update on using waste site on behalf of resident

[Tim Watts]

On Sunday 12 May 2013 18:40 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Ours is 4' max and you need a permit (free) but is limited to X trips per year (I think the permit has tick off boxes).

[Windmill]

And then there will be no libraries. Good wheeze if you want to keep the great unwashed in maximum ignorance.

[The Medway Handyman]

We seem to have achieved that with libraries. The great unwashed don't go in them.

[Tim Streater]

The great unwashed never did. When we were house-hunting a few years ago, I couldn't believe the number of places we visited that had no books in them. Not even a single one.

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 13 May 2013 08:18 The Medway Handyman wrote in uk.d-i-y:

When libraries were invented, TV was not a big thing. These days, there's no boredom to drive somone out of their house and go and read. They'd actually have to be motivated.

[polygonum]

"I read a book once. It was green."

Seem to remember the average number of books was 7 (from days before internet, etc.). Given the houses with umpteen thousand books, that allows an awful lot not to have any.

[Dave Liquorice]

Blimey thats small, presumably the length of the box rather than overall? My trailer has a 6' long box...

Cumbria need a free permit if you drive a van (no more than 4 wheels)(*1), pickup or have multiple axle trailer up to 3m long(*2). There doesn't appear to be a number of trips restriction.

Northumberland are fussy about driving "a van, a 'trade type vehicle'" and limit the trailer to 5' but don't say if that is overall or the box. Yer bog standard Erde trailer is going to be more than 5' overall. You also need one permit per trip.

The online application form almost goes as far as wanting your inside leg measurement:

e=M5pcq-JlkTs

I'm glad to say Northumberland don't get the tape measure out when I turn up with my trailer with "forgien" waste...

(*1) Cumbria don't define that so not sure if a transit with double rims on the rear would fail. Northumberland do exclude such vehicles.

(*2) That restriction might be more down to turning space, one of the HWRCs I visit is very tight to get the Discovery and trailer around. And I'm crap at reversing the trailer, mainly beacuse it's complely invisible from the driving seat until it's almost jack knifed. B-)

[Jethro_uk]

IIRC This is an EU pushed ruling, from *many* years ago. I once worked on a project for a London Council (Ealing) who wanted to introduce a system to distinguish between their taxpayers, and ones from outside Ealing, as there is a legal framework to charge non-residents. Ealing has quite good recycing and waste facilities, and were a little annoyed that Harrow (which had no tip or facilities to speak of) residents all nipped into Greenford (or Ruislip in Hillingdon).

Councils have to pay a landfill tax on every kilo they throw, so it seems sensible that they charge non-residents.

The main problem was devising a system which couldn't be abused ... anybody could photocopy a council tax bill, and there was no desire for a database of carstaxpayers so the project stalled. Maybe nowadays with APNR technology having improved there's scope for a revival ?

[stuart noble]

Nowadays the great unwashed need to log on to various government websites to access council services, so the library comes in handy. Of course the websites don't work half the time, which is a good wheeze for the council. We can't deal with them face to face, or even on the phone, so we'll shunt them on to the web and make sure our sites are flakey.

[Dave Liquorice]

When libraries were invented TV didn't exist... Victorian thing aren't they?

Not to mention the average reading age in the UK adult population isn't much above "Janet & John".

[dennis]

You just download a pdf and read that.

[Man at B&Q]

No "walk-ins" any more at ours. Often there's a long queue and I used to just unhitch the trailer and walk it in.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

More likely a very sensible ruling that has been "gold plated" by UK bureaucrats.

Most of the problems caused by "Europe" are entirely home made.

MBQ

[Jethro_uk]

*Shrug* I'm a software hack, not a lawyer ... I do know a lot of environment legislation is EU-drive (like incandescent bulbs etc)

True. It's almost like the civil service have been doing UKIPs job for them ;)

[The Medway Handyman]

80% + of my customers are the same. Those that do have the odd book have mainly cookery/gardening/silly Xmas books.

[Tim Streater]

Here's a perfect example of exactly that (well, it relates to the phone rather than a website, but the principle's the same):

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 13 May 2013 18:54 The Medway Handyman wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I'm all on electronic books now.

[SteveW]

Probably looks better for selling than our overloaded, untidy bookcases in each bedroom!

SteveW

[SteveW]

I think that the standard way of measuring trailers is to exclude the drawbar.

We've just applied for a larger bin as we are a family of five and the council is changing to a fortnightly collection. The council wanted to know the names and dates of birth of everyone living here and informed us that there was a chance that someone would come round to confirm it!

Mine's the same, but my previous car had a reversing camera, which made it a doddle.

SteveW

[Jethro_uk]

Shades of the trick a lot of councils pulled when the poll tax was introduced - they'd write to householders offering free binbags depending on how many people were living there. IIRC a few people were caught who hadn't registred.