuff that got left behind was incredible. We'd routinely have good sets of ladders, transformers, leftover materials, extension leads, odd tools etc. I'm not even talking the shitty ladders covered in plaster, a decent fibreglass set thats relatively new. In all cases they'd get an email asking them to be picked up, then another one saying if they weren't picked up they'd be "appropriately disposed of", then they would appear in my team's stock. I suppose even if it's a £200 set of ladders, a contractor may view the time and fuel driving into central to retrieve them as more expensive than getting a fresh set from screwfix and no doubt this is factored into their prices.

[Boycie]

8 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Dropped from a box of stolen Snap-On gear being transported in the Juke? What would be 5/16" A/F in a Nissan?

No I don't think so , not sure why it was there though 

[spike60]

I used to cycle into work  regularly and you see much more then, especially as the last 2 miles are on Teesdock road, wagons galore.  Best find from memory 16" Bluepoint (Snap On) eagle beak pliers but even as a plant fitter I don't use them.

[Datsuncog]

I found an insulated electrical screwdriver under the back seat of a scrapped Triumph Dolomite in about 1997.

Still using it today. It's the right size for nearly any slot-head screw

[HillmanImp]

Tools? Side of road? Yeah, I found some at Shitefest. 

[Blake's Den]

I found a Halfords 15/16 half in drive socket in the 'four foot' (between the rails) on part of the Manchester Metrolink network many years ago. Probably left my a maintenance team when working in the dark.

For the avoidance of doubt I was there for a legitimate reason!

[Boycie]

We're selling off a few thousand cars off the hire fleet now the summers over , I've a couple of hundred coming off and pre auction checks of 50 have already resulted in

2 screwdrivers 

1 ratchet 

2 sockets 

And £9.63 in change  , 2 euros and an some mad Iraq note

Oh and a packet of monster munch and 2 cans of coke 

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:36 AM, JeeExEll said:

In one house which had been empty for some time (previous elderly occupant deceased) I found a shot-gun and a rifle - not an air-rifle but a proper 'fuck-off' one, under the lagging by the attic hatch.  Both probably worth quite a bit.  They got handed in to the police station.   (Walking into the police station with them caused a bit of panic).

When the Mum and Dad of some of my parent's friends died in their 90s, they found a rifle in the loft too.  They took a picture and called the Police who sent somebody to collect it.  A few weeks later I saw the picture and - of all things - it was a Lee-Metford!

[Boycie]

Your friends .......this wouldn't be them would it , it's just Lenny wants a word ......im no grass but spread the word 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

33 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Your friends .......this wouldn't be them would it , it's just Lenny wants a word ......im no grass but spread the word 

I was out at Tilbury Fort a few years back when this kid of about eight years walked in with his Dad.  They were looking at some of the small arms in the little museum there and the kid pointed at the STEN:

'Dad, isn't that what Grandad has in the lof...?'
'Shhhhh Jake!'

I pretended not to hear.

[cobblers]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:36 AM, JeeExEll said:

 (Walking into the police station with them caused a bit of panic).

My uncle knobhead bought my nan a starter pistol back from France in about 1995,  I remember him showing her how it works and shooting in in the garden of her house.

She kept it under her bed til about 2016, when she decided she wanted rid of it. So she put it in the car and went down to the police station in Rotherham, then drove in past several "NO ENTRY POLICE VEHICLES ONLY" signs into the inner compound bit, parked her fiesta outside the first door she saw and hopped out with the gun in a carrier bag and banged on the door telling them she had a gun.

We found out about this a few days later when she was complaining to us that they had been very rude to her.

[Boycie]

21 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

I was out at Tilbury Fort a few years back when this kid of about eight years walked in with his Dad.  They were looking at some of the small arms in the little museum there and the kid pointed at the STEN:

'Dad, isn't that what Grandad has in the lof...?'
'Shhhhh Jake!'

I pretended not to hear.

Rumour is Reagan and Carter are still looking for Jake's grandad ......shut it 

[Boycie]

Just now, cobblers said:

My uncle knobhead bought my nan a starter pistol back from France in about 1995,  I remember him showing her how it works and shooting in in the garden of her house.

She kept it under her bed til about 2016, when she decided she wanted rid of it. So she put it in the car and went down to the police station in Rotherham, then drove in past several "NO ENTRY POLICE VEHICLES ONLY" signs into the inner compound bit, parked her fiesta outside the first door she saw and hopped out with the gun in a carrier bag and banged on the door telling them she had a gun.

We found out about this a few days later when she was complaining to us that they had been very rude to her.

She,d be tassered now ......

[beko1987]

I've got a very nice pair of small needle nose pliers, with a nice sharp tip. 

Their telecoms. I know this as I saw a guy working in one of the green boxes on my way to work once. When he left these pliers were sat on the top. Were still there the next day and now they've been in my toolbox for a few years 😂

[Rustybullethole]

Found a 14inch dildo at the side of the m4 some years back. 

[Boycie]

31 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

Found a 14inch dildo at the side of the m4 some years back. 

Do you use it to knock nails in....

[Crackers]

36 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

Found a 14inch dildo at the side of the m4 some years back. 

"found"

[eddyramrod]

In the summer of 1985 I went to a local old-fashioned hardware shop near my home to pick up a random bit of timber.  Parked my car (my first Granada) outside on the (residential) road and when I came out, went to put my purchase in the boot.  I hadn't had to walk round the back of the car on the way in, so imagine my surprise when I noticed a BFO screwdriver and a metal-shafted rubber-gripped claw hammer lying under my car.  Suffice to say they went in the boot, and have both been to Cyprus and back with me, and amazingly survived my ongoing tool cull.  The hammer has had a stage appearance too: an amdram play I was in required a hammer as a murder weapon (only seen after the event) so it got a load of red Humbrol over the head and shaft.  Some of that is even still there, 25 years later.

[catsinthewelder]

A wheelbarrow, mine to be precise.

After a job last week I loaded it onto the trailer along with my cement mixer and set off to drop the mixer back with the friend who's borrowing/storing it.  About halfway I noticed that the blue ratchet strap wasn't visible on the mixer anymore so stopped to investigate and found it wasn't the only missing item.

Found the barrow by a particularly vicious speed bump which must have moved things enough to unhook the strap.  

Back to using ropes in future then.

[Rustybullethole]

40 minutes ago, Crackers said:

"found"

I slipped ok! 

[CreepingJesus]

Found a bike multi-tool on a path through a local golf course: it needed a bit of fettling, which it got, but it turns out it's not very good. As it's a Lidl/Aldi one, at least it's saved me £7.99 to find that out.

[High Jetter]

Boarded the Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire ferry many years ago, just as carpet-fitters had laid new carpeting in the lounge. Felt something as I sat down, put my hand between seat and backrest and found a Johnney!

(A rather decent 7.5m tape measure)

[Soundwave]

Thread resurrection... found this while on a walk, by the side of the road. It's a 30mm, with "Calor Gas" engraved on the handle - I assume it's for removing regulators from gas bottles?

Has a bit of fresh road rash on it, so I'm assuming it fell off a passing vehicle.

 

Also note the gnarly lacquer peel on my Rover's tailgate...

[ruffgeezer]

Hey, a win is a win.  I haven't found owt exciting for ages.

[beko1987]

Our local litter picking group found some big asda delivery crates on our local bypass the other day. 

Sadly the post then carried on to say they took them to our esso/euro garages/asda local and the people working there didn't have a bloody clue what to do with them... Shame as I'd have had them for the shed 😢 (sure if I drive round there I'll see them behind the car wash but meh, I don't want them thaaaat much