how much can they expect to make from the assorted crap of broken prams, wire, old fridges and knackered bikes they gather?

Or is it just a front for scoping houses?

I think a washing machine is worth about a fiver as scrap so maybe a flatbed full of junk would get £50?
Rob some lead, copper, few houses and claim benefits and you’ve got yourself a tidy income. 😆

You wrote the wrong title – should have written “bigotted stereotype content”

I’m guessing you didn’t grow up in the 60s or 70s. I remember dirty looking men with a flat trailer pulled by a horse coming round and asking for scrap.
Why think that they’re scoping out your house to burgle first, rather than, they’re fulfilling a useful public role by collecting recycling other people’s waste?

I took some bits to the metal merchants yesterday.

Current rates are:

£2750/tonne copper/brass – so a fiver for some old plumbing junk
£600/tonne aluminium

“motors” were £400/t – so an old starter motor and alternator got me £5

Batteries are £440/t, so one large and one small one raised £16

Light Iron was £70/t

£38 for some stuff I had lying around – better than giving away to the council recycling tip 😉

You wrote the wrong title – should have written “bigotted stereotype content”

Oooooooooo, get you. When in our garden this summer I heard some of these salt of the earth types asking each other whether they thought the kids bikes in our friends yard opposite were locked. They soon went when I popped my head over the gate and they realised they’d been heard.

I’m guessing you didn’t grow up in the 60s or 70s. I remember dirty looking men with a flat trailer pulled by a horse coming round and asking for scrap.

Theres still a few guys who regularly pass my office on the Bradford ring road on with this setup. But then parts of Bradford are still in a different century.

the people who collect scrap round here don’t offer that good a service, rather than take the whole lot away they tend to strip it of the good bits then leave a chewed up appliance scattered about the path.

i still remember the boss getting a phone call from the neighbour asking if he was having roof work done – as there were some men who arrived in an unmarked transit tipper up on his roof – in the middle of the city in the middle of the day.

I grew up in the 80s. I remember the scrappers coming with a call for scrap metal. It was great. Knife sharpening too.

You wrote the wrong title – should have written “bigotted stereotype content”

My title is 100% accurate. They are scrappers. They were in a crap transit flatbed, and they were crawling along the street scavenging scrap metal.

Why think that they’re scoping out your house to burgle first, rather than, they’re fulfilling a useful public role by collecting recycling other people’s waste?

I didnt. I first asked if they can make a decent wage from it. My question was entirely honest and justified.

Good deployment of the ‘Inverse snobbery’ card though. Based entirely on a lack of understanding of my background. Perhaps i’m considering a career change.

I’m guessing you didn’t grow up in the 60s or 70s. I remember dirty looking men with a flat trailer pulled by a horse coming round and asking for scrap.

You mean like….?

Were loads round our area, Cwmcarn area, before the waste carriers licences wre tightenedup/brought in.
Trannys are alot tidier and sign written now so most seem legit. always interesting seeing what’s in the back though.
Can remeber when an old guys cycled round with a rotating sharping stone on front of his bike to do your knives. 😀 (I’m only 37 )

Our knife sharpener would do the rounds on a Sunday morning.
He had a proper bike with a hand powered sharpening stone on the back.
Rag and bone man was always exciting as his horse was at least 20 foot tall (or so it seemed to a 5 year old).

Still get the knife sharpening men in Madrid, scrappies are all old transit or similar though these days.

Next door town to ours has a large community of travellers. We get them coming round every couple of weeks, calling out “rag and bone!”. Same flat bed, traders branding and numbers one the side, the same old guy driving. They don’t seem to be up to anything nefarious . But I still make sure the garage is closed up before I take something out to them.

Just being sensibly cautious, not untrusting.

DaveyBoyWonder , i’m genuinely tickled by your response “ooooooh get you”. You’re not a politician are you? That’s how they talk in PM Questions…

Certainly had a horse drawn rag and bone cart out till mid nineties up round My parents house, now uses a transit, still rings the same bell though.

We get them coming round every couple of weeks, calling out “rag and bone!”

I’ve not seen one in years, but growing up in a Lancashire cotton town in the late 70s and 80s the sound of a horse and cart clopping over the cobbles to the cry of “AG BOH!” it used to be a weekly occurrence.

It’s quite lucrative, there was a program on Channel 4 not long back about scrap men and some are earning 60k+ a year.

There’s a lot of money in scrap metal.

Why think that they’re scoping out your house to burgle first, rather than, they’re fulfilling a useful public role by collecting recycling other people’s waste?

They kindly tried to recycle my Thule 4 bike carrier when I foolishly left it in my garden for 5 minutes before putting it in the shed – luckily a neighbour stopped them.

we had one come past a couple of months ago, regular car with a trailer, leaning out of the window shouting “raaaggyyy bow” as he passed by at little more than walking pace. I found it quite quaint

There certainly is a lot of money in scrap metal. The family who own what I presume is the UK’s biggest merchant is in the Sunday Times top 100 rich list.

Radiator on a skip when I took the dog for her walk on Thursday morning, radiator gone when we went past same skip on Thursday evening. Leave it out and they will come.
Not sure how well the skip hire folk do with the remaining stuff to dispose?

Ours* just nick everything not nailed down.

*There’s more than one, they get quite agitated when it’s clear the other’s been on ‘their’ patch. So it’s possible the one that took the pile of copper piping from by my garrgae was a differnt one to the one that nicked the lead of the roof.

