Fly-tipping in SE22 -- bang to rights!

[Nigello]

I saw a large bin bag left (fly-tipped) on the corner of Goodrich and Upland. I peeked inside and found empty Amazon boxes with the names of two residents of a nearby address. (I'd love to put the details of the offenders - or at least the cleaners who work for those people - but think the admins would not like it.) I took one of the boxes out, wrote on it "do not fly tip. I have informed the council. Be a good neighbour" and then took it round to the address and put it on their porch.

Any other fly-tipping success stories out there?

[jimbo1964]

Nice work.

[holloway]

name and shame

[Alan Medic]

I'm curious why they would fly tip. Didn't they have a bin?

[Penguin68]

I have just read the original post to this - are you sure the addressees were the fly-tippers? - we have had some incidence locally of bins being 'explored' by others - suggestions as to why have included scavenging and identity theft - bag taken away, examined closely and then discarded would fit with this scenario.

As rubbish collection in ED is generally good (I know some have had complaints) I cannot see why anyone locally would bother to fly-tip when local disposal (particularly of things like Amazon boxes, all recyclable) is so easy - as Alan Medic noted above.

Possibly the addressees will be pleased to know that interference with their rubbish has been picked up - equally, if they thought they had disposed of this 'properly' they might just be very confused.

[Mustard]

Would a bin raider have put that rubbish in a bag? Maybe they had a full bin and decided to leave it at the corner for pick-up, lots of people seem to do that round here.

Once had a neighbour across the street put loads of her rubbish in my bin and fill it up completely, was easy to find as her address was on some letters. She became very hostile when I asked why she did it and said she had nowhere else to put it.

I have neighbours now who leave furniture out in their front garden all the time despite the fact that there is free pick up here.

[DunstansChap]

Hi there

I think this is my rubbish we're talking about here. We were mortified to find our rubbish had ended up in the street, and can't for the life of us work out how it happened. As per the suggestions above, we asked our cleaner but she denied all knowledge. Our bin is a few steps from our front door, so it would have been significantly more effort for her or us to drop it a few streets away. I've actually reported people myself for fly tipping rubbish in our and other neighbours bins in the past - but not before going to speak to the culprit first (they'd mived out). You would know all this had you spoken to us rather than leave an aggressive message on our doorstep. We'd have made you a cup of tea. As it was, my fianc? actually felt a bit threatened, as we have no idea who left the note (but they obviously know where we live). Anyway, thought I'd chip in. Cheers.

[Nigello]

DunstansChap,

I came around early one morning, but all the curtains were drawn, hence my message - which was not aggressive: "Be a good neighbour. I have reported this to the council. Do not fly-tip."

I wasn't going to leave the bag there without action: far too many folk do that, and given that I was on my way out for the day, I didn't want to leave it to come back to later.

I'd do the same again if I came across the same but I still wouldn't rap at the door to have a go if all the signs were that people were in bed.

[DunstansChap]

Your message was more than that, and you know it. Enough to worry my fianc?e (apologies for previous incorrect spelling). Anyway, all friends now.

[pinecone]

Good form in cases like this (such as excessive noise, which I know this isn't, but the point remains) is to be co-operative, and not at all confrontational. Telling someone you've reported them to the authorities without giving them a chance to defend their position does not count as such, but is something worthy of Lynda Snell.

Much better to warn / tell the person / people in question first that something bad has happened and ask them if they know anything about it, rather than snitch in the first instance. Indeed, not doing so immediately disproportionately strengthens your case should they reoffend, and *then* you have the moral right to escalate.

(cue 10-page thread...)

[Penguin68]

To clarify this thread - a bag full of rubbish was found away from the property it purported to have originated from - the owners of the property have said that they didn't put it there - and neither would their cleaner (makes sense as described) - it still seems possible a bag was taken away by a third party (possibly to look for scrap or items of identity) and then abandoned by the scavenger/ identity thief.

This does not seem, as headlined 'fly tipping, bang to rights!' and neither, as it turns out, has the OP actually appeared to have covered themeselves in clouds of glory (despite no doubt good intentions).

Righteous indignation is not always, it might seem, the absolutely best starting point for neighbour interactions. Particularly if it comes across as threatening rather than righteous.

pinecone does seem to have a point.

[Zebedee Tring]

Sounds as though they got off lightly. Lynda Snell would have rung 999 and insisted that the Old Bill come round en masse pdq.

[KidKruger]

Pinecone has a point - to a point.

There's no obligation on the complainant to engage with people directly, this is why the local authorities provide the facility for such issues (noise, fly-tipping, doggy poo, etc.) to be raised via their departments.

You never know who's going to open the door to you, or how aggressive a response you're going to be subjected to - people do tend to get defensive/irritated when caught-out.

