To ask this woman to stop?!

Where I live, if you use a council removal service, it could be as long as a month between booking a slot and getting the collection. If the things are heavy and you are me then you will only want to move them once. If I use a local licenced collector it will be gone within the week or less.

I think we've established there are people who think this is acceptable behaviour. That dumping rubbish constantly on your drive and neighbours not wanting to look at the shit you leave lying about until someone clears it up for you, is in fact their problem, the pearl clutching idiots.

Likely the same people whose children run about restaurants. Guffawing "it's what children do". No, it's what some children are allowed to do when their parents have no respect for anyone else or the environment they're in.

Same principle here.

If you book a collection, you have a set day/time it will be collected, you know for sure it will be collected and more importantly you know it will be securely and safely disposed of.

They’ll give you a day, but that’s it - it was something like five or six hours the last time I used the service. Even if someone puts something outside literally the minute before their timeslot, it could be out there for six hours. That’s before you consider that they might actually have to do it before they go to work or bed. And as several other posters have pointed out, booking a council collection doesn’t stop someone just taking the items.

People who collect stuff and then irresponsibly dump it, do so for the cash. They don't just pick stuff up for free and dump it.

The stupidity and lack of education as well as self-justification on this thread is eye watering.

Of course they do it for cash! That doesn't preclude unlicensed people picking up stuff for free and fly tipping and getting cash for the stuff they can get cash for.

So they trawl around areas, see for example a tumble drier. Pick it up strip out the metal which they can (as an unlicensed person) just take to a scrap metal dealer in return for cash and then fly tip the non-metal stuff - electrics, plastic shell parts and so on.

If the fly tipped waste can be traced back to you, you could be prosecuted yourself.

What people appear to be missing, is that OP is leaving junk there every couple of weeks. That's a lot of rubbish for your fellow residents to have to see constantly.

Imagine it - having to see some broken things on someone else’s driveway! To actually see it! The horror!

One of my neighbours left an old TV in their yard in 1996. I’m still in therapy.

Yes, I think there's some clear snobbery on this thread.

If there was a local 'committee' that organised a 'neighbourhood bring and share fete' - kind of like a modern-day jumble sale - this would be praised as a great, worthy, amazing way of bringing the community together whilst helping the environment; but because it's done on an ongoing basis, by often much less salubrious people who have busy lives and don't have the luxury of lots of spare time to design flyers to put through everybody's doors, put up bunting and contact the local paper, it's 'low class, dirty, irresponsible, anti-social and generally a scummy thing to do'.

People who collect stuff and then irresponsibly dump it, do so for the cash. They don't just pick stuff up for free and dump it.

If you order collection from the council, it's still left out and will likely be taken if a scrap man comes first. That's probably why the council ask you to leave it, they still get the cash but don't complete the work.

A scrap man will only take it if he deems it fit. He won't take it to dump irresponsibly as it will take up valuable van space.

There is no issue in what the OP is doing.

If the council are so worried about fly tipping, maybe they could have an alternative system rather than asking people to leave stuff outside for collection where it will inevitably be taken by the local scrap man first (in my area at least).

I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to tell you how uncouth it is.

yes, because when you leave something out for the council to collect, it magically conceals itself into an alternate universe until they arrive so that the neighbours can't see it and the scrap man can't take it away first.

It's easy enough to hear the scrap metal people and see that they take it. I know exactly who takes it.

It's not 'in the hopes of' it's deliberately leaving it for them to pick up. When I ask the council to pick something up - guess what? It goes outside my house too! No difference!

If you call the council and arrange for them to pick up scrap from your house, they give you a date and time window and tell you to leave it outside.

Once you leave it outside for them, unless you sit there watching until they get there, you also don't know who will pick it up. A teenager could be first to get there, or a drunk person, or a local scrap man. How is it different?

The scrap man in my area gets here quicker than the council, the council give you a time window so that they don't have to coordinate around your working hours or arrive and wait for you to get whatever it is out of your house.

I don't understand why calling the council makes it any more certain who will actually pick the thing up. Maybe you don't really believe that scrap men go round certain areas so frequently?

It's her way of saying you're scruffy and to stop it.

Not a question of luck here. I put something out and it's gone by the end of the day. What's so wrong with the scrap metal men taking your old metal?

Of course it's luck. Unless you sit watching, you have no idea who takes whatever you've left.

Whats wrong with it I've explained repeatedly.

Because you don't know that it's the scrap metal man that takes it and obviously from the OP she's not just talking about scrap metal, nor are most people here, they are talking about general junk as well given the neighbour brings it to the front door AND this is occuring so often that it is annoying the OP.

