EXHIBIT 5

                        [The Brink's Company Letterhead]


November 5, 2004

The Brink's Company
1801 Bayberry Court
P. O. Box 18100
Richmond, VA 23226-8100

Registration Statement on Form S-8
1994 Employee Stock Purchase Plan of The Brink's Company
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Ladies and Gentlemen:

As General  Counsel of The  Brink's  Company  (the  "Company"),  I have acted as
counsel to the Company in connection with the Registration Statement on Form S-8
for the 1994  Employee  Stock  Purchase  Plan of The Brink's  Company (the "1994
Stock  Purchase  Plan") being filed under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended
(the "Act"), on or about the date of this letter to register 500,000  additional
shares of The Brink's Company Common Stock, par value $1.00 per share, including
associated  Rights  ("Common  Stock"),  which  may be  issued  from time to time
pursuant to the 1994 Stock Purchase Plan.

I am familiar with the Registration  Statement and the Exhibits  thereto.  I, or
attorneys  under  my  supervision,  have  also  examined  originals  or  copies,
certified or otherwise,  of such other  documents,  evidence of corporate action
and  instruments,  as I have deemed  necessary or  advisable  for the purpose of
rendering this opinion. As to questions of fact relevant to this opinion, I have
relied  upon  certificates  or  written   statements  from  officers  and  other
appropriate  representatives  of the  Company  and its  subsidiaries  or  public
officials.  In all such  examinations  I have  assumed  the  genuineness  of all
signatures,  the  authority  to  sign  and  the  authenticity  of all  documents
submitted to me as originals. I have also assumed the conformity to the original
of all documents submitted to me as copies.

Based upon and subject to the foregoing, I am of the opinion that:

1.  The Company is a corporation duly incorporated, validly existing and in good
    standing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

2.  The shares of Common Stock  have been duly  authorized and, when offered and
    sold as  described in  the Registration Statement, will  be  legally issued,
    fully paid and nonassessable.






I hereby consent to the use of my name in the Registration  Statement and to the
filing, as an exhibit to the Registration  Statement, of this opinion. In giving
this  consent,  I do not hereby admit that I am in the category of persons whose
consent is required under Section 7 of the Act, or the rules and  regulations of
the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Austin F. Reed
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Austin F. Reed
Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary