my first post, so if its in the wrong place, apologies 
I love beachcombing, and since I were small, as everyone else does, a shell here, or a small pebble there, would go into my pocket as a memento.
But we all know, that its illegal (here in the UK anyway), as there is a Law forbidding it!
So I ask,
if we aren't allowed to take a few 'trinket sized' pebbles, then why are we allowed to buy them?
for instance, in a seaside souvenir shop, made into cute decorations with the holiday town etched onto it.
Huge bags of them, slate, stones, pebbles of varying size and colour, from all parts of the country, for our garden scaping or home decorating?
I would like to know the difference between 1000 holiday makers taking a couple of stones, and a big company taking tonnes of the stuff and bagging it up, making a profit, while we could be fined up to 1000£ for taking one home?