To completely waste police time?

[leftangle]

Our food recycling bin went missing - probably blown away. Looking at the council website to find a replacement I found this:

What if my wheeled bin or food caddy has gone missing?

If one of your wheeled bins has gone missing, please call xx Police on 101 to obtain a crime reference number and then call us on xx to request a replacement bin.

WTF. I know the police won't investigate but why should I report it as a crime, and add to the crime figures etc. But I do want a new bin and there doesn't seem to be another option.

Nah, ring the council and say your bin has gone missing, they'll just drop another one off to you. Ours do, anyway.

That's what they've advised so I guess you can do that but IMO it's a ridiculous waste of police time.

Is it so the council can cliam on the insurance

i would phone the council first and ask them. Hardly a 'crime' worthy of reporting.

Yes they'd appreciate that on a Saturday night

I might wait 'till Monday Ledkr

Or do you think I should call 999 just in case the criminals are still in the area

Yes I do, especially if you value your recycle bin.

We've lost a few but it's the grey army in our area that nick em.

Presumably you call the non emergency number.

We had our wheelie bin stolen. We had to ring 101. Our council will not drop off new bins without a ref number.

So missing wheelie bins are a criminal epidemic? Do you think there is a gang somewhere hoarding them....?

Well, it's not police time as such. A civvie will give you a crime ref no over the phone. They won't do any investigation or anything. It's insurance. There have been rumours for years that the police are going to stop giving them for insurance but until that time thats what insurance cos demand

Not quite the same but a few years back my work contract mobile phone was stolen on an evening out. It was an average phone of its time, but nothing special. I told Orange immediately so they could block the number and as it was a work contract Orange said I needed a police report as well to allow them to give my employers a replacement. I went to the local police station, very apologetic about time wasting and they weren't bothered at all, took less 5 minutes and I got my crime report.

I caught a man and boy stealing my bin! The lad jumped out of a van and shoved it in the back.I heard this ,ran out and stood in the road refusing to move .
I got it back but only after being verbally abused for ten minutes in my pinny !

I don't really think it was stolen even. It was a very windy day when it went and it doesn't have our house number on it. I would have thought it would save admin time to the value of the bin if they just replaced them (since the council pay for the police too).

Yabu don't you want to keep your council tax down?hey need an incident number to claim on their insurance.

I have a few bins outside my house, they all blew down to my end of the street several weeks ago and no one's come looking for them. I bet they just requested a new bin (no crime number needed here).

That's not wasting police time. That's what 101 is for, and its not technically the police that answer it. It's civvies. But I would just call the council.

It's not for insurance purposes, believe me.

It's because the council has so many requests for replacement bins from people who claim they have been nicked that they want to make it harder for you to get a new one than just calling up and saying yours has been pinched.

All of these bins (hundreds a week where I work - I kid you not) can't possibly have been nicked or taken in by a neighbour by mistake (not saying yours hasn't genuinely gone missing OP)

People want extra ones to use as water butts, to put compost in, to take down the allotment, to use at work, to have a spare and all sorts of other reasons.

Sure - some of them might have been pinched or lost, but not hundreds every week. The vast majority of people just want an extra one and to get one they claim it was stolen.

Councils don't insure wheelie bins and wouldn't claim on their insurance for the sake of how much they cost (I reckon less than £20 each, probably a less).

It's just to make it more difficult for chancers who want an extra bin to claim theirs has been stolen.

It's absolutely not right that they are encouraging people to get a crime number, it's a massive waste of police time.

But if it's costing a council thousands of pounds a week in replacements, they're doing it to put off the people whose bins haven't really been nicked.

I think the insurance companies should be funding an entire wing of the police force.

I used to be a call handler on what is now101. This would be exactly the type of thing I would deal with. It is what we were there for. It's not a waste of police time.

I even reunited a wheelie bin with its owner once!

our council charges £60.00 for a replacement bin....

All of these bins (hundreds a week where I work - I kid you not) can't possibly have been nicked or taken in by a neighbour by mistake
Propably most have blown away in the high gales we have had.

That figure was on an average week Coco when I was told, some months ago. So you're talking even more than that when it's windy.

That makes sense JulieBoo. But will I even get a crime number if I am honest and say I don't think it was stolen. And it has no distinguishing features. Maybe I should put up a wanted poster like for cats?

There isn't a cost for buying one on the council website - If I knew the price I would consider paying versus just putting the bones in the main bin.

At least your council offer that option. Ours just charge you £25 for a new one, regardless of what has happened to your original one. I was not impressed at having to pay when ours vanished!