To report abusive man using my private bins

[Heckinhackedoff]

NC for this because posted elsewhere and it's outing.

Almost every day for the last roughly 2 years a man has been coming into my garden and using my recycling bins. I live in a block of flats and we have our bins at the entrance of the garden, with nowhere else to put them. My 91 year old neighbour confronted him about it last year and the man verbally abused him and swore at him. I have seen him through the window countless times since then.

I seen him today when leaving the building, again using our bins. He gave me a dirty look and rushed off down the road. I caught up with him and calmly asked him if he knows that they are not public bins.

He proceeded to go on a rant about how he knows the bins are private (!), but that the road is public and there's rubbish on the road so therefore he uses my bins to keep the street clean and "instead of being arsey, (I) should be thanking (him)". I told him that made no logical sense, and the bins are emptied once a month and fill up quickly as it is, let alone without his added contributions. He began swearing and shouting at me as he walked off, so I returned the favour.

I am planning on reporting to him to the council. My next door neighbours have CCTV directly pointing at my bins that will have captured him doing it, every single time. What he is doing is illegal as it is:

• trespassing onto private property
• a form of fly-tipping known as 'bin stuffing'
• theft of service, as he does not pay the council tax for my property.

He has also contaminated the bin by putting mixed waste into it, claiming it was 'a single plastic bottle', which it was not. I had even reminded him of the actual communal bin about 10 steps from my garden, which made him very angry.

I'm concerned that the council may not do anything, and wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with this sort of thing and if so, how did you handle it? Or any suggestions on how to handle it otherwise? Because right now I feel like following him home and returning 2 years of rubbish to him.

YABU - you should be thanking him for stuffing your bins with his own shit.

YANBU - Report him, find out where he lives, empty your bins into his garden every time they fill up.

Get a bin lock

Why didnt I think of that. Thank you.

Yeah was going to say bin lock too. Good luck!

As has been said, a bin lock is the obvious solution.

If you know he has committed an offence and want to report him, then do so. I wouldn't engage in arguments in the street, it's a waste of your time and I wouldn't seek retribution in the same form either, or you run the risk of a report being made about you. Distance yourself from the emotion of it, lock the bin and ignore him.

I needed that reality check, thank you. I'm just red with anger right now. I have only revently escaped an abusive relationship and receiving that level of verbal abuse and shouting really upset me. I tried to be civil but the man is clearly insane. You're right though, I need to prevent myself from being reported, too.

Smear dog shit on the handles

All that would achieve is the bin men refusing to empty her bins - ever.

@Heckinhackedoff as others have suggested get a bin lock but I don't blame you for being angry.

I honestly considered something like this, but on second thought realised all of the negative outcomes it would have for me and decided against it.

I have 5 bins and have ordered 5 locks so that ended up being rather expensive, but worth it. Thank you, it really was very infuriating and upsetting to be honest.

Not sure that reporting him to bring attention, then doing something illegal yourself once you have brought attention to the situation, is a good option.

The setup sounds strange. You have a private garden with your bins, in a block of flats, but the flats have communal bins, and yours are still only taken once a month even though will presumably be normal sized to take in and out of this private garden - that your 91 year old neighbour also monitors?

Did anyone else, at first glance, think that said private bits?

Padlock the bins or add bin storage which is padlocked. It would really really annoy me if someone was doing this

What did I do that was illegal? He verbally attacked me and I defended myself, calling him out in the process. If someone verbally abuses me, they can expect it back.

So you think I'm lying about my bin setup? How strange. They are 6 flats, the entrance to the garden is completely open (no gate) and the bins are next to the fence, about 2m from the opening. We have 2 XL brown bins, 2XL blue bins and a green bin. On black bin day, we have to pile up our collective bin bags on the garden opening and it is gross. Of course they are communal, as they are flats. Every flat I have lived in had communal bins. They have been moved to 4 weekly collection since April (thanks lib dems!)

Yes, my neighbour monitors the bins. We all do? All of our kitchen and smaller bedroom windows face the front garden / bins. Being 91 he hasn't much else to do, other than potter in the garden bless him.

If you are trying to insinuate that this abusive man didn't know that they were private bins, he did, and admitted that to me today, which is why I included it in the original post.

I have included a drawing to make this clearer. Sorry that it looks like it was created by a 3 year old.

Lol I am very much glad that it didn't.

Thank you, it is extremely annoying and I do not know where he gets the nerve. I swear almost everybody who lives in my area is deranged. I have ordered the padlocks, thank you.

I'd love to see his face when he turns up to see the bins locked up! Good for you, OP. That would make me really cross too.