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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think they should have covered their skip ...

27 replies

LakieLady · 02/11/2023 07:01

People diagonally across the road from me are having building works done and have had a skip full to overflowing with scrap timber etc on their drive for a couple of weeks.

It was really noisy last night because of the storm, loads of stuff blowing around, gates blown open and clattering etc. When I looked out this morning, there was loads of builder's rubbish in the road and the skip has a lot less in it than it did yesterday. It's big bits of rubbish, too - pieces of plywood more than 2' square and lengths of 2x2 timber, plus 2 sides of a uPVC window frame and some glass are just a few of the bits of debris I can see from my window.

I think it's bloody dangerous. I wouldn't want to be hit by a bit of 2x2 travelling at 50 mph.

Surely they should have put one of those big nets over it to keep the crap in?

OP posts:
Kittenkitty · 02/11/2023 07:14

Go online on the council website and you can probably report it.

Original poster
LakieLady · 02/11/2023 07:22

Kittenkitty · 02/11/2023 07:14

Go online on the council website and you can probably report it.

Pretty futile reporting anything to our council, I'm afraid. The current wait time for a reply is about 8 weeks for most things. My NDN is an avid reporter of things and is always moaning about it.

I suppose we should be grateful that their portable lav was taken away a couple of days ago - imagine that blowing down the street! It would be a true shitshow.

OP posts:
dylanschicken · 02/11/2023 07:32

Where would the people have got one of those big nets from?

Pottedpalm · 02/11/2023 07:35

Go and knock on their door and point out the debris. More high winds on their way, depending on where you live, so ask them to secure it. Probably more effective than complaining on here.

Original poster
LakieLady · 02/11/2023 07:37

dylanschicken · 02/11/2023 07:32

Where would the people have got one of those big nets from?

My BIL gets his from a company called Harveys, which caused some confusion in conversation as that is also the name of a well-known Sussex brewery.

OP posts:
theduchessofspork · 02/11/2023 07:39

Ask them to do that.

I didn’t know nets existed so they probably don’t.

If they haven’t cleaned up the mess ask them to do that too.

Original poster
LakieLady · 02/11/2023 07:40

Pottedpalm · 02/11/2023 07:35

Go and knock on their door and point out the debris. More high winds on their way, depending on where you live, so ask them to secure it. Probably more effective than complaining on here.

They appear to be away. I believe it's the contractors' responsibility, anyway.

OP posts:
Stopaskingmequestionsandputthegerbildown · 02/11/2023 07:44

So speak to them about it HTH

Koalakubs · 02/11/2023 07:49

On our street one of us would have picked it up and returned it to the skip. I’d have done it as soon as I saw it this morning.
The neighbour opposite would have done it with a grumble 😂. But he would have swept up the glass too and told the neighbour what happened (honestly and not nastily) so they can prevent it in the future.

AutumnCrow · 02/11/2023 07:50

What part of the country are you in? Maybe we could track down an emergency council phone number for you, regarding reporting the flying debris. I know mine had one during Storm Arwen (I think it was Arwen - they all started to meld after a while).

Brefugee · 02/11/2023 07:53

theduchessofspork · 02/11/2023 07:39

Ask them to do that.

I didn’t know nets existed so they probably don’t.

If they haven’t cleaned up the mess ask them to do that too.

but you see it on the back of trucks all the time. Nets to stop bits flying off.

I would have told them, and then told them to get it covered somehow (old bedsheets or something) until the skip company can come up with a solution for them.

BlinkinKnackered · 02/11/2023 08:07

Have a look at the waste duty of care code of practice (exciting I know). The producers of waste have a legal obligation to prevent escape of waste.

Flyawaybirdfly · 02/11/2023 08:10

When the skip is collected, it has to be covered. It would be an unsecured load.
The skip driver would be stopped by police if seen.

AgaMM · 02/11/2023 08:13

It’s not like they did it deliberately. And many people don’t know that a net exists for when it’s on your drive.

Just speak to them?

Original poster
LakieLady · 02/11/2023 08:29

The house owners appear to be away and their builders haven't been here for a couple of days, so no-one available to speak to.

The bits that have been blowing around are either so far down the road that I can't see them or have been picked up. The level of the stuff in the skip is now lower, and below the level of the sides of the skip, so hopefully won't blow about if the wind picks up again.

I'm a bit surprised that so many people have never seen these nets. I googled "skip cover nets", out of curiosity, and got 947,000,000 results. And if I was a builder with a skip full of rubbish outside a customer's when there was an amber warning because of high winds, I would make damn sure that the contents were secure. I wouldn't want a claim on my public liability insurance if someone got hurt because I hadn't done so.

OP posts:
Pottedpalm · 02/11/2023 08:30

theduchessofspork · 02/11/2023 07:39

Ask them to do that.

I didn’t know nets existed so they probably don’t.

If they haven’t cleaned up the mess ask them to do that too.

Do you apply this logic to everything?
Quick google reveals many such nets for sale

Pottedpalm · 02/11/2023 08:31

Eg

To think they should have covered their skip ...
KatBurglar · 02/11/2023 08:42

I would have told them, and then told them to get it covered somehow (old bedsheets or something)

I don’t think tucking a sheet across a skip would make a blind bit of difference with 50mph winds, @Brefugee 😂

It would just be another thing blown down the road.

Pinkpinkpink15 · 02/11/2023 08:49

Brefugee · 02/11/2023 07:53

but you see it on the back of trucks all the time. Nets to stop bits flying off.

I would have told them, and then told them to get it covered somehow (old bedsheets or something) until the skip company can come up with a solution for them.

Show quote history

@Brefugee

it has blown great chunks of wood around, do you really think bed sheets would help?? Or do you think they might have blown away too???

Brefugee · 02/11/2023 08:51

well you do have to secure them.
But whatever, if the people aren't there, the only option is to see if the council will do anything, or the people living on the street can pitch in and help.

BoothsChristmasBook · 02/11/2023 08:56

"or the people living on the street can pitch in and help."

Apparently not on this street 😅 the neighbours just want to moan about their neighbours, builders, skips, the council. Fucking hell OP, surely you saw it and could've taken some action too?! 🤷🏽‍♀️

ianthes · 02/11/2023 09:07

In their defence I have hired skips a few times and never seen/been given the option of a net. And if they've been away a while they may not have foreseen this weather coming.
It's absolutely up to the contractor.

TruthSeeker2023 · 02/11/2023 09:37

@LakieLady - what I would have done is gone out and offered to help the neighbour clear the items up, rather than take to MN about it which achieves nothing at all.

Stopaskingmequestionsandputthegerbildown · 02/11/2023 10:32

But it makes OP feel better without having to take any real life action and may get them a metaphorical pat on the back to stroke their ego so 🤷‍♀️

AgaMM · 02/11/2023 11:02

Pottedpalm · 02/11/2023 08:30

Do you apply this logic to everything?
Quick google reveals many such nets for sale

Show quote history

But why would you google it if you didn’t know it’s a thing…

I had a skip for 6 months earlier this year - no one once mentioned a net to me. And out of all the countless skips I see outside people’s homes, I have never ever seen a net.