White van X192 CFT - took box from outside my house

[Lying Toad]

Toad puts articles outside the hall often which are collected and put to good use. In fact, Spiderman came by the other day.... I guess he heard about it on the web?!

My observation is that you have taken a numberplate into the public domain and suggested that a crime has taken place - ouch! It may or may not have - currently its hearsay. 999 would have resulted in an immediate CAD call (as per CharlieBrown's correct comments) and your goods could have stood a 50/50 chance of return. Nonetheless, it would have been logged.

Next time you are putting wood outside, please PM me as I use it for the open fire - seriously, no kidding - it beats paying for wood at the local garage!

Best,

The Lying Toad!

[kford]

The non-emergency number is 101 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CrimeJusticeAndTheLaw/Reportingcrimeandantisocialbehaviour/DG_185338

I think that if you see this van being used for theft, like stealing bikes, motorbikes, plants or RSJs, it's a 999 call.

[peterstorm1985]

Lying Toad Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Next time you are putting wood outside, please PM

> me as I use it for the open fire - seriously, no

> kidding - it beats paying for wood at the local

> garage!

I guess I should use the non-emergency number to alert the authorities of this admittance of breaking the law?

Smokeless zone

[craigy]

We had a lot of building work done over the summer and had about 7 skips in total and was amazed/ horrified by the amount of people that took things/ rummaged through it or just came for a 'driveby' of it.. We presumed that as you have to get a permit from the council to have a skip that these people must get a list of this from the council to tell where to look as we live in an odd little road where you would not really drive down unless you were visiting someone down there...

We got woken at 7 one morning to look out of the window and see someone actually in the skip trying to get something out of it whilst someone else had the engine running... When the builders put the old cooker out it was gone in 15 minutes (it was cheap and filthy) and the bathroom managed to stay out there for about 30 minutes (although some guy on a bike did actually knock on the door and ask if he could have the taps...)

Now when we want to get rid of something we just stick it outside and then take bets on how long before someone comes scavenging.. if it lasts till the following weekend it goes to the dump..

However, on friday I was putting my children in the car and was a little disturbed by a red van with 2 guys on it who were driving slowly down the road with one of them peering out of the window looking for things left outside (i presumed). It would appear that I was blocking their view putting my kids in the car outside of my house....

[Penguin68]

I did post this some time ago, but it maybe worth reviving:-

Some years ago I developed the theory of skip equilibrium (based on personal experiences in the late ?80s in SE Dulwich, and some previous observations in Clapham). This theory does not apply to skips used for builders rubble or garden waste.

On day one, the skip is delivered and you fill it with household rubbish. On night one the skip is half emptied by scavengers and a quarter re-filled by surreptitious neighbours. On day two you refill the skip by adding a further 25% skipfulls of your rubbish. On night two it is again half emptied and a quarter refilled. On day 3 you add a further 25%, now having thrown away 150% skipfulls of rubbish into one skip.

On night 3 the skip is emptied by only a quarter and refilled again. The skip has now achieved equilibrium; small amounts will disappear and be added until day seven, when someone throws away an old, wet, carpet which covers the (now mounded) skip and discourages either further additions or more scavenging. The skip is now collected.

The important point is that the skip being used as a public object actually allows you to throw away more than if it wasn't. The only caveat is that you must fill it quickly with your own rubish on the first day.

[Huggers]

surely things getting taken out of your skip is good- it's recycling, being taken by people who actually want the stuff. However, adding to your skip is very annoying.

[BB100]

kford Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The non-emergency number is 101

> http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CrimeJusticeAndTheLaw/

> Reportingcrimeandantisocialbehaviour/DG_185338

>

I rang that 'non-emergency number' a few months ago and it diverted me to the 999 call-centre and I got a bollocking from a police officer about it not being urgent enough! I tried to explain that I did not call 999 but the police officer treated me like I was committing the crime.

[Pierre]

We've always known that as the "South London Recycling Scheme" - leave something you don't want on the PAVEMENT outside your house, with a note saying "please take me" if necessary. Handy way to get rid of things that are too good to throw away but that you don't want (and if you have no luck with Freecycle).

We've got rid of a bunk bed, old chairs, CD racks, a computer monitor and an old radio.

However, as other people have pointed out, if people are taking things from inside your fence, i.e. actually on your property, that's theft.

: P

[Alec John Moore]

We refer to it as the analogue version of Freecycle.

[The Minkey]

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if someone took something from my skip or something I'd left out on the pavement, nor would I think any the less of them. If someone can make use of something I no longer have a use for then that's great, good luck to them. On the other hand, taking something that is clearly within the boundaries of someone's property is theft.

[ianr]

> Handy way to get rid of things that are too good to throw away but that you don't want (and if you have no luck with Freecycle).

Don't forget Freegle.

[cmck83]

I've taken a clothes rail that was left on the road once, but it wouldn't go up my stairs. I left it outside my house, and it was gone in about an hour. People always leave stuff outside around here, I thought it was quite nice!

[Burbage]

BB100 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> kford Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> > The non-emergency number is 101

Not in London it isn't. Or, at least, not in most of it. Hence BB100's bollocking.

There's a long history behind the 101 "SNEN" debacle, which may be of interest to anyone with low blood pressure. It works in some places, but not enough to make it worth remembering.

[juan59]

It is common knowledge that anything you leave outside your front door is likely to be taken, therefore you do not leave anything of value or that you want to retain outside your front door.The boundary issue is important as by law I would assume that objects taken from your property amounts to theft and this may carry over to skips as well. The point of this website in part and that of freecycle is to keep good stuff out of landfill. Something few of us would argue against. I personally think that the unwritten rule of re-cycling items outside ones house and in skips should be applauded and encouraged as it benefits the environment, gets things re-used and also helps people that are less well off. The fact that the original author had left her buggy outside for long periods without it being taken points to the fact that there seems to be a moral code.........As for the driver of this van, I can only imagine some sort of public stoning be suitable.

[juan59]

Sorry missed all these that pretty much amount to my essay.