Best Scrapyard in Lincolnshire

[Guest Old_Fart]

Its long gone now, used to be on Wigsley  Airdrome. The guy who ran it was called John.  It was there for 40 years or more, and run with a glorious disregard for all Health and Safety, all accounting law, tax regulations and VAT men.

 

He was the only Scrapyard who would let you take portable gas welding kit on site. He was the only Scrapyard that would let you practice taking a car apart first. He was a great bloke, he looked liked Jack Harper, the guy who played Reg Varneys driver in On The Buses  (readers under 40 , ask you parents)

 

He lived in  two static caravans, welded together in a T shape, on the site, along with his missus and two bloody great dogs that barked and snarled at you. 

 

Such characters are what make life interesting, alas the faceless bureaucracy tends to squash them. Like a lot of scrap yards, he closed when the EU started demanding you have a steel shredding machine, tanks for every different liquid and a concreted yard.

 

I spent many happy hours in scrapyards when i was a teenager, taking cars apart to find out how they were put together. In those days breathalysers and speed guns were science fiction.

[Cavcraft]

No offence but I'm trying to work out if you're a troll or not. I hope I'm wrong and apologies if I am.

[Jim Bell]

fiver.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Maxi diesel.

[Vin]

I know the old RAF Wigsley... My old Grandad lives in Swinderby and I used to take him to Harby a lot. The remains of the control tower are still there....

 

It was for sale recently... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54502730.html

 

He's never mentioned a scrappy ever being there, even though he mucked about with old motors. I'll have to ask him about it, I'd have liked to have seen that...

 

I doubt the EU had any involvement in anything to do with the site, mind. Hard standing and fluid separation was the late nineties and if the yard was around then, I'd have been all over it...

[Guest Old_Fart]

I know the old RAF Wigsley... My old Grandad lives in Swinderby and I used to take him to Harby a lot. The remains of the control tower are still there....

 

It was for sale recently... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54502730.html

 

He's never mentioned a scrappy ever being there, even though he mucked about with old motors. I'll have to ask him about it, I'd have liked to have seen that...

 

I doubt the EU had any involvement in anything to do with the site, mind. Hard standing and fluid separation was the late nineties and if the yard was around then, I'd have been all over it...

 

Although it closed more than 20 years, and i dont think i could find the place if i drove there now, ago, im pretty sure it was here - at the end of the track where you turn left.

 

Im sure the guys name was John Froggat

 

https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Airfield+Bungalow,+Thorney+Rd,+Newark,+Nottinghamshire+NG23+7ER,+UK/@53.2208722,-0.7332205,521m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x48785205b1578765:0xcbab3f82c9b4b73f

 

Yes, it was the EU, they passed a bucket full of 'green;' regulations when said basically if you dismantle cars you had to do it on a concrete yard, you  had to separate out all the fluids - petrol, various oils,  and other fluids, and separate out plastics  and various other metals, for recycling. The  potential cost of concreting over  two or three hundred square yards of ground to  a depth of six or eight inches caused many scrappies to sling the towel in around that time. In Lincolnshire we went from about twenty scrapyards to three in about five years.

[Vin]

They did. I was wrong about the late nineties though...

 

How about 18th September 2000...with UK Parliament debating and passing it in 2003...

 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0053

 

THREE scrapyards in Lincolnshire!!! There are at least three in Scunthorpe alone.

[Guest Old_Fart]

They did. I was wrong about the late nineties though...

 

How about 18th September 2000...with UK Parliament debating and passing it in 2003...

 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0053

 

THREE scrapyards in Lincolnshire!!! There are at least three in Scunthorpe alone.

 

Yes but some phoenixed into "Car Dismantlers" and others into "Recycling centres", having moved to more suitable premises with concrete floors.  

 

I suspect the wave of closures was before they passed the legislation - people seeing the writing on the wall and deciding to bail beforehand.  There was certainly a period where old style Scrapyards almost vanished.

