They went through my skip!

[IncognitoUsername]

Is this a thing? We have a skip outside as we have been doing some decorating/clearing out. I heard a van outside the house which seemed to have stopped so I looked out and two blokes were rummaging in the skip! I went downstairs to ask what they were doing but they had just left. I noticed some metal items had gone out of the skip.
Is this normal? Do people just drive round looking for skips to have a nose in? I’m not bothered by them taking stuff out but surely it would have been polite to ask?!

Call the police 👮 and log it 🤦‍♀️

Prime Mumsnet batshiitery!

😆

I can't get over some people acting like Lady/Lord Bountiful over the shit they've thrown out.

I don't want people knocking, cap in hand, asking for the stuff I clearly don't want anyway.

They can crack on as long as they put all the rubbish they don't want back in.

All the people saying they should knock.....

Perhaps the people skip diving are mumsnetters and know that the chance of the door being answered is precisely zero..... and then you'd have a thread on here about a "random" having knocked on their door and they now need to move because it's unsafe and the random also had a white van, which is a massive threat!

@CatMum27 I suggest you put your skip behind locked gates or have someone in attendance 24/7!

Completely normal here in London. Neightbours had a skip for several months and most days we would see people scavenging in it; mostly looking for metal. I did tell one off for dropping broken glass all over the road and offered him my broom to sweep it up!

We need a laugh react 🤣

It’s kind of the lesser of the two evils. High scrap prices = people rummaging in your skip but also fewer broken washing machines and fridges in people’s gardens. I remember in London when scrap prices shot up around 2004/5, suddenly there were no more abandoned cars rusting away and taking up parking spaces because people ( presumably scrap merchants) just came and grabbed them.

Oh, please tell me this was sarcasm!
😂 😂 😂

😂🤣🤣🤣 stop it

God I LOVE fossicking in skips. I've had some great stuff in the past, an oxblood leather swivel chair, an IKEA kids egg chair, a huge Victorian mirror, the cutest working retro TV, a tall stool, decent wood for projects, a tin bath to use as a planter, a kids bookcase on wheels etc etc.

I really hope whoever upthread suggested calling the police was being facetious 😅

This is normal behaviour where I live. Usually they are after metal pieces, large cardboard sheets, doors and window frames.
I wouldn't do it without asking, but I suppose it's a form of recycling really so no harm done😁

Skip diving....yes it's a thing. I couldn't care less if they are taking it from the skip but would be pissed off if they then started rummaging around other stuff on my property.

It was. There was even a security camera pointed that way for good measure (although that was there pre-skip before anyone busts a blood vessel!). Still didn’t stop them.

FWIW I’ve given people stuff from skips and very much welcome people making use of stuff I no longer want/need. All for it. But the entitlement of coming onto someone’s property and helping themselves without asking is a step too far. Knock on the door and ask. It’s really not too much to ask for is it? Although judging by some of the attitudes on this thread maybe it is!

Its common, i got a newish bicycle the other day but i made sure to ask if it was put out for scrap as at the time it was by the bins for 2x days

@CatMum27 so they broke in? Well that's different! Actually broke in through locked gates?

Jumped over but yeah. Original point still stands though - don’t help yourself to stuff on other people’s property whether you can walk in there freely or not. One of the skips had an old coat rack on the top. Someone knocked and asked if they could have it, happy to help. It’s the entitlement of people helping themselves that I hate.

Oh believe me I know. The three skips were hired to clear a house post bereavement. Once necessary stuff had gone back in (having been properly protected from the skip and deep cleaned), all sorts of stuff belonging to elderly parents with loose bowl control went in there. It was covered over as it was high summer and not pleasant. People still tried to dig through. I told that lot what they were digging for and they soon left. Maybe next time I should let them literally dig through s**t 😂

It’s the entitlement of people helping themselves that I hate.

As opposed to the entitlement of people chucking out perfectly good things that can still be used or recycled?

One of these groups is trashing the planet; the other mitigating the harm done.

It would only be rude (to me) if they came onto your private drive otherwise have a good rummage I say.

Exactly!

Does fall under the 1968 theft act actually

I put an original Picasso, a Faberge egg and never worn Chanel suit in my skip, I was most miffed when I found they’d been taken.

Totally normal here (we've had skips a few times) but it's courtesy to ask the home owner first!

It's a very common practice, but yes it is rude!

Yep. Filled a skip 2 weeks ago.
Loads had been taken by time it was collected.