Scaffolding - please help me get it removed!

[Eboaaahhhh]

Back story - We had a loft extension which was 'finished' in December, fell out with the builder over snagging (he refused to do the snags until he was paid, we refused to pay before snags done, we suggested arbitration (per his contract!) and he refused to engage and then stopped communicating).

The scaffolders he used took the scaffolding at the front of the house down a few months ago, but the back scaffolding is still there. I've messaged over the months but never prioritised as had other stuff going on and with the weather wasn't bothering me that much and basically but my head in the sand but now with summer almost here I really want it gone.

I messaged the scaffolder last Monday saying I would consider it abandoned if he didn't pick it up by last Sunday, he messaged back immediately that he would 'be there this week' but couldn't give me a date. I messaged him almost daily after that letting him know when I was in but no other responses. Realistically what can I do now? I can message him that I consider it abandoned and going to get it disposed of, but will other scaffolders take it? I have his name, phone no. and company name but it doesn't look like a ltd company so not sure a legal route would work. And endless googling about scaffolders is making me nervous. Would appreciate any advice on what to say, I hate confrontation and am (clearly) absolutely hopeless at this kind of thing

Tell him it’s now abandoned and will be sold for scrap. He will show up.

This is normal for scaffolders. They don't have storage facilities and they only collect scaffolding the day they need it for another job.

They use people's houses as defacto lockup garages to avoid storage fees. Absolute bloody nightmare they are. They're always so noisy and uncouth and sweary as well!
Yeah, tell him your selling it for scrap.
My neighbour had a scaffold on for over a year, through the council. (House was leasehold) They weren't allowed to liaise directly with the scaffolding firm so council just left it there, blocking their light fully until they took legal action. They then were so fed up they sold the house and left the area after 50 years.

This happened to my neighbours, they advertised it free for collection on the local facebook page and copied it to the scaffolding company.
It was all removed in 2 hours by the company.
As @OpusGiemuJavlo says, this apparently is common practice 🤬

I'm pretty sure there was an epic scaffolding saga thread on here years ago. They are notorious for this.

Call up another scaffolding company and tell them it's theirs for free if they come and pick it up tomorrow. Then if the original company ever bother to show up, look innocent and say "well you collected it on Wednesday?!?".

Stick it out front of your house and post it on Facebook coping the scaffold company saying out front free to first come first served.

We’ve actually got some at the back of our house, we took it down ages ago, sadly our work was never done. It’s been about 18 months now, it’s not bothering us at the moment but as soon as it is we will be putting it out front. We get a regular scrap man around here who will snap it up.

Thanks all.
@AliceMcK unfortunately it is still up so can't do this, I wouldn't mind so much if it was just in a pile at the bottom of the garden
Those who've suggested I tell them I'm selling it for scrap - whoever bought it would need to dismantle it first which I imagine isn't straightforward. My dp was considering it as he is quite handy and not bothered by heights but he's quite daunted by the 30ft odd metal poles. Anyone ever done this?
@BobbyBiscuits selling the house to run away from the problem has crossed my mind!
Right will message now that as he hasn't picked it up I will have to consider it abandoned and take alternate steps to get it disposed of. And then if that doesn't kick him into action will start contacting local scaffolding companies to see if anyone else will dismantle it.

Re 30 ft poles. Angle grinder (maybe?) and scaffolding gloves. We use those gloves for everything around the house and garden. They give you an extremely firm grip. Get them in Wickes or Screwfix.

Scaffolders are cowboys and should be treated according.

@KievLoverTwo that's a good idea, thank you. Agree re cowboys but one of my worries is that they end up leaning into their rep and I end up with a keyed car, broken window etc

I'm sure any scrap metal guy wouldn't be bothered about dismantling it. Not to stereo type but the scrap metal guys around here are all from the travelling community and quite happy to do what they need to get the goods.

They have been pretty great for us as we've done a lot on the house over the years and they will regularly empty our skips. When my df was alive he used to negotiate with them to get things he wanted 😂

I know this is an old thread but I'm going through Google results and adding the legal approach we found through our (dreadful) experience with a scaffolding company.

Look up "Torts Interference With Goods Act 1977"
It's normally used for landlords to get former tenants to shift their stuff, but you can use it to notify the scaffolder that after say 3-4 weeks you'll arrange for the scaffolding to be sold and give them the money you get from the sale, minus your expenses for selling.
You need to quote the exact wording of the Act on your letter, so please don't use my wording, make sure it's correct by looking it up first.
Make sure you send it by a recorded or signed for letter, so you have proof they received it. Look up the registered address on companies house, and if it's different to their correspondence send it to both addresses. We also sent it to the man listed as director as his home address was listed too.
If a builder has arranged for the scaffolding as a middle man, and you paid the builder, you also need to send the letter to them as the contract would be between the builder and scaffolder.