The fireplace shop next door leaves a sacrificial offering to the pikey gods and locks his skips to stop the contents being emptied out in the search for stuff and re-filled with other stuff.

I can’t see how with current diesel prices crawling around all day in 2nd gear scoping stuff can be economically viable unless some taxes were being avoided. Red diesel?

We still get them, not as much as we used to but at least one a day. They are doing a service though.

£70/t is serious crap 😯

We see alot of them- really early morning (about 5-6am)- maybe to get to the stuff left out overnight before others do? I imagine the odd bike accidently left on your drive/front garden etc also gets accidently thrown in too.

In our offices the neighbours were relocating and had a skip out front. As soon as a heavy metal filling cabinet was launched in with 10mins there’d be van backed up and it being picked out… they must be like Whales…detecting sound through the air for miles……

It’s quite lucrative, there was a program on Channel 4 not long back about scrap men and some are earning 60k+ a year.

There’s a lot of money in scrap metal.

Yep, I know a couple of ‘Scrap dealers’ and both are pretty wealthy.

I can’t see how with current diesel prices crawling around all day in 2nd gear scoping stuff can be economically viable unless some taxes were being avoided. Red diesel?

your local scrappie will probably have more diesel than he knows what to do with, red and normal: Probably a deal to be struck somewhere. My mate’s dad runs a scrapyard, he hasn’t paid for fuel in years…

I can’t see how with current diesel prices crawling around all day in 2nd gear scoping stuff can be economically viable unless some taxes were being avoided.

I imagine alot of them also claim various benefits and this line of work doesn’t have a trace as its all cash……..

I was offered £30 by a chap for some scrap lead… i said no thanks and took it to the scrap metal merchant and boom £270 straight into my account… The chap was clearly out of touch on prices.. 😀 . dont see rag and bone men at home but plenty of chaps come to visit our site.. £1500 worth of still tools?… yours for £150 cash, no receipt (he did show me passport for some strange reason though).

We used to get hounded when we lived in Oldham, literally 5 or 6 would pass by 9am.

Since we moved its not been too bad but i had a call from the wife the other morning to say she had just found someone in the back garden asking if stuff was scrap. She told him politely to do one and got a mouthful back. Duely reported them to the police expecting nothing, only to get a call back shortly after to say they had found them and found the driver not to have a licence so impounded the flat back transit!

One less on the street for the time being

Put some thin sheet steel in the front garden, about 6sqm, after clearing out the garage a few weeks ago. Within 45min a guy driving past stopped and asked if he could take it, he was in a people carrier! it was folded up and in his boot and he was off in less than a minute.

I guess some of these scrappers dont spend much time actively searching and probably just do it on the way to/from other jobs. Makes sense to collect as much as you can and then sell it when youve got enough.

…..this line of work doesn’t have a trace as its all cash……..

Wrong.

They cannot be paid in cash nowadays as action on metal theft has changed the regs – must be paid by cheque or into B/Acc and photo ID has to be shown. Some sites are getting round this in some ways but it’s still traceable. It has made a big difference so far.

ALso the permits waste sites have can now be revoked if the site has been convicted of handling stolen goods, so the site can lose their business if they don’t do the proper checks.

Most of the scrappies driving around make a tidy living, their vans are generally pretty decent nowadays. And yes its true, they still do use horse and carts in Bradford, used to be my patch that area :shuddder:

At our last place we put the old bath outside , three minutes later it had gone.Thanks very much scrap man.

shouting “raaaggyyy bow” as he passed by at little more than walking pace

When I was growing up the rag & bone man shouted “bing”.
Presumably he had srapped his bell.

DaveyBoyWonder , i’m genuinely tickled by your response “ooooooh get you”. You’re not a politician are you? That’s how they talk in PM Questions…

I should have included a picture of a handbag but I couldn’t be arsed. But since you thought my response was funny, here you go:

They cannot be paid in cash nowadays as action on metal theft has changed the regs – must be paid by cheque or into B/Acc and photo ID has to be shown. Some sites are getting round this in some ways but it’s still traceable. It has made a big difference so far.

Could they give a daughter or cousins bank account?

must just be for dodgers.

i got 167 quid cash from a reputable scrappers in the city for an old boiler – a burst copper tank and a couple auld radiators.

he did want a copy of photo ID & proof of address from me to be held on file for the scrap.

Could they give a daughter or cousins bank account?

That’d fox the forensic accountants! Have you considered becoming a criminal mastermind?

I’ve actually joined the scheme at our local recycler where you have to submit your bank details and they give you a neat little card with a barcode, which enables them to credit your account. The whole process is painless and lucrative, especially if you happen to have some brass or copper plumbing stuff.

The local “collectors” perform a useful function and last weekend we left a knackered fridge outside hoping they would take it. It was there all week until yesterday when a bloke knocked and politely asked if he could take it away.

The issue with things like old fridges is that most of them take it away, strip the compressor out (as it’s the valuable bit), release the refrigerant (which on old fridges can contain cfc’s and be very harmful) and ditch the rest.
Stuff like that is why they are generally seen not to be a good thing!

That’d fox the forensic accountants! Have you considered becoming a criminal mastermind?

So lets say Mohammed Illocu Choceski is also know by two names, his nickname and his family name, his daughter is called Illocu Mohammed and his wife, cousins also a variation etc etc.

Which would a UK benefits fraud team chose to focus on first? Albert James or ^ if you have limited resources? Also one would claim language problems so a expensive interpretor would need to be added to the bill.

Cynical and maybee I’m wrong. 🙂