It's just vile leaving your crap at the edge of your property in the hope someone takes it for the reasons I've said repeatedly including environmentally unfriendly and fly tipping.

https://maxileadmetals.co.uk/news/fly-tipping/

https://www.nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk/street-cleansing/fly-tipping/2

https://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/council-news/2023/11/remember-scrap-code-help-prevent-fly-tipping

I completely agree.

Not a question of luck here. I put something out and it's gone by the end of the day. What's so wrong with the scrap metal men taking your old metal?

This. And it probably does look a right mess.

Put up a sign! As you say, it's private property. You don't want someone thinking they can come and take your hanging baskets

I left an old radiator in my garden last week, close to the road. It was gone an hour later. I saw the man who took it, he wasn't a drunk or a teenager, he was collecting scrap metal .

If I'd called the council or some other paid service to collect it, they would have told me to leave it outside for collection - ok on a given date but they don't give you a precise minute to be out there. The scrap man probably would have picked it up before the council got here because in my area they come round extremely quickly. If I lived in an area where scrap men didn't come round quickly I obviously wouldn't leave it outside, I don't want an old radiator sitting in my front garden for many reasons. But it seems silly to arrange a paid delivery when there are people round here who want to take the stuff for free. If the council were worried about fly tipping they could drop leaflets round, I've never heard of or seen fly tipping problems in my area and I have no reason to think the scrap men are being irresponsible.

That's very strange. As you say it's for the scrap men to take, it's not something decent you're giving away for free.

I think you're going to have to be a bit forceful. Next time it happens, come out your door take your item, quickly march to put it back and tell her 'stop touching my belongings and coming onto my property!'

Exactly this.

What people appear to be missing, is that OP is leaving junk there every couple of weeks. That's a lot of rubbish for your fellow residents to have to see constantly.

It's such an ignorant "I'm ok Jack" attitude to leave junk on your property at such a frequent level, but sod anyone who lives nearby and takes pride in how the area looks, because I'm entitled to leave rubbish where I like on my drive.

Once or twice a year is different, although it still wouldn't happen where I live. But twice a month? That's really ignorant behaviour.

There is no 'uncertainty' .

Don't be silly of course there is.

Firstly you have no idea who is taking whatever junk you are leaving. It could be kids chucking it over next doors fence for a laugh. It could be a drunk kicking small items down the road. It could be an unlicensed "scrap" metal person who strips it and fly tips it.

Secondly you say there is no uncertain duration but in the next breath say "as long as you want to leave it" - that is uncertain because it is entirely in your gift. It's unsurprising it's pissing off your neighbour. Council collections or pre-arranged collections are much safer.

It's unpleasant and irresponsible behaviour. A responsible thing to do is arrange for someone licenced or the council to dispose of your junk or freecyle it or ebay whatever it is.

Randomly hoping that crap deposited at the end of your driveway happens to be collected by a roving scrap merchant is a question of luck really and whether they happen to get there first.

It's very indicative of poorer areas I think. It's just doesn't happen in more affluent and well-kept areas because people are a bit more respectful of their environment and their neighbours.

@SirQuintusAureliusMaximus
Leaving outside is leaving it for uncertain duration, uncontrolled about who takes it or interferes with it (including kids and teenagers), most likely an an unlicenced person will probably strip it for parts and themselves fly tip it somewhere.

It's not an 'uncertain duration', it's as long as I think I want to leave it. Things go really quickly from outside my house but if anything didn't go very quickly I'd bring it in. There is no 'uncertainty' .
Worrying about my stuff being interfered with is a bit of a stretch. Plenty of people have things at the front of their houses and don't worry about them being interfered with. I have a lot of pot plants.

I am not sure about the risk of items getting stripped down. I have left a washing machine out and it was taken by a guy who advertises on our local FB pages. He is quite well known so I am pretty sure he is legit. I guess it might be more of a risk on other areas.

I think some of the replies on this thread are silly. It's a very normal thing to do in my town.

Some people aren't fortunate enough to have a scrap man and it shows.

OP she's clearly not happy with you putting stuff on your drive but that's what you do to get it collected, even by the council, so she will have to deal with it. Tell her the council are collecting it worst case.

@NiceCutRoundDomeDormice

Once again, what do you think happens when the council collects things? The items don’t grow wings and fly out of the house. You have to leave them outside!

Once again, you are missing the point.

If you book a collection, you have a set day/time it will be collected, you know for sure it will be collected and more importantly you know it will be securely and safely disposed of.

Leaving outside is leaving it for uncertain duration, uncontrolled about who takes it or interferes with it (including kids and teenagers), most likely an an unlicenced person will probably strip it for parts and themselves fly tip it somewhere.

Complete lack of respect for the environment, the neighbourhood and safe and secure disposal.