Two girls going through bins

[lilolil]

Just caught two girls, early twenties, going through my neighbours bin. When I asked her what she was doing she replied looking for shoes and clothes. I asked her if she'd asked my neighbour and called my neighbour who said she was stealing and had told her before about going through her things.

Rang police.

Both girls had shopping trolleys and were European.

[pinecone]

In my day we used to fish around in bins for cast-off girlie magazines. Now kids have it all just a click away.

[MittenKitten]

What road are you on?

[Sue]

They must be pretty desperate if they are going through bins to find clothes and shoes which aren't even good enough to take to a charity shop?

If I'd known, they could have had a pair of shoes I've just binned because they had holes in :))

ETA: But is there really a problem if they are "stealing" things which have already been thrown out? Unless you think this is a guise for looking for information to be used in identity theft?

[NunheadRising]

I witnessed two women fitting that description doing the same thing last year around nunhead lane. I reported it but obviously nothing happened. cut up your letter before you bin them

[jimbo1964]

Sounds fishy. I doubt they were looking for clobber.

[lilolil]

They should have asked first before taking anything. The bags were put there temporarily by my neighbour for safekeeping whilst she was having work done. It's a private driveway so they should not have been there rummaging.

My front door was open , my neighbours had been closed momentarily .

[chatterb0x]

I wouldn't class it as stealing....they where most likely looking for your personal info!

BUY A SHREDDER!!!

[Otta]

If they had shopping trollies it's more likely they were looking for anything with scrap value.

[lilolil]

It's difficult to shred shoes and clothes!

[bornagain]

I saw girls with your description going through the green bins on Camberwell Grove last week. I noticed that they didn't bother even lifting the lid of the recycling bins (which is probably where the paperwork would be).

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I saw girls looking for shoes and clothes also a few months ago but it's not acceptable to trespass on someone else's property and go through their bins .

[cle]

Shooing them off with a broom will usually do the job.

[Mrs TP]

Pretty obvious our green bin had been sifted through a few weeks back as the bin bag was ripped open, in Bellenden area.

[jennyh]

Have seen girls going through bins with wheelie shopping trolleys so I guess looking for stuff to sell on.

[edcam]

They were European? That narrows it down.

[intexasatthe moment]

Bags outside house ,even on a driveway ,probably not best method of safekeeping .

[lilolil]

Sigh...bags in wheelie bin tucked behind a bush.

Sigh...Eastern European.

Totally unacceptable whatever the circumstances AND only trying to give the heads up seeing as there have been so many thefts in the area recently.

[Alex K]

Ragpickers. Once, I suppose, their finds were valuable to papermakers.

No longer. Old clothes now are baled and sold either to far Eastern Europe or to Africa.

Passport from Romania / Slovakia / Hungary, "gypsy" / Roma (I shouldn't wonder) -- among scavengers there, represented in numbers disproportionate to their contribution to those countries' overall population -- disadvantaged minority, etc.

[intexasatthe moment]

Sigh all you like lilolil ,bags in wheelie bin for safekeeping ? That's just silly .

Appreciate point about " heads up " and suppose there will be people who find it useful . From my own point of view I honestly don't mind if people want to go through my rubbish/recycling bins . It's stuff I'm getting rid of and doesn't include personal details . If it's any good to someone else they're welcome to it .

[lilolil]

So, intexasatthemoment, you leave something outside, temporarily, just while you have work done indoors OR you hang washing out on the line OR have plants in your garden ...is that also silly?Is that a open invitation to someone to steal it?

Either you are trying to sabotage a perfectly valid thread or goad me into an online argument.

Enough said, we will leave it at that. Thank you for your contributions, helpful or otherwise.

[LadyDeliah]

If it's in the bin, who would expect it to be still wanted?

Personally I leave unwanted stuff that might be useful, by the side of my bin and it's always gone by the next day, but if someone wanted to root through the rest of my rubbish, why would I care? I don't want it and I'm not stupid enough to put anything with personal information on, in my bin or recycling.

[JohnL]

I thought it was only journalists and police who went through bins.

[intexasatthe moment]

No I'm not trying to goad you into an argument or sabotage a thread . Just trying to point out that it's reasonable to regard the contents of a wheelie bin as unwanted .

Maybe I'm odd but I regard clothes on washing lines ,plants in gardens and my D bolted bike that was stolen from the forecourt of our house as slightly different from contents of rubbish bin . But clearly there are upmarket contents that differ from those I put in my bin .

[NunheadRising]

These women have been doing the rounds in East Dulwich Nunhead Forest Hill area for months, there have been other posts about the same thing. Coming onto my property and taking anything without permission is theft. Don't be soft in your view of the world thinking they're not up to something dodgy, if you're not bothered by it then invite them in for a rummage through your house whilst they're at it.