Why are scrap dealers portrayed as criminals?

[r.welfare]

The lad I visited last week for a door for the MPV was friendly and helpful, and (partly because when I arrived he was in the process of crowbarring his gates open because the key had snapped in the padlock, so he was behind schedule) gave me a complete door for the agreed (which I thought was competitive anyway) price of a bare one.

 

This bloke's in Keynsham for any south-western shiters.  Perhaps, though, he was affable because he only took over in April.

[Felly Magic]

One of the Barnsley bus breakers a few years back was copped with a wrecker full of drugs, served time for it. Whoops!

[Cavcraft]

Lucky locally as all the yards ive visited are ace, save one which is a one make specialist who I will never visit again. I found them rude and stupidly expensive, to the point where I have and will continue to use a main dealer instead.

 

Also I want a tailgate for one of my motors from CarTransplants in Nantwich but ninety bleeding quid for the bare item with glass annoys me. You dont even get any wiring or the boot lock mech.

[beko1987]

Our local 'Vehicle Dismantlers' are rubbish tbh. £140 for a Meriva tailgate, £50 for the trim that goes along the roof etc. Anything over an x reg they dont have etc.

 

Their shop is better paid out and cleaner than euro car parts too, that's not a scrappy in my book! Plus they have annoying radio ads everywhere!

[Shep Shepherd]

My few local breakers that I frequented in Kent (Zens formerly Trices of Sandwich, Bobbing Car Breakers and LKM in Sittingbourne, Mollys in Strood and Reclamet in Manston) were all helpful and obliging. If you phoned up and asked beforehand, they would say either yes its on the shelf, or we're busy, you'll have to pull it off yourself, yes you can put this bonnet behind the shed till tomorrow and we won't crush it etc. Borrow a jack, no problem, lift a car down from the rack, no bother. Also Bobbing breakers had allsorts of chod tucked away in their yard, including at one point a Gilbern invader.

 

I did see the staff get the arse with people coming and expecting everything to be clean and pristine and sat on a shelf, and when people tried pisstaking haggling. The odd fiver is nothing but when you consider that scrap dealers are now becoming ever more tied up in health and safety and environmental legislation, you can understand that they do have overheads, not just dog food for the rottweiler and teabags for the portacabin / office. Plus now HM revenue and customs are cracking down on cash transactions, when I weigh in my carrier bags of copper wire collected from the crushed concrete at work, they want the ins and outs of a ducks arse, driving licence, car reg and full address and I get weighed out with a cheque instead of pound notes. I for one have sympathy with scrappers as they seem to be a dying trade and one that can potentially keep a lot of old chod roadworthy.

 

I've been going to the scrapyard formerly known as Trice's and off since Norman Trice (a really lovely bloke, it has to be said) was still alive, when it was a proper 'organic' yard full of interesting stuff. I got a lot of parts for The Volvo from there back in the mid-2000s, when at one point they had no less than seven 740s in stock.

[Wackeldackel]

Shep - at Richborough by the railway lines and the river? My old man still calls it Trices so I'd imagine thats the one you mean. He has had to tidy it up a lot in recent years, lots of concrete hardstanding went diwn which makes jacking a wreck up to get underneath a lot less fraught with danger! If you lived in Deal you must habe known of Curly Friend, a very famous scrap dealer with a yard at Middle Wall, sadly now departed.

[Station]

Most I've met have been lacking in the personality department. They are seriously difficult to talk to, almost having some god complex while you're in their yard, resorting to grunts and never using pleasantries such as hello and thanks or even using things like eye contact. Sometimes even ignoring you completely while you dare ask if they have whatever car in.

 

There's a place on borough road in Birkenhead and the staff there are so helpful and really pleasant to deal with.

[Des]

Yet again I am disgusted in the way a whole faction gets written off as crooks, as always judged by the 99.9% who are actually dodgy.

[Shep Shepherd]

Shep - at Richborough by the railway lines and the river? My old man still calls it Trices so I'd imagine thats the one you mean. He has had to tidy it up a lot in recent years, lots of concrete hardstanding went diwn which makes jacking a wreck up to get underneath a lot less fraught with danger! If you lived in Deal you must habe known of Curly Friend, a very famous scrap dealer with a yard at Middle Wall, sadly now departed.

