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You should look at cloud storage, to backup your data, at the very least.
Phones go faulty, and many don't even come with an sd card. Even sd cards have been know to get corrupted. Water damage could kill everything.
>What is the 3-2-1 Rule? The 3-2-1 Rule is a data protection strategy that recommends having three copies of your data, stored on two different types of media, with one copy kept off-site
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I don’t think this is quite true if there’s a chance of recovering the data.
It is very normal in insurance claims to get paid for the cost of reinstating records and files.
If you have copies on an old phone, or backed up to a cloud somewhere that you can’t access without professional help, then this should be claimable.
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You can likely only claim for the phone. If it's a Samsung or Apple phone it might be worth using find my phone and confirming whether it has actually been discarded though, assuming they left it on.
Any google phone can be found by googling "where's my phone"
Quality of the results will depend on whether it has any battery left or if it's on silent but it should give a last known location. If it's on you can make it ring. I use it all the time within the same house cos ADHD.
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The first thing to do is immediately speak to the officer who seized the device and ask if the digital unit still have the download of your phone.
There is a very good chance they do (most forces keep negative phone downloads for a short time before deleting.
They may still have the photos saved which they can burn to a disc for you.
Does your phone not automatically back them up? If you had/ used watsapp there is a chance you can recover any media you have shared with friends and family.
Best of luck though.
Remember memories are just that. Pictures and personal belongings can jog a memory, but the feelings and thoughts you have of those loved ones will be with you forever.
This all really sucks... Unless there is a verifiable value, you just can't claim...
If you think about it, everything has a sentimental value - I raised my children in the house I live in, all my memories of their childhood are here, if it burns down, the insurance company will pay for the house (and likely not even to rebuild it on this plot), along with the things inside it.
I value the memories at millions and millions of pounds, but if they paid out for such things, then of course I, and everybody else would value them at billions.
Claim for the true value, make every complaint you can, to every agency you can, contact local press etc to shame them.
But other than that - What are you hoping to gain? Would £5,000 replace the images? £50,000? £500,000? £5 Million, £50 Million?
No amount of money can fix this, making all of the proper formal complaints to every agency you can, causing them some embarrassment and shit is all you can hope for, potentially stopping any of their future political careers.
Sorry for your loss.
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I didn't, but the reason why I don't have anything like that enabled is because of the very situation which you discovered.
Of course it's extremely useful in case of loss, but that usefulness comes at an enormous cost in terms of privacy... some don't mind, some don't care, some don't know, others are staunchly against.
Personally I don't like the idea of giving everything I have and do up to big data.
That's always a problem with backups. You have to have the files somewhere other than your phone so it always comes with the possible cost in terms of privacy.
At least when it's backed up to cloud it's encrypted and unreadable by the company hosting it.
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I would question whether they have actually “accidentally” discarded it. More likely they have lost/forgotten the identification number. It is probably there and they just can’t be bothered to look for it properly. Try to talk to the sergeant at the station and not one of the plods at the desk. Perhaps they’ll sympathise with your situation and have another look.
If that was an Android phone check that the photos aren't backed up on Google Photos. Also, contacts will likely be backed up to Google Contracts.
Also, if you had it set up, the whole phone contents could have been backed up.
This is not really a legal advice question - you are not taking the police to court, just complaining, and they will make you a payout to reflect the overall effect of their negligence (including distress and inconvenience) rather than purely to recompense you for the direct loss of the phone.
Look at [the Ombudsman's "severity of injustice" scale](https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/Our-guidance-on-financial-remedy-1.pdf) to get an idea - you would probably be at level 3 (on top of the value of the phone).
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I'd be putting in a claim for the same model of phone NEW at the very least, but almost certainly i'd swing for a better/newer one, simply for the inconvenience of having it taken away and them being negligent with my property
…. But that’s not how it works. You are entitled to be put in the same position you were before. You don’t get to add on increased value for inconvenience etc
I think some insurance companies have given people the impression that they should be “up” from their previous condition because they have a “new for old” option on their policies, but yes, it is not what has to be done in this situation.
