The Skip Magazine

AMW Skip Hire Ltd
We are fully in support of your petition. We currently have a range of permit fees from zero to £25 - which I find exhoritant. The Councils are all now insisting on PL insurance cover of £5M (I guess in line with the vehicle insurance element) but how a non motorised container could feasibly cause damage to this tune beggars belief!
Lights and cones... well I'm sure we all remember our youth and the cones and lights that decorated student accommodation, pub chimneys, etc, etc, and if you have a large volume of skips out it is not possible to physically check them all each day- then again, some Councils make this the responsibility of the hirer!
These stealth taxes are just another means of keeping us all in our place, but what these idiots in authority don't realise is that not everyone is prepared to pay, (a lot won't even pay to dispose of waste legitimately, let alone pay a bonus to the Council!!). Surely we all pay Council Tax and Business Rates which are not cheap, so why are we expected to fund even more Council positions? Is this another way of reducing the unemployment - I feel sure that the whole thing is a very devious plan to increase the revenue of Councils without us poor, witless fools noticing!
Seriously, the Road Traffic Act and the interpretations of said act need clarifying so that everyone is aware of what their legal obligations are and the fees are appropriate for the service provided.

In principle I don’t think it’s a bad idea, There are plenty of cowboys and major players in our area that don’t abide by the rules and are quiet happy to place a skip on the road with no permit, lights or insurance, and you can’t blame the customer for using them when it’s going to save their pocket £50-£75. Yes let the local traffic wardens issue fines for un licenced skips, as for the issue of lighting skips there are a few very secure and very robust lights available I purchased 30 sets 2 years ago and have never lost a set and only had 4 indavidual lights broken, that said how many cars park on the road with no lights on! you tell me the differance! at lest skips have chevrons!. Overloading a skip, surely any fine that was going to be imposed would have to be aimed at the hirer of the container! or are they also introduing a fine for the suppliers of wheelie bin that are left overloaded on the pavement.

First thoughts are:

* There are no permits left on the skip. so how would they know if it has one?
* You do not need a light if it is not staying overnight, i.e. builders sometimes have them for one day only.
* cones get stolen by drunken yobs at night, should we be fined for this?
* where would they attached the notice, skips don't have wiper blades.

Must be a Joke.....!!!

Regards

Ian.

I work for Magnox south at Dungeness A power station and have noticed on this site that you produce roro hook skip locks. I am in the process of looking to order these types of locks for our skips. I was wondering wether you could send me some information on these locks with pricing etc so as I can place an order.

I have read your article and believe in it. I would like to get in to recyling more very interested. I've been homeless with kids before and we detest waste. Please could you contact me and let me know how get involved. Thankyou.

Hi I have just found this site and the world of skips is opening up to me! I have recently looked round my town and noticed the amount of waste both building and domestic and thought where are all the skips! well having been made redundant 3 weeks ago I am seriously thinking about starting my own skip firm. I have no idea where to start any advice would be great.

It's about time this skip permit stealth tax was dropped. Small companys pay enough in taxes as it is. Landfill, Licence to District Councils and the EA to name a few - good luck

We operate in London and Surrey and the permit prices are ridiculous. Wandsworth council for example want £118 for a 28 day licence and SIX days notice..its amazing. Its a waste of everyones precious time and energy endorsing licences and especially renewels. We have to employ a lady full time(22k a year) to keep up with it all, its a waste of everyones time, money and paper! i wouldn't mind but the councils in return normally offer a shocking service and we have to end up phoning and chasing them up for confirmation which is shocking when we are paying for a service. Its another government tactic to put bums on office chairs to keep employment figures up

very fair woman ... as a ray of sun

Dear The Skip

Please add our company to your petiton. We completely agree with all the comments made above.

Regards

Owen waste Management Ltd
Stockport

Please add my name to the petition. How can we encourage people to dispose of waste responsibly, if we apply inconsistent and unreasonable tax rules? Fly tipping is a huge anti-social problem, which this stealth tax is doing nothing to alleviate.

Please add our names to your petition for reduction of skip permit charges.
We have hired several skips over the past few years and the cost of permit has meant that, as a young hard-working family, we have had to actually save up to be able to afford them! Sad but true.

We live just outside of Blackpool, Lancashire.

From ANONYMOUS:

I agree with Chris and please add my name to the petition.

I would like to add some comments which I don't want my name attached to as local councils do seem to be aware of this magazine. The laws relating to skips on the road are dated over 27 years old and need updating. On streets where street lighting is in operation skips that are coned and have reflective plates on should not have to be lit as well. I see many roadworks that seem to get away with cones and barriers and no lights so I wonder if regulations have changed for road and street works.

