back to article Shift-work: Keyboards heaped in a field push North Yorks council's fly-tipping buttons

A cache of keyboards has been dumped in a field in North Yorkshire, England, leading to speculation that the person responsible for Deleting them from the face of the Earth didn't want to put in another Shift. The local authority with Ctrl over the Space where the plastic word-pianos were fly-tipped, Craven District Council, …

    1. Aladdin Sane

      Re: Missed one!

      Maybe they could Insert that at the End?

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: Missed one!

        Someone was just having a clear out to get backspace.

        1. FrogsAndChips Silver badge

          Re: Missed one!

          Will the culprits incur CAPital punishment for this crime?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Missed one!

            CAPSital punishment, shurely?

  1. doublelayer Silver badge

    Why

    How difficult is it to recycle keyboards? It would seem that these would be relatively easy to drop off at a recycling center. If you really want to violate the law, they'd also be really easy to drop illegally in a convenient trash bin. These aren't those massive printer/scanner monstrosities that probably require fork lifts just to get to the recycling center; at least that would make sense as a thing left in a field.

    I have a lead. Look for the laziest lawbreakers available. It's probably them.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why

      Drop them off at the local "mixing-the-bins-together centre"? Are you mad?

      That would require a fee.

      1. AMBxx Silver badge

        Re: Why

        You can't take business waste to your local recycling centre, you have to pay. I work from home, but still remove all company related address labels before anything goes in the bin or for recycling. Otherwise there are some nasty fines.

        Sadly, when the government introduces business charges for disposal of waste, they haven't got the sense to realise that it just increases fly tipping.

        1. AndrueC Silver badge
          WTF?

          Re: Why

          You can't take business waste to your local recycling centre, you have to pay.

          True. I took some rubbish to my local centre last week. They happily accepted the remains of two flat pack wardrobes, and metal frames from deck chairs but wanted to charge me £2 for two broken slats from a garden fence.

          So I took the slats back home and put them in my general waste bin. Hey ho.

          1. jake Silver badge

            Re: Why

            "wanted to charge me £2 for two broken slats from a garden fence."

            Were they pressure treated wood? That would be hazmat.

            "So I took the slats back home and put them in my general waste bin."

            Illegal disposal of hazmat can be a far heftier fine than two quid.

            1. AndrueC Silver badge
              Thumb Up

              Re: Why

              I don't know if they were pressure treated as they were very old (might have been from previous property owner for all I know) but they probably were. I would never put them in the recycling bin but I had no idea they were classed as hazardous material. Turns out they are. Thank you for pointing that out.

              1. jake Silver badge
                Pint

                Re: Why

                One of a zillion things that you learn as you renovate other people's mistakes used property. Have one on me. It helps sometimes.

            2. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

            Re: Why

            "but wanted to charge me £2 for two broken slats from a garden fence."

            It never ceases to amaze me what will come out of the mouths of the cavemen working there based on there interpretation of the batshit crazy rules the council have written down for them.

            wtf is trade waste? if i get a builder in to fit a new sink , and he takes it away - he will have to pay

            If i fit my own new sink and take old one to tip - will i have to pay?

            What about if the builder fits the sink , but asks me to dispose of my own old sink?

            And why are they charging to receive all this valuable hardcore anyway?

            1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

              Re: What about if the builder fits the sink

              I'm not sure about sinks, but if it was a toilet being disposed of then it should fall under the WEEE directive.

  2. .tiln
    Pint

    Superbly minted and crafted puns oh my.

    Hello Rebecca,

    My sincere thanks for minting such a joyous kludge of puns. In this spastic world you made my day. Also, you owe me a slightly used keyboard.

    Takk,

    Maerc

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Superbly minted and crafted puns oh my.

      Also, you owe me a slightly used keyboard.

      Takk,

      Maerc

      The article points out where you can find a large pile of keyboards...

  3. Coofer Cat

    I'm sure there's a way to get QWERkY into this...

  4. BigSLitleP
    Holmes

    Smoking jacket and pipe time....

    So on closer inspection, most of them are the dell / hp keyboards that tend to come with new PCs. You're looking for a decent sized company that has access to vans in the local area, not too far as they are obviously pretty lazy and know the local area. They will almost certainly have had a rollout of new computers recently.

    Quick google maps check: There is a Tarmac site not far south of the drop off area. Anybody want to give them a call and see if they've recently had some new IT kit delivered.....?

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      Re: Smoking jacket and pipe time....

      Yeah, it looks like the cops should be keeping TABs on that lot.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Smoking jacket and pipe time....

      "Quick google maps check: There is a Tarmac site not far south of the drop off area. Anybody want to give them a call and see if they've recently had some new IT kit delivered.....?"

      If they've been anywhere near a Tarmac site they would be seized solid. I worked with some guys contracted to service some comms kit for Tarmac. Inevitably the kit got located under a conveyor belt carrying the dry cement mix, the fans hoovered up the dust and after a damp spell the fans seized and the kit died of heatstroke. The kit couldn't be repaired, it was now just another piece of reinforced concrete, so it got replaced. The guy who negotiated the contract had got his bonus and was not interested in telling them to be a little more careful with the kit and all that could be done was to bill them full price of the replacement plus the engineer's time at 'dirty rate' plus a hefty 'handling fee' for disposal... until finally someone at Tarmac queried the large bills and terminated the contract (hooray!)