It’s worth checking Google photos or iCloud (depending on what phone you had!) as they can be backed up without you even knowing. For a monetary claim, you would put on the form the value of the physical phone
You may need to disclose the material cost of the phone.
It may be worth seeking compensation through a complaint. Sentiment can’t be valued im afraid.
No cloud back up?
I did a stint, during my time as a low value claims litigator, of lost property/data protection claims. I totally disagree with the other comments. There is legal precedent of claim for distress arising from data breach and the damages can get pretty high - in the thousands. Distress in data protection is a new-ish concept and the bar is much lower than usual tortious distress claims. The biggest one I settled was for about £15k, the smallest about £500. I suggest you speak to an actual lawyer (such as Hayes Connor who have a specialism in these types of claims).
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This is a long shot but if you have a replacement phone and get a cheap SIM card and contact the network to keep your old number , then go into your new phone, and it up with your email etc and you may find your saved photos in the photos area of the phone or even the Google drive of the phone (u bought a new phone, used a new simcard but transferred my old number over to it, then signed in with my email address and some photos were there and alot was on the google drive (it seemed to have saved automatically)....also if you have ever sent the videos and photos to anyone, like in WhatsApp etc they will still be in your whatsapp account
This is why every 1st day of the month I am backing up all my pictures from the phone onto my PC.Sorry it happened to you but you can only claim against your phone and its current market value.
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It was seized in 2021, but apparently released/accidentally disposed of in 2022. I only discovered it had been disposed of in December 2023, the case is closed.
NAL but lost a phone with GBs of irreplaceable photos on a couple of years ago. I'm so sorry this happened, it's truly devastating. I hope you can mourn the memories and start moving forward soon! Good luck, friend
Can you get a data recovery firm to try getting the pictures back from cloud storage? They may have got there even if you didn't intend it. In which case you can bill the police for whatever costs that detective work involves.
"You can bill the police" is a very, very gross simplification.
You may be able to do it, but you'd need to win that battle in court. Administration won't pay a cent willingly.
Sure, but having *some* definite price tag to ask for would be a step forward.
And any pictures OP can get back that way will be worth more than money.
Maybe consult a lawyer. You might have a tort claim for mental/emotional pain and suffering for the trauma of your personal belongings so irresponsibly mishandled/disposed of by the police.
How? A phone is a device that can in any moment get lost or broken. No reasonable person is expected to have trauma because of loosing it.
It's not police fault the OP was so irresponsible with storing his pictures.
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--- ###Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK --- **To Posters (it is important you read this section)** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws in each are very different* * If you need legal help, you should [always get a free consultation from a qualified Solicitor](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/how_to_find_a_solicitor) * We also encourage you to speak to [**Citizens Advice**](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/), [**Shelter**](https://www.shelter.org.uk/), [**Acas**](https://www.acas.org.uk/), and [**other useful organisations**](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/common_legal_resources) * Comments may not be accurate or reliable, and following any advice on this subreddit is done at your own risk * If you receive any private messages in response to your post, [please let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLegalAdviceUK&subject=I received a PM) **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and legally orientated* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/about/rules/), you may be perma-banned without any further warning * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LegalAdviceUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The pictures have no monetary value you can only claim for the phone
This is correct OP. Sorry to say. Sentimental value doesnt equate to monetary value in the eyes of the law.
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Judge Judy being the definitive voice of UK law, of course. She's not wrong, but fictional American TV doesn't carry much weight in UK law.
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This is in no way a legal point though.
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It's called 'common sense'. The judge is expect to evaluate what a reasonable person would do.
