Hundreds of skips uncollected as firm goes silent

Hundreds of people have reportedly been left with uncollected skips after the company that provided them stopped responding to calls.

Customers of Bobs Skips, based in Basildon, Essex, told the BBC they had tried for weeks to contact the firm but never received a response.

Gemma Allen was unable to get in touch with the firm about the skip stuck at her home, while another company based at the same site, Pryme Skips, told her it would not be able to collect it for a further month.

The BBC has contacted both Bobs Skips and Pryme Skips for comment.

Ms Allen said she was "so frustrated" by what had happened.

"We're having a wedding party at home where we need the drive because we've got a pizza van," she said.

"Organising a party and a wedding is stressful enough without having to try and find who will collect a skip."

She ended up finding and paying another company to take her skip away.

Another man told the BBC he was moving house and needed to get the Bobs skip removed from his driveway before the new occupants could move in.

He said he had to find an alternative to get it taken away in time, but that it had been a stressful situation.

A worker at a neighbouring waste management firm in Harvey Road said "10 to 12 people a day" came to the site of Bobs Skips each day, "trying to contact them, asking what's going on with them".

He said: "The phones are ringing but no one's answering. They just want someone to come and pick their skip up."

More than 200 skips remained uncollected throughout south Essex, he said.

Bobs Skips is listed on Companies House as having ceased trading in 2017, but it is understood the company continued operating under new ownership in recent years.

An application to strike Pryme Skips from the Companies House register was made on Wednesday.

The Environment Agency, which issues waste-handling permits, has also been contacted for comment.

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