Why would you have a garden fire on a sunny afternoon?

[carocaro]

F'ing retired busy body neighbours who moan about everything in the street from bins left out for more than 8 seconds after they have been emptied, to anyone parking outside the house and tatty gardens...

are having a garden fire on this sunny sunday afternoon?

Smoke everywhere? Kids can't play out as they are coughing.

Is this allowed?

Er... No I'm not sure they can actually, I live in an apartment block next to a street of quite big houses and the garden-crazy old couple in the nearest one started setting fire to their compost heap or something and anyway it started smoking really badly. It caused a bit of an issue up and down the street and this old couple were basically like; 'jog on, we're not doing any harm; in my day we used to have real fires etc etc'. Anyway, eventually the police came along and told them to put it out not least because of all the young kids and also because certain things you can't burn (even on your own property) if it causes a smoking hazard... Don't know if that's actually law but they had to put it out anyway. Mind you, they are a bit weird... Walked past their place when we had all that snow and I think they had their grandchildren over or something and they were so neurotic about their garden that they were making the kids stick to following the one footprints their grandpa had made in the snow for them so they didn't make a mess, before letting them play with the snow on the road...

Check your local council website. It may have something on there about whether or not you're allowed to have bonfires.

YANBU btw, very annoying.

It's allowed if you are not in a smokefree zone.Usually towns are smoke free and rural areas aren't We have the same problem with our neighbours as we all have many meters of fast growing hedge.Most people are considerate and wait til evening,but one particular neighbour does it midday even if people have their washing out.

What miserable old gits, that's so antisocail. This is from my local council mag - might be of interest. You can always call your env health people to complain - even at the weekends as they'll have a duty officer on call.

"While lighting bonfires is not against the law, there are instances where local councils or the police can take action against regular or dangerous bonfires.

"For instance, it is an offence to get
rid of waste in a manner likely to cause
a nuisance or prejudice public health; or
to light a fire and permit smoke to drift
across a road.

"If you?re planning a bonfire, be aware that the smoke and smell could be considered a statutory nuisance. Regular bonfires that interfere with people?s enjoyment of life or
property are more likely to be classed a nuisance, which can lead to an abatement notice and possible fines (of up to £5,000) if you don?t comply."

Well you can't have one on a rainy afternooon, can you?!

We have to do this sometimes to get rid of all the garden rubbish but always wait until the wind is in the right direction.

Once it turned, and our neighbours complained; we put the fire out at once...

YANBU. But arses like that tend not to give a damn about anyone else. We had so many people like that around us when I was growing up. it was always the fustiest snootiest types too, who never had any lights up (and I mean at ALL) at christmas.

Mind you, last year my current neighbours picked a similarly sunny but far hotter day in the middle of summer to spray a door from his car. We had to have the windows closed front and back for two days while he did all the coats. So it's nothing to do with wealth or 'class'; it's just people being inconsiderate jerks. If it happens again, maybe call the council. Make a note of when it happened today, and how long the smoke lingered, so you have a record.

My neighbours did this last weekend whilst we were out, came back and had to pick up hundreds of pieces of burnt paper out of my towels that i put out that morning

Had to wash them again, but went round and asked them if i could have a laundry tablet lol. they were very apologetic and have since had 3 more bonfires but at night.

Thanks all, we had a right ding dong in the street, I went round to ask them to put it out as DS1 7 had an asthma attack, she told me it was not going into my garden and told me to go away. I called he a seflish cow.

I was furious after dealing with DS that I printed off local council guidelines and shoved them through he door. She ripped them up and put them through my door, I went back and threw them all over he garden, she came out and went nuts! It was hilarious, she called me an 'arseholer' and I said she was incapable of having a normal conversation.

She said he husband has cancer and asthma (so why have a fire then?), never once asking how my DS was.

I took photos. Am complaining the council in the morning.

This is the same woman who makes a huge fuss because she thinks it terrible if leaves are not brushed up from a tree and are on the street, but a fire choking everyone to death is of?

Why the need for a fire at all, we have big fucking massive wheelie bins and compast bins from the council to put garden waste in and a tip not 15 mins away.

Ooh, YANBU! We had neighbours who were doing up a house last year, and had regular fires burning who-knows-what during the day. We had to stay indoors and not put washing out on numerous occasions. Why would anyone think this is OK?

We only occasionally burn stuff,

we have a huge garden and have had t clear bits of it so inevitable large tree sections and logs needed to go, they were too big to move let alone go in the car.

We have had a couple of small bonfires in the incinerator as well, which we did near our neighbours' wall one day - they were really pissed off, said it was 'hmm, a bit near to the house?' but the fact they had stuck their smoking shed right next to our front door made me rather pleased to hack them off in return...it's not like they EVER considered our wellbeing or comfort. And bonfire smoke is less carcinogenic than cigarettes, I think...probably.

Ours are not very smoky, though. The big one probably was but it was necessary and only for one or two days, in the autumn. I wouldn't in the summer simply because it's too much of a worry having hot cinders floating around when the ground is dry. None of our neighbours seem to hang out washing anyway, they are to posh for all that

YANBU. I thought it was an unwritten rule that you have fires in the evening when everyone has taken their washing in!!! I had similar incident when walking back from train station 2 days ago - there was so much smoke across the main road I seriously thought it must have been a housefire. Visibility for drivers was zero and I had to close my "just been lasered the day before" eyes for fear of doing them a mischief. Some people are just plain ignorant and anti-social

So the rain doesn't put it out and you can see what you're doing.