To think that if you have a huge chunk of metal in your garden, you tie the bloomin' thing down?!!

[babybearsmummy]

A few weeks ago, one of my neighbour's 10ft trampoline blew into another neighbour's garden.

Last night 3 of my neighbours had their trampolines blown into other gardens and another had had theirs overturned in their garden.

AIBU to think that, for the safety of others, that if you have a huge trampoline and safety cage, that you tie it down? Especially seeing as the wind has already blown them about once in the last few weeks??!!!

I'm having a lovely day watching the facebook statuses of disgruntled neighbours saying "My trampoline ended up with X last night, is broken etc, that's £400 down the drain" and feeling very thankful that no one was hurt and no fences/ windows have been smashed

[southeastastra]

how would you tie them down though? the wind was so strong last night. could they not collapse them i wonder? my neighbour has a small trampoline and it's really ropey as it's been left to the elements.

[TaraLott]

I hate big trampolines in small gardens.

[kelper]

We took the bouncy part of our trampoline down in October before the storms then! We just have the metal frame in the garden and it hasn't moved as there's no material for the wind to lift iykwim?

[Nomama]

Surely you just turn them upside down and weight them down, use tent pegs etc.

[Joules68]

I also wonder how you could 'tie it down'!

You can't

But take the net down, and collapse it the best you can as the wind gets under it and lifts it. If it was flat on thd floor in bits it's less likely to move anywhere

[AnnabelleLee]

you can of course tie them down. When I bought mine I also bought the tie down kit, which screws it into the ground securely. And mine hasn't moved an inch.

[MothratheMighty]

My dad sorted out the neighbours trampoline before the winds came, took off the safety net, unhooked the bouncer, flipped it over and staked it to the lawn in numerous places.
The trick is to be proactive, not to know that there are storms coming, 60 MPH winds and the rest, and then squeak in surprise as all the loose crap in your garden is blown away to piss off your neighbours.
What did you think was going to happen?
OP, I'm sorry your neighbours are prats.

[babybearsmummy]

We have concrete posts in between our fences, they'd be good to tether them to. Or ropes and tent pegs.

[Joules68]

Pinned/screwed/nailed down... Yes, but not 'tied'!

[starballbunny]

We had sacks of sand on the 10ft trampoline's legs.

The 14ft weighs a ton, I've never seen it move.

(If it did, It would end up tangled up in our high hedge)

[Oldraver]

During the last lot of predicted bad wind we turned ours upside down and weighted it with bags of hardcore, but ours doesn't have a net...not sure how you would tie a netted one down

I dont think tent pegs to concrete posts would make a jot with some of the winds we have been having

[GoofyIsACow]

My DB has his tied with a ratchet strap to a tree, easy really.

Or turn it upside down and weight/peg as pp said... YANBU

[babybearsmummy]

Ok, maybe "tie" was the wrong word, but use something to hold or weight them down. I'm thinking it's just common sense in this weather especially when it's happened before!

It's quite scary waking up to a smashed up 8ft trampoline outside your back door!

[MothratheMighty]

It is common sense.
Many do not have it.

[starballbunny]

Clearly if we were in the major storm zone there would have been major dismantling as there is nothing we could tie it to, that it isn't heavy enough to destroy.

The fence is good for roping gazebos to (a permanent problem as our place is always windy), but I don't think it would hold the trampoline.

In any case, if it's windy enough to shift the trampoline, I suspect there would be chimney posts, bits of shed and roof tiles to worry about too!

[PersonalClown]

Mine was turned upside down at the beginning of winter and has the garden table upside down on top to weigh it down.

Hasn't shifted in 4 months!

[starballbunny]

Nets are quite easy to unclip (I have got the DDs to drop the net when it's windy) and the poles didn't take long to put up.

However, you'd need three strong blokes to stand a chance of turning it upside down, so I guess we'd just have to take the springs out and take the mat out if it was forecast to be Lands End type winds.

As I said above, in a rural area where every one has old houses with, aging chimneys, roof tiles and a random mishmash of sheds and green houses, we'd have a lot of other mess to worry about.

Which reminds me I had better check the green house, it has been known to suffer on windy days.

[starballbunny]

Not allowed to put ours to bed for the winter, it's in constant use, the second it's faintly dry, DD2 is throwing back flips.

[differentnameforthis]

Of course you can tie them down

[differentnameforthis]

It is common sense. Many do not have it

Indeed, so rare it's a superpower these days !

[AnnabelleLee]

It is actually called a tie down kit. You can buy it with the trampoline.
Seriously, am I typing in swahili?

[Joysmum]

Common sense isn't very common.

Of course you can tie down trampolines! Of course people can take the nets off to make them less like a sail to be taken by the wind. As with most things in life though, people don't want to do any work or thinking about anything. They just buy the things and dump them in the garden without maintenance. Bloody mennace to all their neighbours.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

its an awful running joke in the severe weather community.

Trampolines turn into giant sails in high winds. However, sometimes those tie down kits are not strong enough and its still sensible to remove the nets in high weather.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

starball - untrue. Trampolines fly at much lower speeds than it takes to damage buildings.

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

A trampolene wrote off a car in last years storms, thank fuck it was stationary.

A giant frisbee shaped object will take off in high winds, they need to either be tied down (( using the kits available )) or just remove the net and bouncy part......it's not rocket science.