 

That's the one! I think most people in the Sandwich area who are over 35 still call the place Trice's and have probably scrapped a car or bought cars or parts from the yard at some point

 

Curly Friend is a Deal legend, up there with Sir Norman Wisdom, Basil Kidd and Godfrey 'Painless Jeff' Baker

[Felly Magic]

If anyone remembers a certain Ford breaker in Leeds, it was always advisable parking away from the premises, because if you parked in the yard, one of the cave dwellers in there would try and take bits off your motor, Happened to me once, saw the twat do it as well, and I've no doubt when my cousin's Escort got nicked from near there and was stripped, dollars to pesos that's where the parts ended up. 

[Cavcraft]

Most I've met have been lacking in the personality department. They are seriously difficult to talk to, almost having some god complex while you're in their yard, resorting to grunts and never using pleasantries such as hello and thanks or even using things like eye contact. Sometimes even ignoring you completely while you dare ask if they have whatever car in.

 

There's a place on borough road in Birkenhead and the staff there are so helpful and really pleasant to deal with.

 

 

How do you get on with A1 in 'the' Port? I've always found them helpful, friendly and cheap. 

[Lord Sterling]

I used to use tye Saltbrook motors yard in Halesowen. The owner and lads there were very helpful and always cheap. Then I used Slade Lane breakers, complete opposite, rude and expensive but he has a high turnover of stock and therefore a lot of business.

[AlabamaShrimp]

If anyone remembers a certain Ford breaker in Leeds, it was always advisable parking away from the premises, because if you parked in the yard, one of the cave dwellers in there would try and take bits off your motor, Happened to me once, saw the twat do it as well, and I've no doubt when my cousin's Escort got nicked from near there and was stripped, dollars to pesos that's where the parts ended up.

Is this one near Middleton? I'm sure they use d to have a similar sign

 

A654

 

http://goo.gl/maps/iB1cy

[Guest yelookinit]

I have actually went away on to i-player to watch this upto episode 3 now lol.

[Guest yelookinit]

Only dealing with scrapyards i have had is, a memory of myself going to a yard in Glasgow with the auld man, dont remember the name or whereabouts, i think maybe up the gallowgate in glasgow, if anyone knows.

So me being about maybe 6-7 and my da tells me to wait here while he scrabbles up to get a part from a Datsun cherry sitting in a flatbed trailer with another car on top, he was away for ages and u remember thinking he was deed! haha.

 

OH aye and the ground being like a swamp with oil,and mud and whatever else was there lol

[Station]

How do you get on with A1 in 'the' Port? I've always found them helpful, friendly and cheap.

Yeah they're great, I think the young lad inherited it or something or is just manager there, they're all pretty helpful and normal people in there!

[rml2345]

Can't say I've had any bother with the regular breakers that I frequent. Refuse to set foot in UPI again though, no matter how cheap they claim to be.

[warren t claim]

 

There's a place on borough road in Birkenhead and the staff there are so helpful and really pleasant to deal with.

The owner, Jimmy did two and a half years for armed robbery. The blags he wasn't caught doing payed for his yard. 

[Cavcraft]

Two and half years? What did he do, hold up the ELC Post Office with a spud gun?

[gtd2000]

Quite an amusing subject and one that we may all have varied opinions on.

 

The local "scrappy" for me is "S&I Thomson" in Galashiels.

 

The actual owners are very decent guys (around 60ish now) and usually very helpful and friendly 99.9% of the time.

 

The lads that work for them are a mixed bag, that vary in attitude from being your best mate, to totally disinterested twats that consider "service" to be the most excruciating task ever.

 

[Cue off at a complete tangent] I think there is something in the water supply in the Scottish Borders that makes some younger guys that work in sales feel as if they actually own the company and are doing you a huge favour providing service. Case in point, was the lad that worked in the local Carphone Warehouse. I always take the stance that it's nice to be nice, treat others as you wish to be treated yourself etc....yadda yadda. This guy has something about him that honestly wanted me to simply keep smashing his gormless head off the counter until he collapsed on the floor....anyway, now that's off my chest, it appears he no longer works there. [End off at a complete tangent]

 

Depending on the mood of the minion behind the counter at S&I, if you can get their attention that is, the price can be higher than a new part online or just above what you would consider the going rate. Now and again, you win the jackpot and they smile and say, "oh we'll just get you the next time mate!"

 

There's another scrappy down in St Boswells known locally as "Chalky Whites" (no, he's not a black lad) and most people that I know, always advise that he's a complete arsehole and that he treats everybody like a twat. Each time I've been there, he's been really polite and friendly and went out of his way to help me out. His prices are generally much better than S&I but he doesn't have the same range of cars.