If you look at the strict way in which you are suppose to light a skip at night (which varies from council to council)it is unworkable. For example a skip sited on an unlit street in Derbyshire should have a light on each corner of the skip (not on each lifting lug but the corner) it should also have four cones and three lamps placed at a 45 degree angle from the skip to the kerb, facing the oncoming traffic. So thats 7 lights and 4 cones that are required. On streets that are lit then only a light on each corner of the skip is required.

I wonder if when we report the theft or vandalism of a skip light how the police would treat such a crime. If as an industry we did would the increased crime statistics prompt a response ?

If we are to be charged more for permits then we should see a relaxation on the need to light skips on streets that have street lighting. Its unworkable for the operators and the authorities.

PS As of 1st Jan 07 Sheffield Council has imposed a fine of £50 for any skip found not have a valid permit on it. failure to pay the fine within 7 days and you can be struck off the list of approved skip contractors.

For me The Skip Magazine could win alot friends by championing this cause.

(Name withheld as requested)

Once again the tax payer has to bend over and...

The mood in the country reflects the apt title of "rip off Britain"

For us yet more red tap to go through and a higher cost to pass on to our customers.

It seems to be an unjustified use of the skip companies time and home owners pocket to charge for permits. When the home owner already pays for the skip and their council tax. Why should they subsidise the council when they are not causing any damage to the road or surrounding area.

Please add me the the petition.

When I hire a skip for clearance from a site such as Clifton Rocks Railway which is done on a totally voluntary basis with donations from the public I would hate to have to pay a fixed extra for parking on a street without considering the clearance circumstances- to have to pay extra depending on where the site is, sounds ludicrous

This is such a good idea to give the skip industry a voice to speak out to the unrealistic bureaucracy that is simply making it increasingly difficult for legitimate waste management businesses to operate.

Totally agree with the extortion from councils in regards to members of public hiring skips.Blackpool borough council require 6 weeks notice and charge a phenomenal £1,000 to drop in any of its alleyways.Hope the powers that be sit up and take notice of this petition

Couldnt agree more with Christopher Peano. Permit charges are ridiculous.
No cohesion at all in regulations or prices. Ellesmere Port are now asking
for the householders' home insurance details in case anything sticking out
of the skip hits someone who passes!! And we, the skip company, have to
gather all this information, including the builders' contact details before
they will give a permit. We are being legislated to death and it's getting
harder all the time. They charge £25, Sefton £10, Halton £31.00, St
Helens £6.00. Its sheer madness and can only encourage illegal tipping!!!

Cheers Mark

We did pay to advertise with this company (a previous employee fell for the b s) initially it sounded quite good. We paid a few pence shy of £300 for 12 months and they said for this we would get a listing on google.

After a few months (When I was checking off my business credit card and noticed a payment had gone out) I thought I would check this out and see how it was performing for us. After about 30 minutes of searching and not getting any luck, I decided to ring them with my concerns. I indeed did find the listing but only after specific instructions of where to click from them which was as follows:

these are the instructions he gave me on the phone:

Go to google, type in Skip Hire in Derbyshire.

I did this then scrolled down numerous listings, explained that I couldn't see the link he was asking me to click.

He asked me to list the links I could see, which I did, he said he could see it on his screen and he was doing exactly what I was doing and couldn't understand why I couldn't see it.

He then said, you are looking on the right hand side at the sponsored links aren't you, I said, no why would I? He said, thats the problem, you're 'not looking in the right place'.

After he explained that I needed to click the 3rd link down on the sponsored link listings then once I'd clicked that click another link, hey presto it's there.

GREAT how good is that? well actually it's crap! so for this to work I have to inform potential customers click here click there and you will find us.

After discussing this ridiculous problem with one of their reps, and demanding my money back, I got nowhere. Quite an expensive lesson has been learned here and I can't begin to tell you how mad I am about it. They didn't explain this at the time they sold it and it certainly is nothing like the "it's like ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin" sales pitch we were told.

If you're still reading this, even I'm getting bored with it now, I would advise anyone who is approched by this company to tell them to 'go away' and stop wasting your time!

Regards

Justin Foster (Peak Waste Recycling)

why does anyone have to pay for a permit at all, shouldnt the builder or public just apply for a permit at no cost.
after all the skips are being ordered and placed outside of a home or building that is already being taxed and paid for by the property owner!
the councils are making money out of the permits while it is costing the skip co time and money my staff are spending at least 4hours a day on permits that should be the councils responsibility,as the council are the only ones making any money out of the permits, if we dont do it then they enforce fines and threats onto the company we are trying to be reasonable but they are passing this law onto the skip companys when they should be using their staff to issue the permits,collect the permit money and keep track of the renewals and deal with the individual customers and builders who order the skips after all permits are their money making business not ours.we need to stick together on these issues and find a fair solution to this ongoing problem.

we are up the wall with these skip permits.i would like to know were the money goes. here in liverpool enterprise are recruiting more inforcement officers to impose fines.we find the renewals are the problems. why have we got to monitor when a permit needs renewing it takes up most of our day with phone calls etc..

we think a permit for each job is ample never mind renewals. for some of our customers the permits are the last straw the skips are expensive enough.

