The lesson being - nick something a bit smaller.Many years ago, when I was 18, I was on my way home from the pub. I had to cross the railway line at the station, and noticed that one of the large station signs had fallen down, and decided I would have it in the back garden (I was living at my sister's house at the time, so God knows what she and my brother-in-law would have made of it).
Anyway, this was a metal sign, roughly 8 feet long, and I couldn't even lift it, so had to drag it. I was still on the pub side of the line, and couldn't get this sign up the footbridge steps, so dragged it down the road, over the road bridge and up my road, which added around half a mile onto my walk, with this loud clanking noise of metal scraping along the road behind me the whole way.
I was about 200 yards from home when, of course, a police car pulled up and the coppers asked what the hell I thought I was doing. Presumably somebody had phoned up to complain about the noise in the early hours of the morning.
The coppers then made me drag it all the way back again, while they followed in the car to make sure I put it back
Tbh, once I sobered up, I thought that was excellent policing, as it taught me far more of a lesson than a caution or small fine would have done.