[Felly Magic]

Is this one near Middleton? I'm sure they use d to have a similar sign

 

A654

 

 

Was just off Dewsbury Rd. Used to live very close by, last time I saw the yard it was full of cars that looked like they'd been for a swim

[NorthernMonkey]

That would be Mallys Ford Spares, next door to the legendary Burton st car sales.....

[Felly Magic]

Indeed, Burton Street, purveyors of dodgy cars that even Cavcraft would ignore as being utter unroadworthy shite

[Matt]

The first breakers I visited was down in Carlisle, I think they guy behind the counter had a belter of a hangover over or something because I bought a bunch of rare-ish Volkswagen parts for £5 and later came out with more for free because he couldn't be bothered dealing with it  Last one I visited was DA Auto Parts in Dumfries and their facility is brilliant. All the cars are up on those metal structures and if you want a car down they'll bring it into their designated custom area ASAP. Broke my windscreen removing it though (although I got a full refund on everything I bought (only £8 loss to them really).

[cort16]

S&I thomson are really expensive I can't see how they sell any parts or damaged repairables now you can get stuff delivered off ebay. 

[brickwall]

Breakers yards in Glasgow had to be cleaned up 'cos of the drugs n dead bodies. They were always being raided with sniffer dogs as drugs were often hidden in an old Astra van tucked away at the bottom of a pile. Many of the bad places have long gone and are now flats.

[Station]

The owner, Jimmy did two and a half years for armed robbery. The blags he wasn't caught doing payed for his yard. 

 

When was that?!

[Vin]

The only yard I really use round me anymore is Eva Brothers in Scunny - it's still a two stacked high, wander in and take stuff off yourself sort of place, just with a bit more concrete hardstanding. One of my local favourites of the past was Hambleton's at Caistor - basically a big shed for storing stuff, abit of hardstanding and a big fuck off field were everything laid around for ages. Every couple of yeras they'd get the mobile crusher in and purge the really stripped down stuff. Gone now though... I took a whole reel of film in there in 1996 I think... I've posted the pics on here before but it was a few years ago.

 

I've only ever taken one pic at Eva's. A Fiat Coupe that I recognised the reg no of. I later found out that a friend of mine had been the original owner. She was a bit sad to see the pic...

 

[Wackeldackel]

As far as the criminal element mentioned in the thread title goes, I'd imagine it all has something to do with the people who turn up with vans and transit tippers (with greedy boards at the sides) loaded with manhole covers and gully grates, or BT wire cased in grey, or even better, orange wire about 1" diameter with "Cleveland cable company" and "network rail" stamped all along it, to be weighed in, no names and no pack drill.

 

Couple of lads with a pair of network rail gloves, tested to 1000V ( but yellow marigolds will do in a pinch), drag the cable zig zag fashion across the tracks, choo choo, along comes the train and then voila, your cable is sliced into nice easily handled 2m lengths.

 

As I mentioned in my last post in this thread, the days of being weighed out in cash are gone, but even so cable theft is still rife. It's probably not the scrap dealers themselves who give rise to this faint air of criminality but those who frequent the scrapyards. People like me with a few carrier bags of VIR cable and pyro don't raise eyebrows, the chunks of rail and manhole lids do.

[gtd2000]

S&I thomson are really expensive I can't see how they sell any parts or damaged repairables now you can get stuff delivered off ebay. 

 

The last time I bought a damaged repairable was around 2003/4, when I bought a stolen recovered Honda Civic. It cost me all of £650 when the Parkers book price was £2300. It came with all the required parts to sort out the damage too. Great service and dropped off at the house off their transporter as well.

 

Nowadays, you can buy a car in decent/good/perfect condition on Gumtree, for less than one that's smashed up in the yard, not needing lots of work and money thrown at it....

 

The first Hyundai Coupe that I bought was a 2001 model (back in 2009) in Edinburgh and advertised on Gumtree, after a bit of haggling I got it for £600. At the time I was looking for a couple of odds and ends to tidy the interior up and they had a red one at S&I that needed the entire front end rebuilt. Listing price was £1500!

 

I think they've moved more into the insurance market, than being a traditional scrappy these days? It's still pretty busy, despite the prices, whenever I pop down there.

 

Most of the folks that seem to be buying the cars, in the compound, appear to be Polish whenever I pop in for a look....why they are not looking on Gumtree or eBay baffles me.