A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

Today I took a trip down to Bickenhill Recycling Centre (or "waste reception centre" as they now call it) and, as is my wont, I had a bit of sneaky-peek in the TV area. Inside were the usual stack of old plasma and LCD sets jumbled all over the place, but there was also a 17" mid-1950s HMV of some description. I'm afraid I don't know the model number.

Of course the operatives wouldn't let me take the set but if anyone has any contacts in said recycling centre then it might make a lovely set for somebody to have a go at. The cabinet is really nice and, save for a few valves, the innards look all present and correct. Even the tube is intact. There's no back cover though.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

How terrible. I really hope this doesn't get destroyed. Sadly anyone handling this set is likely to care It's just as bad as the scrappage scheme for old cars. Shame on whoever took this to the tip.

Matt

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

That's heart breaking to think it will broken up for the scrap after all these years.
I have the exact same set in my collection, the picture is superb. I would expect this would have been top of the range at the time. Its much prettier than most of the sets from the 1950's which with a few exceptions seem to fairly plain brown boxes.
Surely it's worth an appeal to the council, save our history and all that? or maybe ask the local paper to get involved, they may like an odd ball local story...
I have seen videos of what goes on in these TV recycling places 8-o to think of the poor old HMV being ripped apart gives me the shudders!
Rich.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

It's an HMV 1865 fitted with the Thorn 306T chassis. This was the first 'HMV' to be manufactured on behalf of EMI by Thorn. Great pity and a Mullard MW43-69 into the bargain. John.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

One advantage of the retro-chic trend is that it is less likely to be stripped and scrapped than, say, 12 years ago. I would say it's likely it will be spirited away by an employee (with or without his bosses' connivance) and appear on ebay or gumtree in short order. It is certainly small enough to appeal to the 'ooh isn't it decorative?' people.

At the tip these days you have to catch people BEFORE they get to the skip- and be very subtle about it. Shame!

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

Oh what a shame , a lovely looking set and I`d give it a home.

Robin

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

Only today I took some garden rubbish to the local tip - a privately run affair. There, on a table, was a smart-looking Tandberg R2R machine in really good condition. So I asked the supervisor the obvious - and got the expected answer. So I offered him £10 for it. "No!" came the reply. "£20?" said I. "No: not at any price!"

Such responses I have a bit of a job to understand. This is a privately-operated organisation; they operate to make a profit. I can only suppose that it's a ruling from head office. The operative was simply following the Rules; I would not say that he is a 'jobs-worth'.

All a bit annoying, nevertheless. >:(

Al.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

Hi,
Just a pity that TV wasn't at our local 'dechetterie', you could have had it for a bottle of whiskey! There's probably rules here about taking stuff away, but it's more 'relaxed'.
My problem isn't the site operative, it's my wife's 'junk radar'! ;D
Sorry for drifting off topic.
Cheers, Pete.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

At our local council tip there is a man in a shed who you ask for things - and sometimes you can do swaps - give him some electrical item you don't want and then take one you do. They have mountains of old records etc, always busy. I can't stand good things going to waste, too much of that going on already.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

I know we despise those upcycling' TV programmes and the 'there's one on ebay for £200' comments when we try to buy a basket case item, but at least these have woken people up to the fact that old equipment might be worth something. I'll bet that's why the Tandberg was on a table and not in an electrical waste skip. I'll bet the old HMV gets a new home too!
Our local centre has a container where reasonable looking equipment is put aside and then taken to a workshop where ex-offenders and special needs workers strip them for parts or repair them for resale.
As said above, try and catch the punter before he puts the item into a skip - once it's in there it's the property of the centre.
Glyn

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

I saved an almost new Dyson upright vacuum by slipping it into the back of the car as the site staff had told the elderly owner to chuck it in the electrical scrap skip. Not sure why the electrical ruling came about but it does look suspiciously like pressure from electrical manufacturers and retailers.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

