To wonder why people 'don't drive'

[ZX81user]

..medical conditions aside.It is such a useful life skill.
I think it is part of a parent's responsibility to get their teen througj their test.

But BurningGubbins, where do you keep it all until then?

And we couldn't afford a skip, they cost hundreds now, and a licensed waste contractor is even more expensive (I would never use an unlicensed one, we have the most godawful fly tipping problem in the countryside round here).

Never been to a tip in my life. Compost heap for garden stuff and everything I own I have had almost forever.

the amount of car loads that DH takes is quite a lot, I imagine people must hire skips or people to take it away

We have already been twice since the start of spring. DP cleared out the garage, so there was an old bike, a broken strimmer, a knackered camping table and loads of other crap. The second time was more garage crap and some garden stuff. We have a builder's bag of garden stuff to go as soon as DP gets up and will almost certainly refill it with the amount of pruning that's let to do, plus we're taking down 2 forsythia trees that are way past their best and too close to the fence.

And there's still loads of timber and 2 fire doors (legacy from my ex) in the garage, and if I ever get round to clearing out the spare room, that'll probably be at least another 2 trips.

I daren't even think about the loft. I've never been in there, I know my ex left stuff in there and I know DP put loads off stuff up there when he moved in. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the contents of the loft alone would fill three skips.

They should give loyalty points at the tip. I could use them to pay some of the exorbitant council tax.

My family simply could never have afforded it.

I haven't RTFT but I don't drive because :

• owning/running a car is a money pit (I save around 200-300 per month I estimate, not including big unforeseen repair bills)
• I find public transport relaxing (have time to read, check emails, daydream)
• I'm unlikely to kill or maim anyone on my daily commute
• I am fitter and weigh at least 2 stone less than if I drove places
• I can look my child in the eye and say that I did my bit for the planet that she would be living in as an adult

Enough Reasons???

I actually pity people whose lifestyle means they are car dependent

Er, bulk refuse collection from council!

Never been to a tip. I don't have a garden so never have garden waste. We have huge communal bins round the back of our flats so I can fit most of my rubbish in there. When I needed an old mattress getting rid of the council took it away for me for free.

In London I can see why you wouldn’t drive. But I suppose I get annoyed with people who don’t drive but expect others to take care of them like they are children. It happens quite regularly.
One friend bought a TV from a place that doesn’t deliver and asked who could help her collect it.
A work friend getting married and the non drivers assuming they’d be collected and dropped off to their doors.
This week a friend at work complaining that the bus doesn’t go to her favorite beach and her sister went without inviting her!
I do think that if you need a lift regularly then learn how to drive and rent a car so you can occasionally return some favors. Or if you don’t drive at least do it like an adult and don’t demand to be minded.

LakieLady in the garage when we had one, before that in our tiny courtyard garden or in bags in the spare room. In that place we couldn’t have a skip because it wasn’t on a road so we’d use waste removal people (about £125, as I recall). If you’re at the tip that often surely the petrol cost must mount up anyway? We probably only got waste taken away 1-2 times per year, the rest of the time we put it in with our normal rubbish or asked the council to take it.

“In reality, if two people are going to the same place, they probably take one car. Two drivers share one car? No one bats an eyelid - in fact, you’re saving carbon emissions. Two people share a car because one can’t drive? She’s a lazy, selfish, ‘entitled’ bitch.“
Because it’s always the same person getting the lift and never returning the favour. The person driving normally has to go out of their way to collect and drop the other person too so they have the longer journey. That’s fine when it’s reciprocated but not if it’s always a one way thing.

I've never needed to drive as have always lived in cities with really good transport links. It has always been easier and cheaper for me to use public transport to get to work as well as do the school/nursery run plus we love being able to work to town etc rather than being dependent on a car.

How do non-drivers manage without ever going to the tip? We're always down at the bloody tip, with huge great bags of prunings, grass cuttings and general garden detritus, old household crap, packaging that's too big to go in the recycling bin and other stuff.

Does all of this go into landfill at the tip? Or is there the opportunity to put it into larger recycling/ compost bins to avoid unnecessary landfill?

We have never needed to go to the tip.
Garden waste goes into the compost bin.
Household items either get given away, charity bin (walk there) or into the general bin. If something large you can pay for a council collection for around £15, but we have never needed this.
Packaging goes in the recycling bin. If there is too much I take out to the bin men in a bag when they come round in the morning.
I've never been to a tip.

Does all of this go into landfill at the tip? Or is there the opportunity to put it into larger recycling/ compost bins to avoid unnecessary landfill?

No- the tip nowadays is a recycling centre. There are loads of different bins and you put your waste in the correct ones (and there are workers watching who tell you off for using the wrong bin). We moved house fairly recently so went to the tip a few times and I think everything went for recycling we took.

