Stealing stuff from scrapyards

[Charlie D]

Hello All,

I was at a car show at the weekend (Chateau Impney – excellent gathering.)
While talking to some people the subject of how, in the old days, scrapyard staff used to check tool kits when you were leaving the yard to see if you hadn’t slipped something into your bag and “Forgotten” to pay for it.

Someone mentioned that doesn’t happen today because many yards simply weigh you  as you go in and then weigh you again as you leave.
I said that I thought they were taking the pizz, but other people said that it was true. I think they mentioned a yard in Redditch as an example.

So is it true, or were they just winding me up?
It must be 40 years since I went to a scrapyard  so I have little experiences of such things these days.

Charlie

[Lebro]

1st I've heard of it, & I do visit them occasionaly.

Bob

[stuart]

Your not allowed in the yards round here now for H&S reasons. Staff go and get what you want or its already on the shelf.

Stuart.

[dblenk]

when i think of all the classics in the scrapyard late seventies and eighties when starting off with my first car you always had to have the wood dash from an austin and get it to fit a mini !!!!!!

they were stacked and you climbed up to get to some cars sometimes 3 high with a bit of wobble

obviously you could throw things over the fence on the grass then retrieve when back to the car hahahahaha

as Staurt says not allowed now and my everyday driver is new so dont go anymore

David

Forgot to say there was always a great big dog not fed that gave you a 2 ft gap in and out sure they used to measure the chain to be precise very un nerving

Edited August 8, 2023 by dblenk

[stillp]

1 hour ago, stuart said:

Your not allowed in the yards round here now for H&S reasons. Staff go and get what you want or its already on the shelf.

Stuart.

Same in most round here, but there is one where you can pay £5 before you go into the yard, which is credited agains any purchases you make over that value.

Pete

[Charlie D]

The thing about being allowed into the yard always meant that you spotted something else that you didn’t really need, but ended up buying it anyway.

It also meant that if you were not sure how to remove a bit from your own car you could experiment with one in the scrap yard and not worry about damaging it.

Why was it that the part you wanted was always in the car at the top of the pile, or buried deep inside the one on the bottom.

Tom Smith’s at Bloxham.

You could go in there mid morning and stay till late afternoon and no one would ever bother you or ask you what you were after.

Life was so much easier then…

[john.r.davies]

I have two!    Morecambe Metals, which is mostly offcuts and reclaimed material, but has a separate storehouse for non-ferrous and are happy to let you explore it.   Only problem there is the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, which I've mentioned before.   The Act makes it illegal to buy of sell scrap metal for cash, or in  any other non-traceable way, as a defence for lead roofs etc.    They won't sell their useful aluminium panels, unless you have an account with them, but they will swap!   So I have a stock of old iron scrap, to barter with.

The other is  Ken Allen Autowreckers.   Ken himself died last years and his funeral attracted a cortege of some length!     They will sell for cash, but I presume this is dealing in used car parts and so gets around the Act.    They expect you to look after yourself in the lines of cars piled, only 2 high today, and trust you to declare what you have mined.   Last year, I was shocked to find that Henry Ford wanted £4.50 EACH  for the little diode bulbs that go behind the dash of my TRansit.    Ken's is just down the road from the Ford dealer, and I soon had all the bulbs out of another van's dash (14 of them) for 20p each.

Long live the Autowreckers!

John

[Kiwifrog]

2 hours ago, dblenk said:

Forgot to say there was always a great big dog not fed that gave you a 2 ft gap in and out sure they used to measure the chain to be precise very un nerving

Last time I went to the local "Pick your own" breakers yard here in France I got told off for patting the "vicious" guard dog, having grown up with dogs I always seem to get on with them, managed to get the relay for my van for 10 euros that the main dealer and internet wanted over 80 euros for. I love rummaging in the yards, its my version of a botanical garden so peaceful and relaxing