Back Issues of “The Skip”

Pigeon Pinching Panic

Remember Terry Sandham, the Yorkshire skip hire pigeon fancier (try saying that after a few shandies) who was being denied planning permission for his palatial pigeon loft?

Well, he won the court battle (yay!) but has lost some award winning pigeons since (boo!).

The bad news follows as Sandham has now reported the theft of dozens of his prized pigeons.

Terry Sandham, 69, believes thieves broke into his luxury pigeon loft in Guiseley last week, making off with up to 30 birds worth at least £1,000.

As reported in The Skip last year, Mr Sandham ruffled the feathers of council bosses by building the palatial 18ft by 5ft loft on green belt land.

But the skip hire boss later won a planning appeal and was awarded legal costs from Leeds City Council, which could total up to £40,000.

Almost one year later, he is still waiting for the money – and after the added stress of the pigeon theft, he said he finally wanted some “peace”.

The businessman, who runs Aireborough Waste Traders, said, ”I felt sick when I realised what had happened.

“Those birds are massive part of my life; I’ve had pigeons since I was an eight-year-old lad. At least 10 have gone, but numbers in other parts of the loft have gone down as well.

“I’ve been ill over Christmas and this just adds to it. If they’re released, there’s a chance they may fly back, but I’m not holding out much hope.”

The pigeon loft, complete with windows and patio doors, was built in 2006 as a replacement for Mr Sandham’s former crumbling loft on the same land.

Neighbours described it as “blot on the landscape”, but he was eventually granted retrospective planning permission and appealed against the extra costs. However, he has yet to see any of the money, which was initially estimated at £20,000.

The sum may now have increased to £40,000 due to the ongoing legal wrangle, which has lasted for more than three years.

Mr Sandham added: “If I owed the council money, they’d be chasing after me and taking me to court. But when it’s the other way round, they bury their heads.”

The stolen pigeons, which shared the loft with around 100 others, were taken between Thursday night and Friday morning. Mr Sandham has offered a £500 reward for the safe return of the birds, which are mostly of the Leen Boers variety.

Terry, sorry to hear of the latest bad news. We hold some hope that those birdies will fly home soon. We’ll keep an eye in the skies for you. Good luck.

February 17, 2010 at 8:11 am | Back Issues of "The Skip" | No comment

Tags: Aireborough Waste Traders, skip hire

Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.theskip.net/pigeon-pinching-panic.html/trackback

Skip Hire Cheat Banged to Rights #2

A land owner of a waste operation site who failed to turn up to court nine times has been prosecuted by the council for excessive noise and made to pay nearly £10,000.

Slough Borough Council served a noise abatement notice on May 8, 2008 on Amrik Johal, owner of Johal Skip Hire, a waste transfer site at Colnbrook bypass.

On December 18, 2009, he was found guilty at Maidenhead Magistrates Court of all five noise offences and fined £1,000 for each offence and ordered to pay £4,911 costs.

He was also prosecuted by the Environment Agency for operating without a licence.

Johal’s case was heard in his absence after he failed to turn up for the tenth time, owing to apparent ill health. He failed to submit medical evidence to support his absence on this occasion, so the case went ahead without him.

The Skip mag really fails to see why people carry on breaking the rules. How long do they thing they can get away with it?

February 15, 2010 at 12:51 pm | Back Issues of "The Skip" | No comment

Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.theskip.net/skip-hire-cheat-banged-to-rights-2.html/trackback

Puff The Magic Binman

Puff Daddy is known for his rubbish nick names, flash cars and his the troupe of honeys that follow him around wherever he goes. So what do you think his goal was as a kid? To be billionaire record mogul? To be make loads of money rapping terrible lyrics? To sleep with Jennifer Lopez?

No, he wanted to be a binman.

Now, I imagine he’s lost all inclination to follow the rest of us into the waste management industry (from where I’m looking, there’s a distinct lack of champagne and supermodels) but Puffy announced to a bored world that his heart was set on being a bin man when he got older.

He told the audience at the BET Honor Awards that he admired garbage disposal men for their values and talent.

Diddy said that he used to be in awe of bin men’s “synchronised art and work ethic”

“One day, when I was in the hood, I scoped these brothers jumping out of a big dust truck, cleaning my streets. I couldn’t believe there were guys who would clean the trash that other folks would drop. It made me think that if there was something I could do in this world for the better, it would be what my brothers were doing out there. Yes, people, I decided I would be a bin man.”

Oh, but then a million dollar record contract and access to the world’s finest wines, women and yachts got in the way. Dammit! (Not that we’re bitter of Puffy’s global success or anything.)

Well Puffy, P Diddy, Sean Combs, whatever you want to be called, there’s a vacancy open at the council depot near us. Hours are 5am – 2pm every day, wages are not amazing, but you have a good laugh with the lads on the rounds, and you get free hi-viz vest and jumpsuit. We’ll put your name forward and hope for an interview to come up. We’ll be in touch!

February 15, 2010 at 12:06 pm | Back Issues of "The Skip" | No comment

Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.theskip.net/puff-the-magic-binman.html/trackback

Er, Darling, Our Garden Has Swallowed the Skip!

It’s not everyday that you look out of the window to discover your garden looks like an H-Bomb has landed on it.

Unfortunately, for one couple this was the case when they moved into their brand new home and were undergoing some work on it.

The couple were shocked to discover that the 6 cu yd skip that they had ordered had been swallowed by their front garden.

Kate Scott and partner Paul Harding had ordered the skip hire as they were preparing to build a new conservatory.

They had just bought the house in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire and had moved in two weeks ago.

But they were left stunned on Sunday morning when they woke to find the six-yard skip had fallen into a giant hole measuring 15ft by 15ft.

Garden Swallows Skip: Oh dear...

They later discovered that the skip had sunk into a bunker beneath their lawn, which they had not known was there and had not come in the survey they had before they had bought the house.

Ms Scott, 37, said: ‘It was a massive shock, we just couldn’t believe it. The hole is about 20-foot-deep and takes up a third of our front garden

‘It’s really gutting as we only moved in two weeks ago.’

The couple, who have a nine-month-old baby Scott, ordered the skip to be delivered to their house on Friday evening.

They had arranged for builders to start digging out foundations for the conservatory on Sunday.

But when they woke at 6.30am on Sunday morning they were puzzled to find they had no water.

Mr Harding then looked out the window and saw the empty skip had fallen through their lawn into a gaping hole.

Kate, who is 30 weeks pregnant with twins, added: ‘We had to get another skip company to haul it out as the original company doesn’t work on a Sunday.

‘Normally Paul parks his van there. If the skip hadn’t been there, the van would have been.

‘Our biggest problem is we now have nowhere to park and we can’t use our front pathway. Fortunately our neighbours have been lovely and very helpful.’

The couple now hope their building insurance will resolve the problem and the conservatory plans are on hold.

Keith Walker, of K&S Walker Skips, which pulled the skip out the ground, said: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this happen before.

‘The couple called me on the Sunday morning and we used chains to pull it out.

‘Luckily it was empty so it was a fairly easy task.’

Well thanks to Keith at K&S Skips who got up that Sunday to help out. The rest of us were sending up the zeds!

January 12, 2010 at 1:58 pm | Back Issues of "The Skip", Skip Hire Industry News | No comment

Tags: Domestic Skip Hire, Funny Skip Story, skip hire

Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.theskip.net/er-darling-our-garden-has-swallowed-the-skip.html/trackback

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Thanks for dropping by!
Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed: