Skip Hire in London
Most London jobs have nowhere private to put a skip, which turns a simple hire into a permit application before anything can be delivered. Waste Central prices the container and the council's permit together, and arranges the permit with the borough and the delivery through a licensed carrier working that part of the city.
Hiring a skip in London
London has no single skip permit. Each of the 32 boroughs and the City of London is its own highway authority, sets its own fee and its own notice period, and runs its own application. A skip going on the road in Camden is a different piece of paperwork from the identical skip in Southwark, which is why a quote that treats the permit as somebody else's problem is not really a quote. We arrange it with the right borough and the fee appears on your price before you commit to anything.
The other London constraint is space. Off-street parking is rare across the inner boroughs, so highway placement is the normal case here rather than the exception it is elsewhere — and where the road is a controlled parking zone, the bays themselves have to be suspended, charged per bay per day on top of the permit. We ask whether a bay is being suspended when you book, rather than discovering it on delivery day. Red routes are Transport for London's, not the borough's, and a skip generally cannot stand on one at all; if your frontage is a red route, say so and we will look at what can be done instead.
Where a permit is not worth the wait, the alternative is usually not a smaller skip. A grab lorry loads loose muck straight off the ground and leaves nothing behind, so there is no container on the highway and no permit to apply for. A wait-and-load visit does the same for a job you can clear in an hour. Both are worth pricing against a permitted skip on a tight London street before you assume the skip is the cheaper answer.
Putting one on the road
Who licenses a skip in London
A container standing on a public road needs a permit under the Highways Act 1980. Here that comes from the London borough your street sits in — 32 boroughs plus the City of London, each its own highway authority. On a driveway or other private ground none is needed at all.
We arrange it for you and its cost is itemised on your quote, before you pay, rather than added afterwards. It is the part of a skip price the rest of this trade leaves out, and it is the part that changes most from one address to the next.
What each London borough charges
| Borough | Council's fee | Notice | With us, 14 days (incl. VAT) | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | £73.70 per 14 days | — | £88.44 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Barnet | No published fee held | — | £102 | — |
| Bexley | £65 (priced here as a 14-day licence) | — | £78 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Brent | £72.80 per 14 days | 3 working days | £87.36 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Bromley | £50 per 14 days | 2 working days | £60 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Camden | £71.50 up to 14 days; £103.68 up to 28 days | 5 working days | £85.80 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| City of London | No skips allowed on the road | — | — | — |
| Croydon | £78 (priced here as a 14-day licence) | — | £93.60 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Ealing | £50 per 14 days (one of several rates) | 3 working days | £60 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Enfield | £111 per 14 days | — | £133.20 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Greenwich | £114 (priced here as a 30-day licence) | — | £136.80 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Hackney | £150 (priced here as a 28-day licence) | — | £180 | Official source, 10 Aug 2026, unconfirmed |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £165 per 14 days | 5 working days | £198 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Haringey | £125 (priced here as a 14-day licence) | 5 working days | £150 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Harrow | £82.30 per 14 days | 10 working days | £98.76 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Havering | £162 for the first 14 days, then £210 to renew | — | £194.40 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Hillingdon | £94.50 (priced here as a 14-day licence; one of several rates) | — | £113.40 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Hounslow | £122.21 per 14 days | — | £146.65 | Official source, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Islington | £127 per month | — | £152.40 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £153 per month | — | £183.60 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Kingston upon Thames | £149.01 per 28 days | — | £178.81 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Lambeth | £75.94 per 14 days | — | £91.13 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Lewisham | £88 per 30 days | — | £105.60 | Council's page, 10 Aug 2026 |
| Merton | £84 per 14 days | 7 working days | £100.80 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Newham | £77 per 7 days | — | £184.80 (2 licences) | Council's page, 10 Aug 2026 |
| Redbridge | £260 (priced here as a 14-day licence) | — | £312 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Richmond upon Thames | £75.50 per 21 days | — | £90.60 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Southwark | £110.25 per month | — | £132.30 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Sutton | £149.01 per 28 days | — | £178.81 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Tower Hamlets | £31 up to 7 days; £67 up to 14 days; £75 up to 28 days | 7 working days | £80.40 | Council's page, 10 Aug 2026 |
| Waltham Forest | £155 per 14 days | 5 working days | £186 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Wandsworth | £37.60 up to 5 days; £37.60 up to 14 days; £72.20 up to 28 days | — | £45.12 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
| Westminster | £91 (priced here as a 30-day licence) | — | £109.20 | Council's page, 8 Aug 2026 |
The council's fee is what the council publishes for a standard skip licence, as the council states it; it carries no VAT. Notice is shown only where we hold it in the council's own words, in working days — a dash means we hold none, not that the council asks for none. "One of several rates" means the council publishes more than one, by road type, skip size, location, who is applying or the like; the figure shown is the one our booking uses. "Priced here as" a number of days means we hold no statement from the council of how long its licence lasts, and that is the length our booking uses. "To renew" is the council's fee for extending the licence; how long each renewal lasts is on the council's own page.
