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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

CFs fly-tipping outside my home

14 replies

GraceMarks · 09/02/2019 11:09

I'm an owner occupier in a small flat near a main road, but the access to it is not council land. For the last two years, somebody has been using the little terrace area just behind my flat as a dumping ground for old furniture and appliances that they evidently don't want any more. It always appears while I'm out at work during the day, so I never catch them at it, and my neighbours always say they didn't see who it was either. It could be them, of course, but they deny it...

I once tried to report it to the council as fly-tipping but they said that, because it's private land, they are unable to take this stuff away without charging me. So I'm left with three choices: leave a festering pile of broken microwaves and mattresses outside my flat, pay the council £35 per two items to take it away, or load it into my own car and take it to the tip. Usually I do the latter, but sometimes there are fridges and sofas that won't fit in my car and I have to resort to paying for disposal.

Now, I imagine that the people doing this have neither the money to pay the council nor a car to go to the tip themselves. And they've seen that dumping their crap outside my flat works in the end, because I always get rid of it eventually. I'm just furious that they think it's acceptable to make this my problem and responsibility. I might be better off than them, but I'm still hardly financially comfortable.

My AIBU is - is this the sort of thing the police would have any interest in whatsoever? I want to make it stop and the council aren't interested, so I can't think what else to do.

OP posts:

ecumenicalpatter · 09/02/2019 11:11

Just get CCTV - it's so cheap these days.

Aeonium · 09/02/2019 11:12

Drag it onto the public road before you call the council to report it? Or secure your property with locked gates.

Finfintytint · 09/02/2019 11:12

No, the police won’t be interested.
Can you put a camera there?
Or block access to the area somehow?

QuantumGirl · 09/02/2019 11:12

There is an app called Alfred. It works as cctv.

ZoeWashburne · 09/02/2019 11:12

Put up a camera and a sign that says "no flytipping. This area is monitored by CCTV"

DoneLikeAKipper · 09/02/2019 11:13

Without proof, I’m not sure what the police could do either. I feel for you, we had exactly the same problem a few years ago in the private alley that lead to our house. In our case, we just blocked it off.

Could you set up CCTV to either deter or catch the buggers?

Finfintytint · 09/02/2019 11:13

Aeonium, the op would be fly tipping herself if she did that!

MothertotheLordsofmisrule · 09/02/2019 11:13

Agree with CCTV, you can get tiny cameras that trigger on motion and send to your phone.
At least you may get a number plate.

Get a friend (or start renting out parking space) to leave a car in the access so they can’t get in and eventually give up?

greenelephantscarf · 09/02/2019 11:19

we have an area between houses near me that got fly tipped regularly.

what really helped was 'prettying' the area up. with plants and a lick of paint on the fence. plus putting in a small gate.
no more fly tipping after that.

Original poster

GraceMarks · 09/02/2019 11:24

They won't be coming in by car - it's on a main road and there's nowhere to stop. Besides, if they did have a car and they were able to get the stuff into one, I don't understand why they wouldn't just go to the tip. It's only about a two minute drive from me!

CCTV might have to be the way forward. At least if I catch someone doing it, I can go round and tell them to knock it off.

OP posts:

Aeonium · 09/02/2019 11:24

Aeonium, the op would be fly tipping herself if she did that!

And? I don’t see why she should pay the council to collect flytipped rubbish that they’d take for free if it was 20ft further down the road.

Aeonium · 09/02/2019 11:30

if they did have a car and they were able to get the stuff into one, I don't understand why they wouldn't just go to the tip

We have this issue in my village. The tip is literally 2 minutes away. We figured out it’s because the tip won’t take certain things eg fridges, and you’re only allowed to go there in a car not a van or other commercial vehicle, and if you go too many times they’ll accuse you of being commercial not domestic and will ban you.

I bet you a tenner it’s a man in a van whose charging people to take rubbish then dumping it because he doesn’t have a commercial waste licence. Try photographing the waste and posting it on local FB pages to see if anyone can identify it as rubbish they’ve paid someone to take away. And contact the parish council to see if it’s hapoening regularly in the area.

Original poster

GraceMarks · 09/02/2019 11:41

Aeonium that's a thought... tbh, most of the time it's small appliances like lamps, microwaves, kettles, stuff like that. Sometimes kitchenware and old clothes. Our tip definitely does take fridges because I checked - they even take asbestos! But you could be right about the licence thing. I would hope that the businesses on the street might have noticed if a white van is regularly stopping outside my building and unloading junk, because it's supposed to be a no stopping zone and it would cause traffic issues. Perhaps it would be worth speaking to some of the business owners too.

OP posts:

Aeonium · 09/02/2019 11:50

Get a camera. Bet you discover it’s always the same guy whose operating an unlicensed rubbish removal service. He might have several spots where he regularly tips. And when you catch him you must shop him to the council and the police.

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