  5. MJI Silver badge

    What sort?

    Those horrible new ones with horrible keys and too small.

    Or proper older easier to use ones.

    1. WallMeerkat
      Thumb Down

      Re: What sort?

      Horrible new keyboards.

      The sort that corporate types expect people to try and actually use.

      (Usually you can BYOK, but some places are worried about keyloggers and the sorts and insist you use their equipment.)

      Where did it all go wrong? Up until about the mid-late 90s keyboards were a joy to use, then they became spongy low keyed horrible to use. My theory is that the old keyboards were designed for typists, with long key travel and feedback, but modern ones are designed for people that have never used a typewriter and think that crappy keyboards are normal.

      1. Ol'Peculier

        Re: What sort?

        This is very true. I work with somebody that thinks his Apple keyboard, which is about the size of two beer mats, is far superior to anything else. Unfortunately, he's never had the fortune to use a Model M or similar.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This sounds like it is of a pressing concern.

  7. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Put them on eBay

    There'll be a buyer, council makes some money.

    Unless form 4412-B needs to be filled in in triplicate and there's no designated product code for this, of course.

    1. Stoneshop
      Big Brother

      Unless form 4412-B needs to be filled in in triplicate

      "And here's your receipt for our receipt"

  8. T. F. M. Reader
    Pint

    "I’m sure there’s a Fn + key combination that will help"

    Well, the Council is asking the public for F1...

    The Vulture hacks had to Pause and Home in on it to Insert this into the article, but they didn't...

    A pint for the fun story, in any case.

  9. royprime

    Stuck keys?

    Looks like laggy software to me, CTRL + C and then CTRL + V hammered a few hundred times.

  10. The First Dave

    Even a keyboard typically has a serial number - the manufacturer may be able to point the finger if enough of them match.

  11. David Pearce

    Business computer keyboards often have asset record numbers stuck on them by the finance people. They just love asking worthless things like a three year old keyboard during internal audits.

  12. TRT Silver badge

    If they aren't too badly damaged...

    they may FUNCTION again.

  13. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Coat

    Fingering the suspects

    It's a shame there's no way to obtain any fingerprints which might help the plod determine where they'd come from.

    1. TRT Silver badge
  14. Andy The Hat Silver badge

    At least ...

    they had the balls to dump them in a field.

    When they nicked our Commodore Pets years ago it was only a few days before the gits tipped them back on our doorstep! :-)

  15. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Police are looking for a Shifty Character

    Tut tut. You lot's reputation is slipping. Loads of puns but you've missed this one..

  16. This post has been deleted by its author

  17. Efer Brick

    Someone needs to take a Pause/Break

  18. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

    Not surprising

    There was quite a decent programme on Radio 4 last Sunday about waste crime. It's easy to look legit and provide the relevant paperwork, then just dump the waste in the countryside.

    Should be able to at least trace the origin of the keyboards as there is the colour coded one there. The disposal company have probably long gone..

  19. AIBailey

    Won't someone take Ctrl of this thread, (Num) Lock the comments and put a stop to (or at least Pause) these jokes? It's almost the End of the day and I want to Esc the office and Return Home.

  20. Alister

    Craven District Council

    Wouldn't it be funny if the keyboards turned out to be from the Council Offices...

    1. Mike 16

      Re: Craven District Council

      Would it kill ElReg to be more specific? I mean, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of craven councils in the world. I can think of three within 32kM of me, and I'm not even in the U.K.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Craven District Council

        From the article, it's in North Yorkshire. That should narrow it down a bit. If not, try this "dumped at the side of the B6479 between Horton In Ribblesdale and Selside.", also from the article. (B6479 is a road number, Google maps should locate it for you, especially given the two village name)

        1. Alister

          Re: Craven District Council

          @John Brown

          Whoooooosh!

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: Craven District Council

            Oh, riiiight! I just spotted he said "craven", not Craven. Well done that man :-)

  21. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge
    Holmes

    Scroll-lock Homes

    ...would he have deduced these are from some ancient installation, and why?

    Well, if you're going to replace the keyboard you will probably get a new mouse too. So there is either a similar infestation of mice somewhere, or this is a dump of dumb terminal keyboards or rentokit have disposed of the mice.

    If they were from dumb terminals then it is quite appropriate that they should end up filling a field.

  22. Colonel Mad

    Cor, that was funny!

  23. The Nazz

    Late to the party, as ever ...

    but, if i'd been the one having a dump in the field, i'd also have had a Slash at the same time. A forward slash is recommended, unless it's into a headwind.

    Anyways, where are the 28 8x10 Glossy colour photographs,with circles and arrows and a paragraph written on the back of each one?

    1. Shadow Systems

      Re: Late to the party, as ever ...

      Make sure the headwind isn't too strong else you'll need to keep your capslocked on.

      =-D

      *Runs like hell*

  24. jake Silver badge

    Day late, but what the hell ...

    My sys req(uests) that you lot carry on.

  25. Arachnoid

    Quite wicked electronic tipping Yobos

    Damn vandals often ruin areas ,knuckleheads.Needs extra observation, criminals often leave evidence, maybe a klue.

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