Cycling UK Forum

My daughter recently had a nearly new cooker given to her and needed to get rid of the old one. She put the old one out on the pavement late on Sunday night. When we left the house at 8-30 Monday morning it had been removed!
She has a service road running past her house which is set back from the main road so not a lot of passing traffic.
I was amazed at the speed with which it was removed although she said it would be. Somebody must be watching out for 'opportunities'.
I can see now why she has a sophisticated alarm system and always sets it.

Extraordinary isn't it? If the same thing had been fly-tipped it would have been there for weeks.

Does this system work for bags of cement?
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Anything like that put outside your house gets taken pretty quickly.

Guess the old 'rag o bone' men still ply their trades albeit a bit more opportunistically than before.

kwackers wrote:Anything like that put outside your house gets taken pretty quickly.

Guess the old 'rag o bone' men still ply their trades albeit a bit more opportunistically than before.

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Round our way they go down the back alleyways looking into backyards. Caught and confronted one taking an interest in the contents of our backyard once.

We call the local service linked to the council and pay for it. By using these dodgy blokes with a van / tipper you're supporting criminals. If they take something that later has no value to them it'll be fly tipped.
These are the people who obtain copper cabling and burn it to get just the copper, thus polluting the air badly where they burn it. These are the sort of people nicking grates and manhole covers to scrap.

These are the sort of people who get third degree electrical burns by trying to take out copper busbars in empty factories thinking they've been disconnected (then do time when the police arrest them leaving hospital with nicked metal in their truck).

Our local one people know by name and he's not adverse to violence and intimidation to make his money. Not someone to invite round to take your old washing machine out of your house. Best leave it on the road instead but know you're supporting a criminal.

The council tell you to leave it at the kerb unsecured, complain if it's nicked before they get there, but still keep your money! Aren't the councils supporting the criminals?

Round this way you book in bulky matters which collects for a charity which trains unemployed or people with some disabilities to do jobs from furniture upholstery to basic appliance repairs.

You arrange a collection slot and they come into your house or back yard to take it away. No leaving it outside kerbside. They are contracted by the council for this and also collect from recycling centres/LCC waste centres.

Oops , I thought that this was a thread dealing with getting rid of the occupants of the "Westminster Gasworks"! Mia Culpa.
Sorry all, MM

francovendee wrote:My daughter recently had a nearly new cooker given to her and needed to get rid of the old one. She put the old one out on the pavement late on Sunday night. When we left the house at 8-30 Monday morning it had been removed!
She has a service road running past her house which is set back from the main road so not a lot of passing traffic.
I was amazed at the speed with which it was removed although she said it would be. Somebody must be watching out for 'opportunities'.
I can see now why she has a sophisticated alarm system and always sets it.

When my daughter lived in Brighton this was the standard way of getting ride of large unwanted items. An old non working TV & then a beyond economic repair bike on the pavement outside her flat & both were gone by the following morning. She doesn't drive so it's an ideal system for her, much easier than trying to get things taken to the recycling centre.

The local modern day Rag n Bone men drive around our area weekly.They have a fully signed(waste and metal recyclers) Transit with Tipper-cage.Anything left on the pavement is gone within a couple of days

Over the years I've known two people who claimed items dumped outside houses, though one of them did check with the person at the house first. Both wanted the items for their intended purpose rather than a quick profit.

Our local recycling centre recently became a lot less friendly to people wanting to rehome old bikes, which is a pity as the relevant freecycling websites mostly specialise in tumbleweeds. Hopefully both situations will change.

Pastychomper wrote:Over the years I've known two people who claimed items dumped outside houses, though one of them did check with the person at the house first. Both wanted the items for their intended purpose rather than a quick profit.

Our local recycling centre recently became a lot less friendly to people wanting to rehome old bikes, which is a pity as the relevant freecycling websites mostly specialise in tumbleweeds. Hopefully both situations will change.

Is Caithness of those now rare places where you can still leave your front door unlocked without the certainty of intruders?

thirdcrank wrote:Is Caithness of those now rare places where you can still leave your front door unlocked without the certainty of intruders?

My mum leaves her front door unlocked from morning 'till evening.

In the four years I've lived in my current house nobody has ever come up the drive that didn't have business here so in theory I could leave my front door unlocked as well.

I guess it's all a question of luck. Given long enough someone will eventually try my mum's door or wonder up my drive...
But given long enough you'll get mugged and killed walking up the street too.

You are, of course, right. My use of "certainty" was inappropriate. Replace it with something like "increasing likelihood."