Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Caught red-handed
Glancing out of my window after lunch, I notice a chap sauntering past my house in a manner than can only be described as nonchalant. Craning my neck, I watch as he stops and calmly props an old window, from a house further down the road, outside my house before strolling off.
Having processed that I have *finally* caught one of these ruddy fly tippers in action, I go to the door and watch where he goes. Before I know what is happening, words are coming out of my mouth, rather angry ones...
"Why have you left that outside my house?" I bellow down the road (real classy like)
Inaudible response.
"I said, why have you left that outside my house?"
"It's ok the council will take it" is the reply.
I see red.
"Damn right they will, but only because I have to report it and I'll be reporting YOU for dumping it."
Man's friend seeing the game is up, comes back, mumbles an apology, and retrieves his fly tipping. Out of the corner of my eye, I see curtains twitching across the road. One or two passersby walk a little faster. This middle-aged lady is KICKING off.
Meanwhile, as it's the school holidays, I have my two kids cheering me on. As I stand, arms-crossed, watching Tweedledum and Tweedledee faffing around their white van, my daughter says in tones usually reserved for particularly good moments in Minecraft, "WOW MUM, you're TOUGH. Really TOUGH."
Well, of course, I'm not 'tough'. Just not going to stand for it.
However, as those of you who have read my rubbish-themed diatribes and musings over the years will know, I'm always interested in the WHY. Out of the mouth of Tweedledum was the answer we know is in the head of every dumper, litter bug and dog shit abandoner.
It's ok... the council will take it.
This man, and countless like him convince themselves, even though I KNOW they know what they do is socially wrong and illegal, that it's ok -no harm done, someone (the amorphous mass that is THE COUNCIL) will clear it up.
How do we convince people it's not OK? Fines don't cut it, enforcement is expensive and underfunded and prosecution is time-consuming. How do we stop people convincing themselves that their little bit of environmental crime is excusable?
Because I'm not going to be (un) lucky enough to catch them fly tippers red-handed every day.
Tags for Forum Posts: fly tipping
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I try not to do that. I take photos of what people have done in front of them which is usually enough to get them to sort it, but I'm oddly old-fashioned about photographing people without their permission. Even naughty fly tippers.
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Permalink Reply by Sharon on
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Fair enough. It IS intrusive and passive / aggressive. It has worked for me in similar situations. You don't need to actually take the photo, just pretend ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Running after them along the road, holding their discarded fag packet and helpfully calling out "Excuse me, I think you dropped something" is also very satisfying, though does run the risk of a smack in the gob.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Ha ha ha.... I am literally laughing out loud at both images. Sorry Michael :)
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Having got into an actual fight at a bus stop doing just that I'm a bit more careful about doing that. Weirdly, the bloke who took exception to my intervention was not the bloke who'd dropped the wrapper and to whom I addressed the 'I think you dropped something' line but a bystander. Suffice to say that I was waiting for the 29 when it happened.
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There's a fabulous old Dick Emery sketch where a blue rinsed lady picks put a bit of litter a bloke has just dropped from a stationary car.
"Excuse me, I think you dropped something" she says.
"But I don't want it" he says
"And neither does Royal Tunbridge Wells" she replies.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Back in the day, on my home turf, we used be able to tell minor social nuisances: "Right, I'm phoning the Lads. They'll tache you." Now, alas, that the leaders of the Lads are sipping tea and nibbling profiteroles with Her Maj at Windsor, we'll have to clear up the shit ourselves.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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I just want someone to stop my upstairs neighbours filling the landfill bin with their recycling mixed in. Same disease, different symptoms.
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Permalink Reply by Lydia R on
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I don't think it is bad to take photos/videos of people fly-tipping. After all, they are intruding on YOUR space by saddling you with their detritus and they are causing all sorts of dangerous situations.
About two years ago, I reported illegal dumping, took pix and sent the complaint to the Council website. So far as I remember (I could be wrong) it was acted upon relatively promptly but as the tipping was done at the weekend and the department that deals with fly-tipping is not open at weekends, a few days elapsed before they got round to it. That should be improved and not just over the matter of aesthetics. A dumped window with broken glass is murderously dangerous, loose paper is blown by the wind into car windscreens, and we all have to remember that people were putting asbestos sheet into houses as late as the 80s. We found asbestos packing in the doorframes of my late mother's (modern) bungalow. We really don't want our kids running past that stuff.
Part of the problem is that many people don't like to be seen making a fuss. Good for you, Helen, but more should join you. It is a crime, after all.
Lydia Rivlin — so nauseated by vote rigging in the wards, venality in the Council, shenanigans in the Planning Department and disorganisation in the Social Services, that I signed up to fight it all by becoming a Conservative candidate in the May elections. One thing about the Tories—they haven’t been corrupted by power round here.
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