 

There was always a connection between scrapyards and the amount of heavy industry in an area. Lincoln was a heavy industrial town in the 50's , with Rustons, Bucyrus, SMith Claytons, Ransoms, Perkins  and many other companies. Scunthorpe was another, with many scrapyards, amd Sheffield. The ones that didnt do cars declined with the big companies.

 

There used to be in the centre of Lincoln, on Firth Road (in the shadow of Rustons) Billy Bells who  sold nothing but nuts and bolts. Every type you could think of all the way up to bolts and set screws a foot long and three inches diameter. When Rustons moved the Newton Le Willows in the 80's his supply of cheap scrap bolts dried up and he closed within a couple of years

 

He was another Lincoln Character. The shop was three terraced houses knocked thru. If you went in and asked for say, a 2 inch long machine bolt, with nut, with a left hand 1" BSP thread, he would say "Up them stairs, along the corridor, turn left, in the last room on the left , the rack on the left, third box up" He never got off he seat to serve you, but he always knew where to send you in the building to get it yourself.

[maxustaxus]

Down a country lane, after about a mile and a half, was Botany Bay car breakers just outside of Stevenage (C1982).

 

They had dogs, mud, a yard full of 1960s and 70s chod piled three cars high. And a grumpy 50 year old man for whom life had not been all that was promised. As receptionist,  he usually greeted you with a snarl and curse.

 

I wanted an indicator stalk for a 1972 Hunter Estate. They had it. At 17, I had to prove I was worthy.

 

I showed no fear at the dogs. I presented a knowing grin at the suggestion that all customers were a pain in the arse. I was willing, and had tool in hand (so to speak) when the only Hunter in the yard was pointed to me.

 

Going to a scap yard in the 1980s was necessity if you needed more than an air filter or spark plugs and lived on a council estate. I am sorry they are gone.

 

 

[Guest Old_Fart]

Down a country lane, after about a mile and a half, was Botany Bay car breakers just outside of Stevenage (C1982).

 

They had dogs, mud, a yard full of 1960s and 70s chod piled three cars high. And a grumpy 50 year old man for whom life had not been all that was promised. As receptionist,  he usually greeted you with a snarl and curse.

 

I wanted an indicator stalk for a 1972 Hunter Estate. They had it. At 17, I had to prove I was worthy.

 

I showed no fear at the dogs. I presented a knowing grin at the suggestion that all customers were a pain in the arse. I was willing, and had tool in hand (so to speak) when the only Hunter in the yard was pointed to me.

 

Going to a scap yard in the 1980s was necessity if you needed more than an air filter or spark plugs and lived on a council estate. I am sorry they are gone.

 

 

Yes, and there was always the chance of a Tool Lucky Dip.. I sometimes came back with more tools than i arrived with, and struck lucky one day when i found a Snap On rachet  spanner and extension bar in the engine bay of a  Ford Sierra.

 

They all had dogs that were relatives of the Hound of the Baskervilles. And they were all f***ng dangerous to walk round.,

 

Old fashioned scrapyards were many lads education to car repair.

[omegod]

Only two yards such as this near me, one in Warrington who are miserable bastards and one in Haydock "Mallies" the guys a fuckin legend an doesn't seem to embrace EU ideology in the slightest, if you escape his yard without injury you've been lucky

[Felly Magic]

You should see the dogs at some of the Barnsley bus yards, feckin hell, I do think they need to be let loose in a compound with the rancid unwashed busveg. Ripley's bus yard was a swamp, with many buses partly submerged, somewhere I have some photos of buses slowly sinking into the mire

[Bren]

Only two yards such as this near me, one in Warrington who are miserable bastards and one in Haydock "Mallies" the guys a fuckin legend an doesn't seem to embrace EU ideology in the slightest, if you escape his yard without injury you've been lucky

Used to like going to Mallies on a saturday afternoon. Always good for bits.

[comfysofa]

On a Lincolnshire note, in Boston we had Kenny Allen's, a proper small-ish Aladdin's Cave of muddy four stacked high motoring treasure, and another, (the name escapes me) out in the sticks near Boston, which has long gone but did have the advantage of a fibreglass replica Dalek at the entrance, and was always pretty fair on price. Now all i think that is left in the area is Roger Windleys, incidentally i believe where the nose of the Pan Am jet that blew up over Lockerbie is still stored for some reason...