All those claiming they never ask for lifts... what do you do in an emergency? I’ve frequently had to bundle kids or friends into the car when they’ve been ill or injured and get them to a&e. If I’d had to sit and wait for a taxi I would have gone crazy.
Cost - understandable if you are very young but if not, I think it’s something worth sorting. Things are generally more expensive if you don’t drive - cost of public transport, taxis, buying the thing that’s nearest instead of travelling to get the cheapest thing. Eg little corner shops in city centres charge way more than the big supers or cash and carry.
Environment - a moot point if you’re having all your shopping delivered! You’re in denial if you think not driving (but living life with all the other environment-destroying habits we all have - like eating chocolate or wearing cotton - huuuuge carbon footprint btw) will be enough to save the world.
I didn’t pass my test till my 30s so I have lived as a parent both with and without driving. I know which is easier/best for the kids and also less likely to depend on the kindness of others!

If I’d had to sit and wait for a taxi I would have gone crazy

I've never had to wait more than a few minutes for a taxi. And surely if its an emergency that can't wait a few minutes you would call an ambulance anyway.

If you live in London a car is seriously not necessary.

I don't drive. Never have. I've never applied for a job that listed driving as a necessity, and I don't plan to. My career is going fine, thank you. I live in zone 5 London, basically suburbia. My commute is an hour's peaceful time to read. Buses go past my house every five minutes. There are five primary schools and three secondary within a 20 minute walk. Shopping gets delivered. I never ask for lifts. Occasionally I get a cab.

Oh, and I was nearly killed in an accident when I was 11. I'm utterly terrified I could do that if I was a driver. So I live, work and holiday in a way that accommodates my needs.

My parents never drove. We lived in a Town with good public transport and feeding and housing the family was rightly their priority.
Eventually I moved away and learnt but no why should it have been my parents responsibility to fund this.

As funds were limited for them.

If you live in London a car is seriously not necessary.

Location is key isn't it? When I lived in Cirencester a car was almost essential. The last bus out of Ciren was about 6pm if I remember correctly. The last bus in from Cheltenham leaves about 7pm. A taxi from Swindon or Cheltenham would be about £30-40.

I once got a train into Kemble (the local train station a few miles out of Ciren) on a Sunday evening about 8pm. I tried all the local taxi numbers and no drivers were working. In the end I found a mobile number of a cab driver and he was in Bingo and when his game finished he came to get me.

You'd be massively limited in what you could do if you couldn't drive, and Cirencester's a decent sized town.

@BurningGubbins The tip is only just over a mile away, so petrol cost is minimal, and we usually go when we're going shopping or something else anyway.

Our council won't take unbagged rubbish, and the charge for bulk waste collections is exorbitant (£36 to remove a bed, when my neighbour enquired - we took it to the tip for her). The garden waste scheme is £48 pa, and for that you can only fill one small wheelie bin a month. Because we have a lot of mature shrubs, most of our garden waste wouldn't fit anyway. Just doing the hedges twice a year fills a one-tonne builders' bag each time. Definitely too much to compost!

I don't have a problem with going to the tip, and everything possible is recycled. They compost all the garden waste, and then sell it back to you! If we didn't drive, I've no idea what we'd do.

I’ve frequently had to bundle kids or friends into the car when they’ve been ill or injured and get them to a&e. If I’d had to sit and wait for a taxi I would have gone crazy

If it's an emergency I would call 999.
If it isn't an emergency there is time to organise a taxi, use public transport or see GP instead, managing my own worry if necessary.
If I was "crazy" with worry I definitely wouldn't drive all my children due to the increased risk of accidents.
I've only taken my DC to A&E once and we caught the tube, which was great.

Because it’s always the same person getting the lift and never returning the favour. The person driving normally has to go out of their way to collect and drop the other person too so they have the longer journey. That’s fine when it’s reciprocated but not if it’s always a one way thing

There are different ways of reciprocating though. My bf lives on the same road as someone he works with. Sometimes - maybe a few times a month he’ll grab a lift home from work. In return his allows his mate to use his garage for free as mate doesn’t have one. Rental of garages costs £600+ a month where he is as they’re at a premium.

He never gets lifts when mate isn’t going to/from work. Just if he’s going the same way. I expect mate is fairly happy with that!

But I'm not judging those who don't drive, as I said upthread I didn't until my late 20s. It was hard work learning as an adult through so will definitely fund and strongly encourage my children to do it at 17. Whether they choose to drove after that is their choice as long as they're not expecting me to drive them everywhere!!

how much rubbish do people have ?

Garden waste in compost bin or garden waste bin collected every two weeks
large pacakaging cut up and put in bins
anything usable to charity shops or if I leave it outside the house the scrapman or someone else would take it. Nothing ever lasts more than a couple of hours
freecycle
recyle - yesterday we took apart my son's trampoline. Pretty much all of it will end up down the allotment being reused for something.