Hippo Bags

[jon_mason]

A word of warning to anyone tempted by these:

an alternative to a small skip. You pay about =A312 for the bag from B&Q, Wickes etc. Fill it up, then call and pay for collection. Collection is about =A355, depending on the size of the bag.

All well and good, now the warning.

Make sure you read the small print. The bag must be placed within 4m of the boundary of the house or they will not collect. Foolishly, I assumed that with a driveway that can easily fit 5 cars and a 12 foot wide entrance, they would have no problem collecting from more than 4m away. Their vehicles have an arm which picks up the bags. I thought they'd be able to back their truck in, and use the arm to collect the bag from behind the vehicle. Apparently, they are not allowed to do this. It's got to be within 4m of the roadside, or no pickup.

They will collect with a different vehicle for an extra =A338 or so, which is probably what I will have to do. There's now way I'm unloading a 1.5tonnes of concrete, soil and rubble,moving it 6 feet, and putting it all back in again :-( Life is too short.

Anyway, just to warn others. And please, for those tempted to reply along the lines of "should have read the instructions", "shouldn't have assumed...", please don't bother. I know. This has ben a public service anouncement.

Jon.

[Simon]

I used to live in a house with a private shared concrete parking area, which was damaged (a drain collapsed) by a fairly small skip lorry. I'm not surprised that they don't want their truck going into people's driveways.

[Frank]

Excellent - just what I was looking for !

All well and good, now the warning.

Make sure you read the small print.

I bet you feel a right idiot for not following your own advice.

[David Klyne]

All well and good, now the warning.

Make sure you read the small print.

I have used them quite frequently over past few years and I find the service excellent. They are happy to lift the bag over my 6ft high fence but of course the road is directly adjacent. Maybe their T&C's are such because of bad experiences in the past.

David - Milton Keynes

[Andrew Gabriel]

Do compare local prices for a skip though.

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

Tie it to a car and drag the bastard out. If the bottom falls out when he lifts it tell him his bags are crap and you're going to charge them to fill up another one.

Si

[Mark]

and you don't get the bag back...is that right?

mark

[<me9]

A mini skip round here would hold much (at least double) more, and cost about

10% more.

[The Medway Handyman]

Or wait till he arrives & block his truck in with a few vehicles. Get a few neighboors to appear holding cameras.

[chris French]

In message , Mark writes

No. (or rather yes you are correct ...)

They aren't esp. good value, compared to a skip, but I can see they serve a purpose

[Skipweasel]

Nah - take the trailer down the dump. The exercise unloading it all again at the other end is good for you and you never know what goodies you might find there.

[nightjar]

Not an uncommon problem, along with driveway manhole covers not normally being rated for lorries. We used to live in a converted Pub, so the drive had been built to take beer delivery lorries, but experienced lorry drivers were always unwilling to enter until we had assured them of that fact..

Colin Bignell

[chris French]

In message , Skipweasel writes

Kind a difficult if you don't have trailer.

[Skipweasel]

Ah, you see, that's why I /have/ a trailer!

[A.Clews]

Thus spake chris French ( [e-mail]) unto the assembled multitudes:

I wonder if the bags are re-used (i.e. emptied and 'sold' again) or just chucked away with the contents and creating yet more waste?