[lincolndanny]

You are correct regarding the pan am and roger Windleys. Look it up on google maps. The whole wreck is there near to the go kart track. Quite chilling really.

 

On a Lincoln note, anyone remember the yard on Station Rd in North Hykeham? That was a proper scrapyard!

[lisbon_road]

There are still some good yards left.  The legendary Harry Bucklands is one (near Cheltenham) and GR Harris near Emsworth being another.  They've managed to cope with the legislation (which I for one think is probably not such a bad idea) and stay in business.  Harry Bucklands in particular flogs bits off the older cars at very reasonable prices.  We must all give them the business though - I think with current steel prices being basically zero they need us to buy lots of parts or they will go too.

[catsinthewelder]

We only have one scrapyard in town and he doesn't really keep breakers.  He does keep interesting stuff outside the gate for a bit though and I've often had to drag myself away from a crusty Niva or rotten Sunny van.

 

I needed some seatbelts for the Austin a few years back and popped by on the off chance that there might be something suitable.  He pointed at an XJ40 that was upside down on top of a pile of scrap and said if I could get them out I was welcome to them but he didn't think they would fit.  Being a wimp I agreed and followed his advice to try the Skoda garage down the road before buying some from a Rover P6 in PT Moores at Leominster.

 

I was ringing round the local breakers the other week to find some panels for a PT Cruiser after a mishap.  Hereford were thier usual helpful selves.  Have you got x,y and z?  Yup we've got a complete PT Cruiser.  Is it an early one before the facelift?  Er probably,  Is it silver?   It's a sort of silvery colour.  How much do you want for the bits?  Pop on down we'll sort you out.  Please could you tell me over the phone as it's a 50 mile round trip and it's not my car?  No just pop down.  Rightio,  buys bits on Ebay.

[I_am_Diesel]

They did. I was wrong about the late nineties though...

 

How about 18th September 2000...with UK Parliament debating and passing it in 2003...

 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0053

 

THREE scrapyards in Lincolnshire!!! There are at least three in Scunthorpe alone.

There used to be loads in Scunthorpe, there was a few on Midland Road and about 3 down the pit bottom behind the BOC plant. I can only think of Eva Bros still going but I'm an exile not an expert now.

[ruffgeezer]

 "Mallies" the guys a fuckin legend an doesn't seem to embrace EU ideology in the slightest, if you escape his yard without injury you've been lucky

 

Is that the one behind a housing estate?

[DodgyBastard]

pics or stfu

[Guest Old_Fart]

You are correct regarding the pan am and roger Windleys. Look it up on google maps. The whole wreck is there near to the go kart track. Quite chilling really.

 

On a Lincoln note, anyone remember the yard on Station Rd in North Hykeham? That was a proper scrapyard!

 

Ah yes, next to the railway station, i remember it. There is still the one at Gainsborough down the long straight back road, Furbers

[lisbon_road]

With ref to Catsinthewelders story, for the parts I got from GR Harris, the man went out in the yard on his mobile, read me the paint code off the door pillar, checked the approx condition of the parts and quoted me a price they held.

 

Others were more like your experience.....

[cros]

Sadly I have to live in the same county as the cunt who started this thread; his ramblings are mostly rubbish.

[Czechered Flag]

Ah yes, next to the railway station, i remember it. There is still the one at Gainsborough down the long straight back road, Furbers

Furbers closed a few years ago now. The site is totally empty now. 

[srad34]

THREE scrapyards in Lincolnshire!!! There are at least three in Scunthorpe alone.

 

There are two that I know of now, both quite good, pleanty of chod, maybe I should do some photos at some point.....

[Vin]

It probably is two now. The third one I was thinking of was a small place round the corner from Edley's. I got a Panda windscreen from them once. It was a long while since I was across that part of town, so it has probably gone...

 

I know Edley's yard is still there but when I need to, I tend to use Eva Bros as it's more convenient...