Skip Hire in Lancashire

A skip suits a job you can fill yourself over a few days: a kitchen refit, a garden clear-out, a bathroom strip-out. Mini and midi skips fit most drives. A roll-on roll-off container is for site waste and big commercial clear-outs. If you would rather not lift anything, a rubbish removal or man and van service loads the waste for you and takes it away the same visit. A grab lorry lifts loose soil, rubble and hardcore over a wall or fence, which helps where a skip cannot be placed. A house clearance firm empties a whole property, which is the usual route after a bereavement or a move into care. Each listing here shows which of these a firm says it offers.

Anyone who takes waste away for someone else in England must register as a waste carrier with the Environment Agency. You also have a legal duty of your own: a householder must take reasonable steps to make sure their waste goes only to an authorised person, and breaking that duty is an offence the council can fine you for. The fixed penalty is £200 unless the council sets its own figure between £150 and £600. So ask for the registration number before you book, and check it on the Environment Agency's public register. It takes a minute. Every listing in this guide shows what we found when we checked it, and the date. Upper-tier registrations are renewed every three years, so a number that was valid once can lapse.

A skip on a drive or private land needs no permit. A skip on the road or pavement needs the highway authority's permission, and in Lancashire the skip company applies, not you. Lancashire County Council covers most of the county and asks for two working days' notice, charges £42 for 28 days and caps a skip at 5 metres by 2. Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council issue their own permits for their areas. The skip must be lit at night and marked with the owner's name and phone number, so ask the firm whether it arranges the permit and the lights, and build the two days into your plans.

Ask what the hire price includes: how long you can keep the skip, the weight allowed, and what costs extra. Ask whether it takes plasterboard, mattresses, tyres, fridges and paint, and at what cost. Ask where the waste goes and how much of it the firm recycles. Ask whether it can collect the next day if the skip fills early. If a firm will not give you its waste carrier number, ring the next one on the list.

For a car boot of household waste, a council recycling centre may be all you need. Lancashire County Council's sites turn away trade waste, and a van or trailer needs a booking, up to 12 visits a year.