The F###ing scaffolding is back!

[Allthecoolusernamesaregone]

Post 3

Briefly Post 1, Had had neighbour (1)’s scaffolding up in my garden for a month and then had argument with her misogynistic builder.

Post 2, Building work completed. Overjoyed that scaffolding finally removed Saturday morning - until I found out this was not by the company which owned it.

Today neighbour(2) said ‘I see your scaffolding has gone. Lucky you. Mine should have gone Saturday morning’

Long story short her scaffolding company thought they had collected and couldn’t understand why she was complaining, until she told them they had gone to the wrong address.

I asked her to make it clear that whatever they did with the scaffolding, I didn’t want it back. She agreed completely. She is fed up with hers, and that was for work on her own house.

I came home to find it in my front garden. It is no longer erected, doesn’t block light or access, but it takes up more space as all of the boards and poles are on the ground.

I understand to a degree why neighbour(2)’s company returned the items to where they found them.

I asked DH to phone the owning company to sort out collection, I desperately wanted someone to treat this seriously and thought he would stand a better chance.

Anyway he didn’t have any luck either. They can’t (won’t) collect until 29/7/22 - which is actually later than the date they have already given neighbour (1).

I will have no lawn left by then, there’s not enough space to use my table and chairs and I can’t easily get to my greenhouse.

We thought that after they presumably thought it had been stolen before they would want to collect urgently now it’s back.

What is my AIBU?

Have just been telling neighbour (3) about the saga. He queried why they hadn’t seen that the stencilled markings on the equipment weren’t theirs. His eyes lit up a bit when I said there were none.

He has always been fine with us, but he ‘knows’ lots of people and some of them are not averse to ‘catching’ things which ‘fall’ from lorries, etc.

He pointedly said it wasn’t a good idea for them to leave it lying in my garden, that dismantling it was noisy and time consuming, but just picking it up wasn’t, and it could easily just go missing when I was out.

I do want it gone. The man DH spoke to was rude and arrogant.

We are actually going out for several hours this evening.

WIBU to let that slip to neighbour (3)?

(I suspect it is unreasonable and that my desire to get rid of this inconvenience is clouding my normally very honest judgement.)

I remember reading an article where someone kept getting books through the post with a bill to pay that they hadn't asked for. The article was asking a solicitor for advise as to how he could stop it from happening as he hadn't asked or signed up to receiving the books and despite calling the company they kept sending them monthly.
The solicitor advised to phone once more followed by a letter stating that he hasn't asked for and didn't want said books and as of now any more would be seen as gifted and not to ask for payment.

So could you phone and tell them that as the scaffolding wasn't even used/needed by you you're there for going to assume it's gifted by themselves and you've had several people knocking your door offering to buy...
Some could even walk off with it and it's not your responsibility to stop them.

Failing that could you invoice them for storage?

Tell them you’ll be calling a volunteer organization and donating it if not removed by Wednesday. They’ll come.

OP you're being too nice and the pushover they are taking you for.

Who gives a flying ..fig that NDN 1 is a key worker. They are massively taking advantage and clearly don't care about you
Tell the company you've reported fly tipping in your garden and the council are on their way. Then report it. See who gets there first.

Whilst it is tempting, I don’t think dumping the scaffolding in her garden is a route I can take. She certainly could have been more proactive, but she is a single parent and key worker...

Who fucking cares? What does her being a "key worker" have to do with anything? Honestly, you and your husband are the biggest mugs in the world.

The scaffolding company who own it aren't the ones responsible for it being on your lawn. It's the scaffolders who picked it up by mistake and then dumped it back on your lawn. They and your neighbours are the ones who seem to have taken you for granted. The scaffolders who put it up are doing what they're doing because your neighbour didn't insist on terms requiring them to remove as soon as it was done with (and didn't pay for that standard of service).

You could try telling the ones who put it on your lawn that you will sue them for the damage to your lawn if they don't move it - either to the owners or to the neighbour's. But I don't hold out much hope.

It's your neighbour that should be jumping through hoops for you and if she's not I wouldn't feel bad about making it a problem for her the way it is a problem for you.

.

How about constructing a wooden sign and hammering it into the ground in your front garden.

"Free scaffoldng.Help yourself"

If you are on a busy road it might be gone before the end of the month.

Tell the company you've reported fly tipping in your garden and the council are on their way

Trust me. The scaffold owner will not give a flying shit. Besides the scaffold is on private property so the council will rightly say this is a civil matter.

@Sallypally0 The Council won’t remove it on private land but they will prosecute. I did the same thing to a skip company who had put a skip on land that wasn’t there’s and it went within an hour.

Good morning,

I am currently dancing around my house and singing, on repeat - and loosely to the tune of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

’It’s gone’
’Its gone’
’The scaffolding has gone’

I looked out of my window and I have a lovely empty front garden. No damage to my greenhouse, which has miraculously survived all of these movements.

The best part is I have absolutely no idea what happened to it.

Thank you to everyone who has kept me company through this.

Unless anything interesting happens when the loss is being investigated there won’t be a fourth instalment of this saga.

Oooh er. A midnight flit by the scaffolding.

I'm currently listening to a VERY noisy scaffolding delivery (which reminded me to check this thread) so how the devil did it go so quietly?

And probably not to it's legit owners given the timing of the collection!!!

Just to clarify, I also agree that neighbour(1) shouldn’t get any additional consideration due to her work and relationship situation.
For some reason, however, this has elevated her to a cross between goddess like status, and a poor vulnerable woman by some of the other neighbours - who don’t live right next to her.
We all have to live here, and generally get along quite well, and I didn’t want to rock the boat by my family being seen as bullying my ‘poor’ neighbour.

Ooh it's gone!

I do like a saga with a happy ending.

And you heard nothing.

Or should I say "...and you heard nothing?"

They must have been the quietest removal men ever - have you got cameras to check ?

I heard nothing, and my dog didn’t stir either.

My bedroom is at the back of the house and I had a fan on for some of the time.

Also I live on the outskirts of a village and there are farmer’s fields close by.
Night time noise at harvesting time, with clanking machinery, isn’t that uncommon, and we also get noise from local airbases, so possibly I just filter it out.

I came on here expecting to be disappointed because Neighbour 3 hadn't stepped up.

What a great start to the day!

I do hope you'll update us when the scaffolding company come round to collect nothing. They deserved this for their attitude towards you.

Brilliant!

Is neighbour 1's scaffolding still there?

Good question.

I’ve just been and had a look.

Hers is still place.

I suppose that probably rules out mine having been collected by the rightful owner.

I am relieved that it has gone though, and that I don’t have to persuade anyone to move/ collect it.

I will deal with any consequences with police and insurance when they arise.

I have just had an awful thought. If the police manage to recover I hope they don’t bring it back here!

You say rightful owner, OP, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had procured the scaffolding by dodgy means in the first place.

It’s so they don’t have to pay for storage

Good news is your insurance and the police shouldn't get involved.

You clearly called them and told them to move it, they told you you weren't the customer... If you aren't the customer it's nothing to do with you.

They knew it was in the wrong garden, so unlikely their insurance will cover it.

Don't admit any liability.

Not necessarily. Much quicker and easier to quickly scoop up dismantled scaffolding form your garden than dismantle Neighbour 1’s. Could still have been the original scaffolders who did it.