We are having a huge clear-out of the shed and garage so I rented a skip to dispose of things that are no longer of any use. My son came and helped me to carry out the clear-out and we filled the skip with a variety of unwanted and broken items. I am now waiting for the company to collect the skip - however, early this morning I heard a commotion outside and upon looking out of the window saw a van at the bottom of my drive and the contents of the skip being loaded into it! By the time I was able to get to the drive the van had gone and the skip was almost empty. I suspect the van was from the travellers’ site about a mile away. I now feel very unsettled about the whole episode. If they had knocked on the door to ask if they could go through the skip then that would have possibly have been a different matter. It’s just the feeling that these people thought it was ok to come onto my property and take whatever they wanted - even though it was stuff I no longer want - that has unsettled me.
Now I wonder whether I am being over-sensitive about the whole business - what do other folk think?
It’s classed as theft as it was on your drive, they should have knocked and asked it it was ok to remove what was in the skip.
Unfortunately they got away before you had time to have a word with them.
Haha, usually the opposite happens, you have a skip delivered and someone fills it before you do! When we had skips delivered to site we always had them delivered in the morning so that we could fill them in the afternoon, otherwise by the morning you could guarantee there would be at least a three piece suite and two matresses would have appeared in there. 
Thank you @pauline3 , I class it as theft too and I think that’s the reason I feel so unsettled about the whole business.
@Barry I did wonder whether we might get a few additional items - I now wonder whether I should knock on my neighbours’ doors to see if they can help me fill the skip up again!
What a shame you don’t have cctv, you could have then got their registration number and pressed charges.
That would have unsettled me as well…the cheek of some people.
In the eyes of the law it was theft because it was on your drive.
As soon as I saw this thread it brought back memories of a TV programme where the skip was filled with an item nobody obviously wanted.
The one and only time I have put something out, to see if it was collected, someone knocked at the door asking if it was OK to take the radiators.
@Barry Your post just added to what I recall happening on that programme:
In my poor younger days I got some good stuff from skips, furniture a carpet and even a microwave.
Had a skip myself a few years back as I gutted my flat, most of the skip contents went overnight and I had absolutely no issue with it, really cannot see what the issue is.
I think it would be nice and polite to ask as it was on her drive, therefore private.
I would have asked, a neighbour of mine did the same, she went rummaging through another neighbours skip without asking…
@MrFraggle67 Thanks for that MrFraggle - the issue for me is that they came onto my property without my permission and filled their van. If they had knocked on the door I might have reacted differently.
Sorry should have read your post properly, I too would have been miffed if that had happened to me. Mine was in the street so fair game. 
This reminded me of the time a neighbour of mine in Italy had a skip to throw out rubbish and building materials. He also threw out an antique round table with wonky legs. I asked if I could have it and he said si, take it. I took it, re-glued the legs and we used it as an occasional table for a few years. Then one day, V put it into auction here in the UK because we had no use or room for it. It turned out it was about 250 years old and made ÂŁ150 less fees and VAT. Not bad for a free-be.
@Percy_Vere I don’t think the men who emptied my skip will be so lucky - it was all rubbish but I think it was the metal they were after eg the rusty garden furniture, broken lawn-mower and so on, no antique furniture!
What a cheek! If they’d asked you’d probably have said yes anyway.
As they just nicked the lot without sorting it they might just fly dump what they don’t want somewhere.
And if there is anything traceable back to you, you could get done for it.
I would have been happy to get shot of it. With or without CCTV…
And why on earth would on earth would you want to press charges for somebody nicking the stuff you really wanted to discard in the first place?
They did leave a few things behind but not much really. There wasn’t anything which could be traced back to me, thank goodness, it wasn’t that kind of rubbish. Mostly garden furniture and old tools etc. Had they asked I probably would have said they could have what they wanted. It’s just the fact that they entered my property to help themselves that made me feel uneasy.
If you get caught stealing out of skips here, at the back of shops you can and do get prosecuted.
The point I was making/am making is that I would have happily have taken my junk off them. No charge.
You’d be surprised what they can repair from what you have spoken of here,Margaret, then they sell it on…usually at car boots…
Skips are darn expensive as well…how much did you pay for yours?
As I’m thinking about clearing out my loft.