I found a lovely Xmas party dress...

[DiscoBob]

Just as a bit of background, I'm broke and on benefits so can't afford to buy clothes until I really need to. So obviously no budget for an Xmas outfit. I have accumulated plenty of clothes over the years so not a problem.

I also just a couple of weeks ago donated a very large bag of decent stuff to a charity shop. Not designer but not Primark/Shein etc and a couple things that are really quite lovely but just don't fit me.

Today I happened upon a huge pile of clothes spilling out of several bin bags dumped outside a shut charity shop. I had a rummage and came upon a lovely Topshop sequinned mini dress in my size. I was delighted.

When I got home I tried it on and it looked fab. I told my mum and she first of all said it was great.

But then sounded concerned, she said 'oh, I wonder if the person who left it there will mind?'

I was pretty astonished and replied that if they were so precious about their discarded clothing they shouldn't dump it in the middle of the street. Knowing it won't be discovered for at least 24 hours by shop staff. By then it'd probably be soaked from the rain.

Am I in the wrong to think it's completely morally correct to take things in this circumstance?

Or was my mum right? Would you be upset if you somehow found out an item of your fly tipped clothing went straight into a wardrobe rather than possibly making a bit of money for a charity?

Interested to hear everyone's views. TIA.

This actually happened near me. Clothes dumped next to a full supermarket recycling bin, someone rummaged through and helped themselves. They were caught on CCTV and prosecuted.

Yes, it sounds like it’s gone to exactly the right person both charity-wise and happiness-wise! Serendipity. Happy for you, OP.

Not police, but there have been a number of cases in my local news where people have been fined by the council for dumping clothes outside the full giant donation things you often get in supermarket car parks etc. So if anything the person who left the stuff there might be more in risk of getting a fine than you.

The illegal part was the initial flytipping.
Charity shop manager here. It was going in the bin - that costs us money. Thank you!

@HoskinsChoiceshe has not committed a crime “dear”. Do you really think the plod are going to investigate, find a “crime” and drag her to court?

Don’t be such a chip-pisser.

Going back to my actual Oxfam experience, we frequently had lifters. The thinking was their need was great, there but by the grace of God.

Do have a story about sifting through a bag one Saturday. An item was wrapped in copious layers if newspaper. having peeled them all off one by one the item was one of those cardboard baskets with a handle used for PYO strawberries. Complete with strawberry stains. This was at a time when many, many folk we’re donating following the Asia Tsunami. I suppose they thought that those folk needed a stained cardboard basket very much. Having missed the point that what they needed was for Oxfam to sell stuff here so they could send useful stuff, like cash, to the victims.

Very resourceful! Id be overjoyed if someone i donated made someone so happy. Charity shops overcharge so much anyway.

Yeah I can well believe that. But not someone taking from a pile of flytipping.

Thank you! X

I hope the person who fly tipped was also prosecuted!

It's been so bad around here with people fly tipping outside those bins that most of them have now been removed (people just started dumping clothes in the space where they were)

And if memory serves, you have to pay for the disposal so it’s a negative profit as well as a ballache?

Thank you. Maybe the posters who think I'm akin to a hardened criminal should take note?! X

That's absolutely terrible. And makes no sense.

I saw someone steal my neighbour’s porche from the drive and the police didn’t come out for that so I can’t see any normal person thinking that taking home a dumped dress is illegal.

Charity shops near me have signs up saying “please do not leave donations outside of the shop if we are closed’.

So the person donating didn’t pay attention. I don’t blame you for spotting it and taking it home. You have donated yourself so I wouldn’t give it any more thought.

My daughter volunteered for a charity shop for a few months while looking for a permanent job and she said that they were donated so much stuff, they could only sell the better quality items: anything dirty, poor quality etc were sent to the ‘rag man’ to be recycled so never made it to the shop floor.

Enjoy your new dress x

Anything that is left outside charity shop when it is shut is seen as flytipping and they would be disposed of, not taken in. So I wouldn't worry.

Clearly you have never been skint, !

Lots of people would do the same - myself included

until you are truly skint, living off soup and beans - tops like these are a lifesaver

so don't be so awful

YANBU. The person who left the stuff there was just hoping the clothes would not go to waste. And that dress hasn't. Enjoy it, I say.

Technically theft and there a legal add against this exact scenario - I’ll try to find the link.

in reality, the clothes would have likely been binned if left out.

I think that it’s fine to take it - it saves the shop checking it / ironing it / selling it etc, but given that the dress was donated with the intention of being used to raise money, you should absolutely contact the shop and give them a donation. Otherwise, you’re doing something equivalent to dipping into their charity collection box, as opposed to just taking a piece of dumped clothing.

But the shop wouldn't be checking it / ironing it / selling it etc because it would be seen as flytip and would go straight to rubbish.

Gosh I wish I knew that stuff dumped outside charity shops was disposed of. I walked past one early one morning and there was a bag that had been ripped open with a Miss Sixty belt that would have been amazing for my Y2K obsessed DD

It feels so wasteful thinking that they throw away donations. I hope they’d at least salvage what they could, put for rags what they couldn’t and recycle the rest. I understand it’s fly tipping, but adding it to landfill just feels wrong.

I think that it’s fine to take it - it saves the shop checking it / ironing it / selling it etc, but given that the dress was donated with the intention of being used to raise money

I suspect it was dumped as an easy way to get rid of clothes and easing their conscious, and thinking at least they havent put in the tip .By doing so they have created a problem for someone else to deal with.

I give stuff to charity shops partially as a donation and partially as I don’t want something that still has life in it going to waste. I would be very happy if someone who was strapped for cash got use of something I was giving away - particularly if it was something pretty. I hate waste and also know what it’s like to be strapped! If you were taking the clothes to sell on vinted I would be a bit put out but even then if you dump stuff on the street you don’t really get a say!

I do think the person who flytipped was out of order to be honest.

I would be happy that someone struggling has found something sparkly that makes them happy in a pile of things I discarded. It is also fly-tipping to dump outside a charity shop and apparently anything that is has to go straight into the bin anyway because of the risk that it has got rained on or an animal has peed on it! Enjoy the dress I say!