Bloody Rag and Bone men

marleyboy

Last time I seen a Rag n Bone man, was a horse n cart, with the man ringing a large bell n shouting "RagaaBOOOOOOONNNE", It must be a good 30 Yrs ago, I didnt think they still existed.

el_gringo_3

You still see a few in their horses and carts up here in Yorkshire!

Darksun

See them quite a bit around Leeds, sometimes still in Horse and Carts. Especially round the student areas, and especially round July when all the students are moving in/out.

motherb

we have at least three a week the worst one is sunday morning on his loud speaker at about half 8 just what u need when you been work all week and up early :mad:

Vedder2008

We have these people round about once a fortnight.
I am needing a new washing machine so I will wait for them collecting, it will save me £25 not having to ring the local council to take it away.:j:j:j

marleyboy

I have a few rags, n could always collect up my old chicken n lamb bones for them if thats what they are crying for

sillyvixen

they come round our area on an adhock basis - but can be quite intimidating and underhand!! back in the autumn i was alone in the house my brother having left a few mins earlier i there was a knock on the door by a 'scrap dealer' apparently some glass had 'fallen' off the truck in front of the drive and they needed to borrow a broom to clear it up! the broom was in the garden and i directed him to it, and followed him to the end of the garden, he then a had asked did i have any cardboard or news paper in the house as he needed it to wrap the glass, i was at the gate at this time and the recycle bin was next to me so without moving i was able to supply card and newspaper. His mate then pointed to my brothers car (it had been in an accident and the assessor from the insurance company had been round the night before and my brother was waiting to hear back) they offered me money for the car - stating it was a write off and they would offer me £100 more than the insurance company for write off!! i stated it was not for sale and not mine to sell even if it was - they said they would wait for the owner and the other 2 got out of the truck all 3 leaning against the car, only then did they ask when he would be back!! luckily my brother had only gone to the local shop otherwise they could have been there all day!! at that point next doors tesco delivery arrived and the van pulled up behind there truck - they all jumped in (leaving me to clear up the glass!!) and left quickly!! in the next street they pulled up by my brother as he was walking down the road and again tried to talking him into selling the car (he was not the only person walking down the road) they obviously had seen him leave and knew who they were looking for!!

later that day as i was leaving the house the little boy next door was helping his dad clean the car - he asked why the men could not mend the car - i said because we were waiting to hear from a garage as to when they could collect it to mend. the lad then said but they came to mend it that morning he saw them when he was jumping on his parents bed - his dad started on that he was not allowed to jump on the bed and i mananged to stop the telling off and question the lad further - it seems that both boys had seen what they thought were mechanics one under the car and the other with the door open looking in the car through the drivers side (side inpact the drivers door tide closed as damaged) the lady next door comfirmed this would have been about 7 am as her son stated it was while mummy was in the shower. the boys discription of the 2 men matched 2 of the 3 that had called at the door.

i reported it to the police after the boys revelation - not heard anything back - but they have not approached me since but have been spotted in the area.

WhiteHorse

pulliptears wrote:

Twice a day they are round my street now, and irritatingly they now have tannoys and loudspeakers. 8pm tonight one of them is round announcing his presence with an air horn and now this one asks for everything from scrap metal to mobile phones!

It could be construed as a public nuisance or even a breach of the peace. It's probably still a criminal offence to sound a vehicle horn on the street without good cause after a certain time.

WhiteHorse

Limit wrote: »

I hate them too, they once climbed over my fence to get some metal/old gas cooker from my kitchen refit, When I asked what they were doing they said they were the council collection team (I hadnt called them as I was going to scrap it myself) I promptly called the police and had them arrested

Good.

I had central heating put in recently. Within a few hours, the plumbers vans were noticed and the vultures appeared, hoping for scrap (and not so scrap) metal to be left unattended.

A genuine rag and bone man on a regular round is fine, but these people are just thieves.

WhiteHorse

Vedder2008 wrote: »

I am needing a new washing machine so I will wait for them collecting, it will save me £25 not having to ring the local council to take it away.

The trick is to make them believe that they are stealing it. Somehow this makes it more attractive to their miniature brains.

You can play pranks too. Computers and TV's with no innards is a good one.

Many years ago, a friend who ran a TV repair business used to occasionally leave out useless old TV's in new boxes. He stacked them up to look like a delivery ... all gone in the morning.