OT The next door neighbours have finally moved

[Owain]

Usually sausages.

Owain

[Alang]

It will all end in tears.

[Alang]

No. It's fairly simple to drag it out the back gate and leave it in the lane. A 15 metre drag at most for a house in the 4 wards in this town centre. Three piece suite out there last week. Not mine. Probably someone vacating a tenancy and cleaning out before leaving.

[The Medway Handyman]

Wrong. If you visualise the pictures as a story (which you have just done) you can't get the order wrong.

Trust me!

[Mary Fisher]

...

You know, all this talk from people who have cars about people who can't afford cars dumping stuff has made me wonder.

Why can't the people with transport take the big stuff belonging to those who haven't transport to the tip? Reclamation Centre if you prefer.

It's like the protests about wheelie bins in the past. "what about all those poor old dears who can't push their bins to the gate?"

Why don't able bodied neighbours do it for them? It's only once a week at most. When it comes to dumping mattresses and other furniture it must be even less frequently.

Let's have some co-operation, even friendliness.

Mary

[Dave Liquorice]

Because they are not registered waste carriers. You can carry your own waste to the dump but not somebody elses. This is why many small jobbing= builders or gardeners leave the rubble or clippings behind. The householder can dispose of it as it is their waste but the builder/gardn= er would need to be registered with the EA as a waste carrier (=A3149/3 yea= rs, =A399/renewal) if they took it away. Add to that the waste is now trade =

waste so they can't take to the normal public dump without a permit and =

possibly another charge...

[Frank Erskine]

If you aren't doing this as a commercial venture (ie accepting payment in cash or kind) there shouldn't be a problem.

Only because it's part of their business.

Actually my only objection to doing voluntary 'chores' like this on a regular basis is that you are eventually taken for granted and the task becomes almost expected of you.

My LA will collect bulky items free of charge (yes, even old cars!) up to a maximum of, ISTR, 3 collections of up to 8 items a year. Most neighbours will arrange amongst themselves to distribute extra items for special collection if, for example, somebody is having a big clearout or doing major work in their house...

I remember once getting rid of an enormous photocopier which somebody gave me and I never got it to work. I dragged it into the front garden, almost giving myself a hernia, for the LA to collect. The guy turned up and couldn't shift the machine... He had to call for assistance from another LA department with a HIAB truck. The HIAB operator used what looked like a welder's hammer to bash a hole into the plastic case of the copier and attached the hook of his crane. Very surprisingly the case didn't break away as he lifted the machine on to the cleansing department's truck!

[The Medway Handyman]

Too true matey. I'd love to offer my clients the added benefit of taking away the rubbish. Best I can do is place it all in rubble sacks.

Another charge indeed & not cheap. Any item (and there are many) clasified as hazardous watse & you need yet another license at yet another cost.

[Mary Fisher]

Because they are not registered waste carriers.

And you think that's the real reason why neighbours don't offer to help others?

I don't.

Mary

[Dave Liquorice]

The operative word is "shouldn't". The legislation relating to waste transfer and disposla is a right tangled web of interelated exclusions, inclusions, exceptions and conditions.

Was it in here that some one reported that they got at least a warning, if not done, for not being a registered waste carrier because they had their lunch wrappers in a van when they got stopped at a check point. The legislation is a jobsworths wet dream.

Lucky you, most councils charge.

[Mary Fisher]

...

But how 'regularly' do people need to get rid of large items?

We've never been taken for granted by doing such things. We're the only people in the street with a trailer and an open offer to use it for others, we've never been asked, we've always had to make the approach. Recently Spouse felled a neighbour's small dead plum tree and took it (apart from the main trunk which he kept to use) and they cleared lots of very old dead branches from the ground and took them to the tip (a mile away). The neighbour was so grateful he came round with two carrier bags full of fruit and veg from his garden, that embarrassed us.

Another neighbour has recently presented us with a bottle of very fine and expensive single malt - for a very quick weld of the handle of his wife's trowel which had great sentimental value.

Of course there will be some who would take advantage of generosity but I think they're the exception rather than the rule. We've not known any.

Mary

[Dave Liquorice]

Not really. I doubt many people on the Clampham Omnibus are aware of the legalities of waste transfer and disposal.

[Alang]

This is the United Kingdom of 2008. We haven't done friendly since

1979. I used to have a 2L Mk3 Cortina Estate and lots of friends. Didn't have so many friends when I sold it and bought a Lada.

[Mary Fisher]

You mean you were judged by the car you owned???

You can do without friends like that, especially if they preferred a Cortina.

Mary

[Alang]

They were big cars. Almost Volvo like in their capacity

The reps car of choice in the 70s

[Mary Fisher]

...

I know. But we've had - big cars in our family and it hasn't impacted on our circle of friends.

I know. And the scourge of the motorways. Having driven one I can understand why - the throttle was very responsive and you needed self-control.

But being a rep. isn't a recommendation for friendship is it?

Mary

[Alang]

Your irony transplant didn't take.

No but lots of people will suddenly get very friendly to owners of big cars, vans etc. when they want a favour.

[Mary Fisher]

You mean they're not friendly when you don't?