The Oddest Things Found In Skips

6th Feb, 2017

Responsible waste disposal is something we’re very passionate about in the skip hire business. But then again, some people use hiring a skip as an opportunity to dispose of some of the oddest things – sometimes knowingly, sometimes not. Below are just a few examples of some of our favourites.

Historical Significances Found In Skips

We’re not necessarily super-fans of Peter Sellers, but we still think it’s a bit harsh to chuck away some of the last existing copies of his most famous works. Likened to finding ‘movie equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, these two long-lost films were found in a London skip a few years ago. To the best of our knowledge, no one has admitted to being the one responsible for throwing them away, which tells us either that they didn’t know what was on the films, or that they really, really didn’t like Peter Sellers.

It’s far from the only historical artifact to pop up in our nation’s skips. In 2006 a caretaker discovered unique photographs of Tower Bridge being constructed, dated around 1892. He didn’t initially realise what they were until a tour guide friend recognised them, and they’ve now been donated to Tower Bridge Museum. Meanwhile, up North, letters from a solider to his wife were unearthed in a skip in Bolton, dating all the way back to the First World War. Martin Old, a local historian with a suitably historical-sounding surname, is already pursuing a frankly quite lovely plan to reunite the letters with the soldier’s family. Some discoveries, however, aren’t quite so sweet. An unexploded naval artillery shell turned up in a skip in Cornwall, necessitating a call to the Army to come out and deal with it. Rather them than us!

Life’s Great Milestones In A Skip

Some items tell rather poignant stories all by themselves. One such item is the wedding dress tossed into a skip in 2012, along with all the associated memorabilia – photo albums, wedding cards and engraved gifts all joined the dress amongst the rubbish. Meanwhile, people in Hampshire made a much more startling discovery, as a coffin suddenly turned up in their local skip without explanation. Closer (and very cautious) examination revealed the coffin to be in mint condition, and apparently unused. The mystery of its appearance remains unsolved. Not to be outdone, a couple in Clydesdale, Scotland, found two coffins side-by-side lying in a local skip. Again, after extremely wary further investigation, these coffins were also found to be empty. They turned out to have come from a local funeral director, who’d put them in a council skip due to an administrative error.

Worthy Of Another Look

Despite coffins turning up in skips with what seems like alarming frequency, there are still nicer discoveries, too. An Irish refuse collection company found €1500 in a shoe when cleaning out a skip in Dublin in 2015. While it sounds like the start to a contemporary fairy tale, in fact it belonged to a local woman with Alzheimer’s. The company gracefully hunted her down and returned the money, so it does at least have a fairy tale ending! Meanwhile, someone in South Wales attempted to dispose of an entire caravan by balancing it precariously on top of their local skip. Somewhat predictably the skip hire company didn’t take it, instead preferring to have a quiet word. The caravan was eventually broken down into smaller pieces, and recycled properly.

At Skip Hire Network, we have yet to find vast swathes of money merrily knocking about any of our skips. Sometimes that makes us a little sad, but then we remember we haven’t seen any coffins or UXBs yet, so swings and roundabouts. You can find out what items you definitely can put in a skip, or if you want to get straight to hiring, you can enter your postcode and phone number on our homepage to get an instant skip hire quote.

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