Just stopped someone taking something from a neighbours skip - was I foolish

[TakeTheEgg]

Neighbours skip on their front drive, so not on the road. They have an ongoing house renovation that has literally been going on for years - not sure this is relevant, but anyway, they aren't actually living in the property but this isn't obvious to anyone who doesn't know/live in our road iyswim?

We live in a small cul de sac - so it's obvious when vans are here when they shouldnt be. There are a LOT of car thefts going on at the moment so we are increasingly suspicious of any unfamiliar vans in the road at the moment.

Anyway ... I'm sitting in my living room with blinds still down when I hear a van outside. I look outside to see someone going thru neighbours skip, so I open my door and the guy looks up at me quite startled to see me standing there. I just said that I didn't think he should be taking stuff from the skip - he replied with "why not, it's just a bit of metal?". I then said that he really should be asking the property owner first. He looked a bit peed off with me, but did get back in his van and drive off back down the road.

I've achieved nothing have I? Except pee off someone who will probably come back and let down my tyres or something probably worse!

I managed to take a photo of the van and next door have cctv which will probably have captured some of this.

Full disclosure, I woke up with a blinding headache and am mad with the world.

I should have just kept my nose out if it this morning though, shouldn't I?

Oh OP, this sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'd do - go out because I'm worried something bad is happening, panic, then say the wrong thing and wish I'd never stuck my head out in the first place. Don't give it any more thought - it doesn't really matter.

The rule is if adding to the skip it is WRONG, if taking from the skip it is OKAY and even doing the owner a favour by freeing up space for more to be added or less weight to cart off. Plus there is the environmental aspect of keeping stuff out of landfill.

We have all at one point chosen a strange, and maybe wrong, hill to die on OP. Move on, it's not worth the headspace!

Don't stress about it, have a bun and a big mug of tea. You didn't stab orinoco .

Its a weird one. My DM had a skip and we had two blokes rummaging through it. Dm was furious and got rid of them.

I was like, but it's going to landfill anyway and it frees up space in the skip, what's not to like? But she didn't like random men just "taking" her stuff

YABU!

Seriously .

@HelenWick your db was very entrepreneurial, well done to him.

If it makes you feel any better OP, I opened my front door with a flourish and reprimanded the skip divers in my own driveway 🙄I told them was happy for them to take whatever they liked but they should've asked first as it's only polite.

They were very apologetic and I felt like a right idiot.

I taken stuff from skips and been glad when someone took stuff from skilps we’ve hired. I rescued a lovely half moon table, covered in grey paint. Took it home, stripped it down, repainted the legs in Dulux soft sheen antique cream paint, and waxed the natural wood top. It Is in my hall and I love it.
I got an exercise bike from a skip.
Someone took my old kitchen cabinet doors out of my skip, after new kitchen refit.I had some worktops from the old kitchen in the garage so I went out and asked the bloke if they would be any use to him. He was over the moon, he was fitting out his garage, he had the cabinet carcasses already but not the doors or worktop.
I was over the moon too as it freed up space in the skip and saved me from hiring another one.

As an aside - I thought that skip hire places sold stuff like metals etc and didn’t just landfill the lot anymore? Due to landfill taxes & scrap values.

If you’ve had loads of break in on your road and are also feeling crap then understandable behaviour ... though a mug of tea and paracetamol would work better. Hope you’re feeling well again soon.

If he had started filling the skip with his own rubbish then absolutely get out there and stop the fly tipping. But taking stuff from a skip? That just frees up space for the homeowner so they dont need to pay for emptying as often, and the metal is recycled rather than dumped.

Why did you even bother with this?

When we had a skip, it was great when people took things out, the things were getting a new life and there was more space in the skip for us to fill.

Have also had some good skip finds....toys, books, chairs and other household things.

Don't beat yourself up op. You made a bad judgement and you've owned it. We call it tatting where I live btw, dd's drawers came from a skip and were upcycled!

I'm afraid Uncle Bulgaria won't be happy with you OP.

In USA they call it "dumpster diving" and people make a living at it.

I've had loads of good items out of skips (but I've always asked first).

The last haul I had was some brand new casserole dishes and other kitchenware, place mats and coasters, tablecloths and some interesting houseplants.

The houseplants went to a charity B & B sale and made a fiver each.

You weren’t an idiot though. The contents were yours and for all they knew you could have had a conversation that morning with a friend and said ‘oh yes, we have some old this items in our skip. Pop by this afternoon to take them’ and then they could have turned up to them gone.

So you’ve told off someone for rummaging through someone’s bin?

Would you have done that too if it has been a normal waste bin and the person was looking for food?

On our local Facebook page a poster put a pic up of a skip on his drive with a plea to the person who’d dumped this chair and two bedside cabinets in his skip to remove it pronto or his van reg would be posted for all to see. The chair was a Lazeeboy recliner, it looked brand new and still had the instructions in the plastic wallet they come with attached to it. The cabinets looked in good nick too. I suggested he sell the lot.

Most of my childhood home, and virtually all of my student flat came from skips. Carpet, bed, video recorder, microwave, kitchen tiles, bookcases... my dad was the original Womble.

I think it was good of you to remind him that he should probably ask first, especially as the skip was on someone's property and not the street.

@TheWomanTheyCallJayne Yeah I know- it was more the way I sounded tbh 😂A proper outraged Hyacinth.

I was also a bit concerned for their safety- one of them was actually in the skip and there was a broken mirror in there. Didn't want them cutting themselves.

I really do not understand your thinking here. It was none of your business obviously, but why would you want to stop this? What were you trying to achieve? If someone removes something from a skip, they benefit, the skip owner/renter benefits, the environment benefits. Literally noone loses. Yet you decided to prevent that nice little virtuous circle.

So he was going to sell the scrap
metal for scrap metal, which then gets recycled?

Your neighbours will be paying a lot per full skip load. Better you police anyone dumping stuff in it than taking stuff out to re-use or re-cycle.

I’m going to disagree with the majority based on my experience.

Last time we had a skip this happened and we wouldn’t have been bothered if they were just taking out of the skip. Unfortunately once they get on your drive they start sniffing about for anything else they can grab at the same time and we had other items taken that were quite clearly not destined for the skip. One of our builders went out at one point to find them peering with intent into the back of his van as he was carrying bathroom fixtures and fittings from the van into the house.

I think your heart was in the right place OP but when I moved in my new home and hired a skip I would place any metal at the front outside of the skip so scrap merchants could re use
Reusing and also making space of a very costly skip
You did what you thought was right I wouldn’t stress x

If someone is on my driveway, I’d have an issue with that, especially as I’ve had my car and driveway damaged previously.

If they were looking for food, I would happily give them food from my kitchen.

It's rubbish! Better to recycle and somebody have a use out of it.