It was probabily taken to the Recycling centre by someone that doesn't realize such things are now collectable.
I still meet peole that give me a "glazed" look when I say I'm into old radios.......they just don't understand!
I do hope that HMV finds a home.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

In the hope of spurring someone into saving the HMV here is some pictures of my set. They are capable of very good definition.
The width is a little low until it's been on a while, It must have a slightly low rectifier or line output valve. I don't know why the picture is slightly on the slant it was OK last time I ran the set. somehow it looks as if the coils may have shifted.
Please someone try and save that set!
:thumbsup:
Rich.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

You can put this sad situation down to the 'claim' factor.

The dump lets someone have an old TV. They take it home and either electrocute themselves, burn the house down, slash themselves to bits with an imploding tube, the list goes on.

Who gets the blame? Yes the contractor who passed the said equipment to them.

They could be sued for millions and all because an employee let someone have a bit of old junk. Think about the consequences.

Most dumps will immediately sack any member of staff who knowingly allows what is actually the property of the contractor to pass onto members of the public. The whole of the recycling centres are covered by CCTV relayed to the contractors head office. If you can grab it before the 'dumper' lets it touch the ground, you are OK.

I helped out at a tip about 20 years ago when everything was different. I'm sorry to say that HMV will get crushed for scrap.

'No win no fee.' Blame it on the claim culture and human greediness. John.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

I don't know of any such claims offhand (at least not in this territory) but i can see what you are saying there John. Such a claim might have potentiality in the USA, certainly...and would have an extra nought on it over and above what we would expect in the UK.

By and large it's good news; awareness is up and it's been years since i saw something really worth saving in a skip (apart from firewood.)

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

It's not just liability; there's a chain of custody involved, too. If anything from the recycling centre ends up dumped somewhere in the countryside, they will end up in trouble over it, as there will be a paper trail showing they were the last to touch it.

You wouldn't expect someone to pay good money for something and then go and dump it somewhere, but it's all about making sure things are done by the book with scant regard paid to whether or not what the book actually says makes sense .....

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

Hi

Surely there must be room for flexibility on what can and can't be sold?
If the buyer can show adequate credentials of competence and is prepared to sign a disclaimer exonerating the recycling centre of any liabilty whatsoever then electrical items could then be safely sold. But the companies that run these recyling centres, which are mostly private outfits, aren't in the least bit interested. A very sad state of affairs.

Regards
Symon.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

As someone who pays £2K/year in council-tax I want my Council tip facilities to be run at the cheapest-possible price.

Truth is, dealing with "exceptions" - like allowing certain specific bits of dumped-stuff to find its way out of the tip and back into circulation - are a really expensive and annoying overhead to the operators, both in terms of paperwork [producing receipts for legal ownership, VAT-records-compliance etc] and ongoing liability.

Imagine the ruckus if someone who took their old radiogram to the tip subsequently sees it advertised on Ebay for a couple of hundred quid. Then imagine if they pursue the Council through the courts to try and 'get their money back'.

Or if you took your old tumble-drier, vacuum-cleaner, freezer, washing-machine to the Council tip (expecting it to be destroyed and thats-the-last-you-would-see-of-it) and a year later it was tracked-back to you as the last owner (by its serial-number you registered for the guarantee 10 years ago...) as having caused a fire in which people died.

Sure, it's sad to see sometimes-interesting stuff get junked, but the liability-complexity of doing otherwise is just too expensive.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

We've been here before, we've just got to accept it, that's the way it is now. What does get my BP up is the selfish so and so whe will insist on trashing something just so that no one else can make use of it. I've encontered them, sign of a really sick selfish society.

Re: A poor old HMV at the Recycling Centre...
 

Well I'm glad I rescued a Marconi 4806 (17" BRC 1500) from the recycling centre before they tightened up on their practices. I used to regularly purchase all manner of items including useful pieces of metal and timber but now it's hopeless, a sign of the (litigation) times!

Regards
Symon.