Fly-tipping is frequent around here and one can get fed-up with the mess left. It would be improbable to draw the conclusion that every instance is someone's rubbish having been robbed without their knowing then put in a bag some place else nearby.

I complained several years ago in person to some chaps nearby about angle-grinding from a garden being used to run a wrought iron business (incl. Saturdays and Sundays). A couple of hours later I had 4 men threatening me on my doorstep and until I got them out of my front yard I didn't know how nasty it was going to get. One minute I'm basting the chicken, the next a bloke's being held back by his mates as he snarls, "we know where you live, c***".

One shouldn't have to be exposed to that, nor have to gamble on it not happening by 'doing the right thing' and speaking-out in person to try and resolve a problem.

It may work out nicely, it may turn nasty.

However, of course, all personal engagement, if undertaken, should be polite and courteous.

I just think it's naive to make coverall statements that ignore potential trouble.

[DunstansChap]

I just want to make sure that Nigello doesn't get tainted with a certain brush. There weren't any threats in his/her message to us. I don't want anyone to think that. BUT WHEN SOME OF THE SENTENCES ARE IN CAPITALS AND UNDERLINED, THEY SEEM MORE AGGRESSIVE, PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU DONT KNOW WHO WROTE IT. See?

Ps fly tipping really annoys me too.

[Alan Medic]

How many sentences were there? My writing is so crap I'd probably write in capitals to make it easier to read. Saying that I think Nigello is only guilty of adding 2 and 2 and making 5.

[DunstansChap]

Ok, final one from me, and then I'm off to enjoy the global warming.

Here are my issues:

1. Nigello made an assumption of guilt on our part, and left a note that could be construed as being aggressive. I can't remember it word for word as I threw it straight into (our) recycling bin. But it was 2x longer than what Nigello claims above.

2. It's true that we weren't up when Nigello came round, so I can understand why he didn't knock. I can also understand why people wouldn't want to do this - you don't know who's going to open the door. Nigello wasn't to know that we are lovely and make a cracking brew. But I struggle to believe that the note was written once Nigello realised we weren't up- it was surely written before, so the intention was not to talk to us. But again, I can understand the train of thought. But you have to understand the impact of receiving an anonymous, aggressive message, when you know they know both your name and address. Much like you don't know who will open the door, we have no idea who left the message. You are, I am sure, lovely too.

3. Like many ED houses, we share an entrance with our lovely neighbour. So this was left on their doorstep too, and could have coloured their opinion of us (we've spoken and luckily it doesn't). But also, this is a potentially aggressive note left on their doorstep.

4. This is the big one. Nigello then came on the forum bragging about what he'd done, with the heading "bang to rights", when it was nothing of the sort. If I hadn't become aware of this thread, the accusation would have gone unchecked - indeed, the first 2 replies were "name and shame" and "nice work".

5. Nigello reported us to the council with no basis for guilt. By the by, we havent heard anything from the council yet, but that's probably a debate for another day. But it genuinely would take us/our cleaner 5 minutes longer to leave the bag where it was found, rather than just drop it in our bin.

So that's me done. Seriously, we are lovely. And we make a sensational cup of tea.

Dunstans Chap.

[Nigello]

Stop! The message was written on the spur of the moment, it was four sentences long, it said something like "be a good neighbour/citizen. Do not fly tip. The council will be informed" - you no longer have it so don't embellish. It was not aggressive or threatening, not even "potentially"; it was to-the-point.

You were in your bed, so I didn't knock (it was way before 0800 on a Saturday). Your cleaner or someone who has access to your house had dumped rubbish.

I never knew who you were before I "bragged" on the forum, so please don't take it personally. I still don't. Noone knows who you are or where you live - it's an anonymous forum, remember - so you can't take offence when people say "nice work" etc. - they're not talking about you because they don't know you. They're talking about a person in their imagination.

I wrote- without any suggestion as to where exactly the "culprit" lived - to show that there is a problem with fly-tipping and to encourage others to not just walk on by. There's way too much of that in SE22.

Get a new cleaner!

[Alan Medic]

Oh. The cleaner is guilty? If you keep this up it will replace Downton for me.

[phobic3000]

The cleaner? Cillit bang activity...

[pinecone]

you can follow Lynda Snell on twitter here

[MrBen]

I don't know about anyone else. But I fancy a cup of tea and an orange chocolate Jacobs with Dunstans Chap. Will he be up right now do you think?

[Willard]

+ 1 for Dunstanschap

Milk no sugar please....

[dennis]

This thread needs a very urgent "group hug" or a "Harry Hill style" fight !!

[newboots]

What about if Nigello just apologised? That would be nice.

[Jeremy]

KidKruger Wrote:

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

> One minute I'm basting the chicken, the next a bloke's being held back by

> his mates as he snarls, "we know where you live, c***".

I'd be furious if I was interrupted while basting the bird on a sunday morning.