The feedback from our customers over the permits. they dont agree with the renewals at all and neither do we. this is only going to incourage people dumping rubbish

Please add my name to the petition. In the Scarborough area it is £15 per 14 days and the same price to re-new. In the Bridlington area it is £11 per 28 days. I find it totally ludricous that for the two areas to be different priced and to try and explain that to our customers is hard work!
To check all the skips daily to make sure the lights and cones are still present is virtually impossible, we would have to employ someone to do that. Our customers are good though, they generally ring to inform that the cones or the lights are in-adequate.
There should be a set price for permits, if a price at all. I am curious as to where all the extra revenue is going !!!!

dear chris,

we totally agree with all the above comments, its about time everyone got together and tryed to change some of the high way rules.
Where exactly dose the permits money go to which we collect in for the council?? can anyone answer this??.
We in sheffield only get 14days for a £5 permit we think we should get aleast a month, this is not long enough for customers to hire a skip.It seems now that we are not just working for ourselfs but the council aswell.

from a skip company in sheffield

Add us to your petition,
Our Permit prices range from £15 in Herts up to a WHOPPING £35 for Windsor/Maidenhead and that only covers you for 3 weeks Then you get hit with another £35.
I have no objection to a set £5 or £10 a month Charge but a set fee across the board would be nice!
Jim Tyler Mini-Skips (Southern) Ltd

I wholey support your petition as regards permits.Down here in cornwall it cost us £30 for a skip licence and 5 working days notice for application.
If a continuation is needed then another £30 is required .As for lighting I have purchased 300 lights over the past three years and have only got about 25. left due to theft and vandalism.

yours faithfully
John Budd (M.D)

Please add our name to the petition. A permit costs £38 from Edinburgh Council an increase from £12.

Please add our company to your petition.
We have various disputes with councils over the years regarding highway permits, some ending up in the courts.
My main greivance is the complete lack of discussion that takes place between the diferent councils. In the 30 mile or so radius we cover we can pay anything between £12-30 for a permit that may last a week in some areas and a month in others.
The cost of living does not differ that much from area to area, so it is not time that councils were forced to standardise there charges throughout the country? At least it would then make it easier for us, the collectors of this 'tax', to charge our customers.

Able Skip Hire Ltd
Lancashire

PLEASE ADD US TO YOUR LIST NORTHANTS HIGHWAYS CHARGE £20,OXFORDSHIRE HIGHWAYS £25 AND WARWICKSHIRE UP TO £45 AND NEED 3 DAYS NOTICE WHICH IS NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE

Dear The Skip

Please add our company to your petiton. We completely agree with all the comments made above.

Regards

Jeff Skinner Skip Hire Ltd
Leeds West Yorkshire

Please add me to the petition!! I aggree with the authors comments and I have had the same conversation with councils I deal with. The answer I receive is that an inspector has to drive to the proposed site to inspect the area for danger, obstruction and neighbour issues. Ok thats fair enough a small charge to recover costs but when renewing the application a few weeks later surely he hasn't got to asses the site again? so what is the renewall charge for? admin?

I would like to congratulate you on the efforts being made by yourselves and others to bring local Authorities into line. It has long been my grevience that the skip operator is applying for the permit as it in my opinion the hirer should be resposable for applying for the skip permit and maintaining the requirements for skip on the highway as they are there daily etc. The Authorities are trying to gain an easy life and let us the skip operators take the stick from frustrated and unhappy members of the public for the charges we are only trying to pass on, with no markup or admin charges for this service we providing which is also burdening our businesses!
It is our mind set to advise all customers of the local Highways department phone number and ask them to contact them directly and apply for the permit themselves, I wonder how long the council would continue with this policy and if they are allowed to refuse a member of the public's reasonable request for a permit? Imagine the burden if every skip operator took this stance, they may start to listen to some simple alternatives and start and be more proactive in discussing a uniform and joined up solution across the industry nationwide, with consultation from the industry. We live in hope!!!!

Kind Regards

Alan's Skip Hire Ltd
Cheshire, Wirral, North Wales, Shropshire,

We love Tom Finney too! And we love community gardens.

Well done to Sir Tom, and to the skip hire dudes.

Lets keep the Ribble flowing and the greenbelt unspoilt.