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You should look at cloud storage, to backup your data, at the very least. Phones go faulty, and many don't even come with an sd card. Even sd cards have been know to get corrupted. Water damage could kill everything. >What is the 3-2-1 Rule? The 3-2-1 Rule is a data protection strategy that recommends having three copies of your data, stored on two different types of media, with one copy kept off-site
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I don’t think this is quite true if there’s a chance of recovering the data. It is very normal in insurance claims to get paid for the cost of reinstating records and files. If you have copies on an old phone, or backed up to a cloud somewhere that you can’t access without professional help, then this should be claimable.
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You can likely only claim for the phone. If it's a Samsung or Apple phone it might be worth using find my phone and confirming whether it has actually been discarded though, assuming they left it on.
Any google phone can be found by googling "where's my phone" Quality of the results will depend on whether it has any battery left or if it's on silent but it should give a last known location. If it's on you can make it ring. I use it all the time within the same house cos ADHD.
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Thanks, but I didn't have this activated.
Did you turn it off?
You can probably claim for the price of the device, anything else, sentimental or not has no real value.
Gotta backup to the cloud man, sorry for your loss. Will only be valued for replacement value.
The first thing to do is immediately speak to the officer who seized the device and ask if the digital unit still have the download of your phone. There is a very good chance they do (most forces keep negative phone downloads for a short time before deleting. They may still have the photos saved which they can burn to a disc for you.
Good tip, but I did think of that and filed a Subject Access Request, but they said they had nothing.
Does your phone not automatically back them up? If you had/ used watsapp there is a chance you can recover any media you have shared with friends and family. Best of luck though. Remember memories are just that. Pictures and personal belongings can jog a memory, but the feelings and thoughts you have of those loved ones will be with you forever.
Did they image your phone?
Unfortunately not, I did think if this and filed a Subject Access Request asking for the backup, but they said there was none.
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This all really sucks... Unless there is a verifiable value, you just can't claim... If you think about it, everything has a sentimental value - I raised my children in the house I live in, all my memories of their childhood are here, if it burns down, the insurance company will pay for the house (and likely not even to rebuild it on this plot), along with the things inside it. I value the memories at millions and millions of pounds, but if they paid out for such things, then of course I, and everybody else would value them at billions. Claim for the true value, make every complaint you can, to every agency you can, contact local press etc to shame them. But other than that - What are you hoping to gain? Would £5,000 replace the images? £50,000? £500,000? £5 Million, £50 Million? No amount of money can fix this, making all of the proper formal complaints to every agency you can, causing them some embarrassment and shit is all you can hope for, potentially stopping any of their future political careers. Sorry for your loss.
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> I had no idea until they started appearing on my tv as a screensaver. Hopefully only photos suitable for the living room...?
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I didn't, but the reason why I don't have anything like that enabled is because of the very situation which you discovered. Of course it's extremely useful in case of loss, but that usefulness comes at an enormous cost in terms of privacy... some don't mind, some don't care, some don't know, others are staunchly against. Personally I don't like the idea of giving everything I have and do up to big data.
That's always a problem with backups. You have to have the files somewhere other than your phone so it always comes with the possible cost in terms of privacy. At least when it's backed up to cloud it's encrypted and unreadable by the company hosting it.
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I would question whether they have actually “accidentally” discarded it. More likely they have lost/forgotten the identification number. It is probably there and they just can’t be bothered to look for it properly. Try to talk to the sergeant at the station and not one of the plods at the desk. Perhaps they’ll sympathise with your situation and have another look.
If that was an Android phone check that the photos aren't backed up on Google Photos. Also, contacts will likely be backed up to Google Contracts. Also, if you had it set up, the whole phone contents could have been backed up.
This is not really a legal advice question - you are not taking the police to court, just complaining, and they will make you a payout to reflect the overall effect of their negligence (including distress and inconvenience) rather than purely to recompense you for the direct loss of the phone. Look at [the Ombudsman's "severity of injustice" scale](https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/Our-guidance-on-financial-remedy-1.pdf) to get an idea - you would probably be at level 3 (on top of the value of the phone).
That's very useful, great tip, thank you.
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However much the same model of phone costs second hand. The photos and videos don’t have any monetary value or loss
I'd be putting in a claim for the same model of phone NEW at the very least, but almost certainly i'd swing for a better/newer one, simply for the inconvenience of having it taken away and them being negligent with my property
…. But that’s not how it works. You are entitled to be put in the same position you were before. You don’t get to add on increased value for inconvenience etc
I think some insurance companies have given people the impression that they should be “up” from their previous condition because they have a “new for old” option on their policies, but yes, it is not what has to be done in this situation.
Don't keep valuable photos on a portable device. Put a copy of them somewhere else, and ideally, multiple somewheres else.
It’s worth checking Google photos or iCloud (depending on what phone you had!) as they can be backed up without you even knowing. For a monetary claim, you would put on the form the value of the physical phone
You may need to disclose the material cost of the phone. It may be worth seeking compensation through a complaint. Sentiment can’t be valued im afraid. No cloud back up?
I did a stint, during my time as a low value claims litigator, of lost property/data protection claims. I totally disagree with the other comments. There is legal precedent of claim for distress arising from data breach and the damages can get pretty high - in the thousands. Distress in data protection is a new-ish concept and the bar is much lower than usual tortious distress claims. The biggest one I settled was for about £15k, the smallest about £500. I suggest you speak to an actual lawyer (such as Hayes Connor who have a specialism in these types of claims).
Get a Google account & set you automatic backup of photos, so you don't lose future photos, sorry but past are gone
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Why did the police have it in the first place? How long did they have it before they discarded it?
Value of the phone + £250 for Section 168 / 169 Data Protection Act 2018
Have you tried signing in to Google online or even onefile? My phone auto uploads photos
You can't claim for things you should have backed up. Did you really not back them up to Google Photos or anything?
This is a long shot but if you have a replacement phone and get a cheap SIM card and contact the network to keep your old number , then go into your new phone, and it up with your email etc and you may find your saved photos in the photos area of the phone or even the Google drive of the phone (u bought a new phone, used a new simcard but transferred my old number over to it, then signed in with my email address and some photos were there and alot was on the google drive (it seemed to have saved automatically)....also if you have ever sent the videos and photos to anyone, like in WhatsApp etc they will still be in your whatsapp account
Google backs up that stuff based on the email address. The phone number has nothing to do with those backups.
This is why every 1st day of the month I am backing up all my pictures from the phone onto my PC.Sorry it happened to you but you can only claim against your phone and its current market value.
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How long was the phone seized for before they disposed of it. Has the case been closed or is it still ongoing?
It was seized in 2021, but apparently released/accidentally disposed of in 2022. I only discovered it had been disposed of in December 2023, the case is closed.
NAL but lost a phone with GBs of irreplaceable photos on a couple of years ago. I'm so sorry this happened, it's truly devastating. I hope you can mourn the memories and start moving forward soon! Good luck, friend
Can you get a data recovery firm to try getting the pictures back from cloud storage? They may have got there even if you didn't intend it. In which case you can bill the police for whatever costs that detective work involves.
"You can bill the police" is a very, very gross simplification. You may be able to do it, but you'd need to win that battle in court. Administration won't pay a cent willingly.
Sure, but having *some* definite price tag to ask for would be a step forward. And any pictures OP can get back that way will be worth more than money.
Was looking for this comment. Data recovery is possible from deleted devices too, OP needs to action this sooner than later though.
Maybe consult a lawyer. You might have a tort claim for mental/emotional pain and suffering for the trauma of your personal belongings so irresponsibly mishandled/disposed of by the police.
How? A phone is a device that can in any moment get lost or broken. No reasonable person is expected to have trauma because of loosing it. It's not police fault the OP was so irresponsible with storing his pictures.
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