An unemployed Hereford man was caught red-handed after stealing the cash from a city centre phone box.
Scott Pounder, of Beaufort Avenue, Redhill, was arrested in May by a police officer who happened to be in the area when the 21-year-old left the public phone kiosk in St Owen Street holding a cash box.
Hereford magistrates last week fined Pounder £502 after he pleaded guilty to theft and criminal damage.
