. . .to get this upset about a wheelie bin?

[Moominfamily]

3 weeks ago, our neighbours stole our wheelie bin. This is because theirs has a bent wheel that looks like it is about to fall off. I know my bin because my house is painted blue (I know, I know, it was dh) and some paint was spilled on the bin lid. Otherwise it has no identifying marks.
They took our bin, we assumed it was an error and swapped it back. They took it again the following fortnight and put hideous stickers of gnomes all over it. I asked if they had seen our bin and mentioned the paint on the lid, and they said no and very quickly changed the subject.
They are on holiday just now and I am so tempted to take it back and try to take off the stickers, trouble is I don't think I can do this successfully(and they would notice anyway as their bin wheel is dodgy!).
I don't want to confront them as I had ASBO neighbours in my last house and as a result am absolutely terrified of disputes, this is probably why I am so upset over something so minor. On the other hand, we cannot afford to replace theirs if the wheel breaks.
AIBU? and WWYD?

I'm sure lots of people will give you proper grown up advice but mine would be to steal it back, take stupid stickers off and paint your house number all over it.

I would contact the council, report the bin stolen and get them to give you another one.

If they want a crime number, then report your bin stolen to the police to get one! They'll do nothing, you'll have your number, you'll get your new bin.

And when you get it, paint inside and out, sticker it, mark it in ways that can't be hidden!

Just take it back, peel off the stickers, and use some nice gloss paint to paint your house number on it.

do the council supply them? maybe you can call them and report the others for bin theft? not too sure...
we did have ours stolen aswel, we just retaliate by putting our rubbish in their bin if ours is full since they now have an extra one, and we bought our replacement one as a bright pink bin from amazon which is quite 'distinctive' so unstealable hopefully.
your neighbours have a cheek though, as they are on holiday i would feel tempted to just go and put the gnome stickers back on their one and swap them back. or else go and mark it with those pens that show up stolen goods, then you can go and confront and expose them! maybe its not really worth it, but your annoyance is v understandable and they are BU not you!!

LOL Sacharissa! Ive never aspired to being "grown up"

To get the stickers off, rub mayonnaise or olive oil into them and leave them for a day or two - they will peel off easily then. I would also phone council, though, and explain the situation to them - hopefully they would give you another one.

Moominfamily

My advice to you is this. Make yourself a cup of tea and watch the news. Unfortunately, we have exceeded the 300 mark for service men killed in Afghanistan. FFS, wheelie bins!!!

Look at the sensible advice though - phone the council. We'd never think of something like that.

Just take it back remove stickers and paint your number on - simples

I think the OP can be upset by both you know, Oyama.

OUr council charge $40 for a new bin, even if it's stolen.

Take it back and paint it with your house number.

Nail varnish remover for the glue marks. Get it back! Paint house number with extremely individual glittery paint or something. It would piss me right off too.

SacharissaCripslock

I fear you may well be right. SOooooooooooo sad, isn't it?

Oyama i think we all realise that, but life still has to carry on here and at the end of the day this is a normal problem that you will come across on a daily basis.

and does that mean no one should post any problems here as there are always worse off people, if that was the case mn would not exist.

and my heart goes out to them families, however some people do not agree with them being there in the first place.

and op take your bin back, its yours. and its clearly theft

Ah this brings back happy memories of wheelie bin races we had in the early nineties.

Tiredmumno1

Good post, and I find it very difficult to argue with you you.

Get a new one off the council, cover it in stickers and your house number on it, then sabotage theirs (your old one)!!!!

Does your council charge for bins OP? We had a dodgy wheel on ours, and you won't believe this, but the garbagepeople did not empty it for two weeks because they apparently couldn't position it for the truck... even though we managed to haul it to the pavement

I called the council and complained and they sent me a new one.

PS - I think you should let the neighbours know this is unacceptable though. Who knows they may take your new bin, if you get one, because its cleaner than the old one.

this happened to me when scum neighbours moved in next door to my old flat. I reported the bin stolen and got a new one. and gave them evils every time i saw them.....i'm sure they were bothered.

if they are away, nick it back. Give people like this an inch, they'll take a mile...

Thanks for your replies everyone. It is nice to see that there are other people who would be bothered by this.

I understand that there are more important things in the world Oyama, and completely agree that it is a trivial matter, but due to my previous experience with bad neighbours any hint of confrontation makes me panic. Old neighbour nearly punched me in my front garden because I had asked him not to walk through our back garden. If not for dh he would have hit me, so I really have a reason for blowing this totally out of proportion.

OK, I think based on your responses I shall contact the council and find out if I can replace the defective bin with a new bin for free. If not, I shall take it back, and paint my number on. In tartan. Glitter. They won't want it back then

Get some paint and write BIN THIEVES! on the bin that they stole, then see if they still want it.

Do it! My nightmare delightful neighbours stole a window box full of flowers from the front of my house, repotted them and put them out on their back window (we have a shared courtyard)! Did they think I wouldn't notice the distinctive mix of flowers I had put together?
I took them off their window and put them on mine...they took them back again!!

I'm considering removing them again, but have put a lovely new window box out the back and am worrying they will take that or vandalise it.