Last month ‘skip reporting’ went high-brow following a feature in The Observer’s weekly magazine (‘Those Big Yellow Crates Bring a Street Out to Play’ – July 1st).
As much as it enthused me to see such a fervour for skip facts within the article, my anal side couldn’t help but hunt for the nonsense.
For starters it claimed that the lowest priced skip in the UK was £65, whereas I know that skips start from as little as £50 in northern town like Oldham and Rochdale. Secondly it seemed to revel in made-up phrases like ‘New Navvies’ (people who deliver and pick up skips – supposedly), ‘skippery’ (items in skips) and ‘skip-fiends’ (‘skippies’ who illegally dump waste!).
Maybe I‘m just bitter because they didn’t ask me for some input! Either way, I have to admit it gladdened me to see such an article. Bravo, The Observer! – But next time give me a call!
Now onto the over-loaded skip photos I’ve received this month. The first comes courtesy of Darren from Salford Skips. The alley in the background looks remarkably like the back alley from the opening shots of Coronation Street and the skip itself looks like it’s about to give up the ghost. By my reckoning there’s enough waste in it to fill three skips, never mind two!

The next photo (and this week’s winner – by a whisker) was sent in by Shorts Skips from Ascot, Berkshire. This one uses the classic ‘fencing’ technique to pen the additional rubbish in. There’s something beautiful about the planning that’s gone into maximising the skip space, but did the customer really think in their heart of hearts that anyone would pick up such a monstrously over-filled skip?

I’ve been sent some real bloaters over the past few months but if you feel you can do better, take a photo of the next ‘mountainous’ skip you see and email your entries through to

post them to – Skip Watch, The Skip, Baxall Business Centre, Adswood Road, Stockport, SK3 8LF.