Does anyone know anything about this?
I've just had a TV director on stating that they'd heard that traffic wardens were going to be issuing fines to skip hire companies for breaking any of the laws regarding lights, overloading, permits etc.
Below is a copy of the emails we've exchanged so far. If anyone out there knows anything about this, please let us know asap so we can report it to our readers.
Here are the emails:
"Hi my name is jaine green and I am a TV director currently researching a documentary about waste management. I wondered if you could help on a legal issue - I believe at the monent it is criminal law not to have lights on a skip, to have a skip without a lience, to overfill a skip or not to cover it - first is that right? Second I have heard that it's about to be made civil law and that traffic wardens will be able to issue tickets for skip offences - do you know if there is any truth in this and what effect will this have?"
My reply:
"Thanks for your enquiry. These are my initial reactions to the questions:
The law that most skip hire companies adhere is the Highways Act 1980
Lights: they are a legal requirement when the skip is on a public highway. Each council in the UK has a different interpretation of how important this is so adherence to the law is different in different areas of the UK. There is also an argument over whether it's the skip owner or the hirer that's actually responsible.
Licence: Again, different across the UK. Each council interprets differently as to whether these should be charged for or how long they take to issue. Only applicable if on a public highway. Funnily enough I had decided to start a petition at Downing Street about homogenization of skip permits 10 minutes before your email.
Here is our permits petition we did at The Skip recently:
Skip Permit Petition
Overfill/covering: reading the act, it is illegal to take a skip when there's a danger of anything falling out. Nets, coverings etc. do help contain this and skip companies would not take anything that presents them with a hazard/insurance/legal problem. Plus, as it is getting more expensive to dispose of waste with increased costs of recycling and landfill, they don't want it. Unfortunately, it is the nature of customers to fill them to the max or, even less controllable, for people to add waste to other people's skips. This is something I have been interviewed on BBC Radio 2 about as this is effectively stealing.
Traffic Wardens issuing tickets?? Why have we not heard that? It doesn't surprise me, but as I hope you can see from the above - who are they going to issue the tickets to? For overfill, the skip could have been loaded by a neighbour at 3am. For lights/cones not being on - these get stolen all the time. Permits? Fair play - if there's no permit and it's on the highway than there should be a fine; although we strongly believe that permit price/terms should be rationalized across the UK.
The problem with a story like the traffic warden is that whoever has come up with the idea has not consulted with the skip hire industry at all - they are probably doing it as a quick revenue stream, but they just haven't thought it through.
The skip hire industry is under enough huge pressure as it is, and this kind of scheme just doesn't help. Sure, there are people that abuse the rules, but they are the minority."
Please feel free to leave your comments here or email us at The Skip.