"With us, 14 days (incl. VAT)" is what the permit adds to your booking's total, booked with enough notice. Where we hold no published fee for a council, that figure is our own standard permit charge, not the council's. Two things are not in these figures and are priced when you book: a charge for booking at short notice, and a parking bay suspension where the skip takes a marked bay. In some councils with controlled parking zones, the on-road price you see first assumes a bay is needed until you say it is not.
Every UK council's skip permit fee · Do I need a skip permit?
Skip sizes & prices
Prices, including VAT, quoted at a London postcode (SE1 7PB) for the sizes we arrange. Compare every size on the skip sizes page, or price your own postcode to see the permit fee alongside the hire.
- From£366.00incl. VAT
4 Yard Skip
~40 bin bags
- From£438.00incl. VAT
6 Yard Skip
~60 bin bags
- From£450.00incl. VAT
8 Yard Skip
~80 bin bags
- From£438.00incl. VAT
8 Yard Enclosed Skip
~80 bin bags
- From£576.00incl. VAT
12 Yard Skip
~120 bin bags
- From£564.00incl. VAT
12 Yard Enclosed Skip
~120 bin bags
- From£672.00incl. VAT
16 Yard Skip
~160 bin bags
- From£636.00incl. VAT
20 Yard RoRo
- From£636.00incl. VAT
40 Yard RoRo
- From£360.00incl. VAT
Half Load Cage Van
~50 bin bags
- From£504.00incl. VAT
Full Load Cage Van
~100 bin bags
A guide price for a private-property (driveway) delivery with general mixed waste, at a London postcode (SE1 7PB) — prices can differ by area, so enter your postcode for yours.
Bag counts assume full 60-litre bin bags — about 10 to a cubic yard. Bulky items take more room than bags.
Postcode districts we cover in London
We arrange skips, RoRo containers and grab hire across every one of these. Coverage is not limited to them — any UK postcode prices online — but these are the London districts.
East Central London
- EC1A
- EC1M
- EC1N
- EC1R
- EC1V
- EC1Y
- EC2A
- EC2M
- EC2N
- EC2R
- EC2V
- EC2Y
- EC3A
- EC3M
- EC3N
- EC3R
- EC3V
- EC4A
- EC4M
- EC4N
- EC4R
- EC4V
- EC4Y
West Central London
- WC1A
- WC1B
- WC1E
- WC1H
- WC1N
- WC1R
- WC1V
- WC1X
- WC2A
- WC2B
- WC2E
- WC2H
- WC2N
- WC2R
East London
- E1
- E1W
- E2
- E3
- E4
- E5
- E6
- E7
- E8
- E9
- E10
- E11
- E12
- E13
- E14
- E15
- E16
- E17
- E18
- E20
North London
- N1
- N1C
- N2
- N3
- N4
- N5
- N6
- N7
- N8
- N9
- N10
- N11
- N12
- N13
- N14
- N15
- N16
- N17
- N18
- N19
- N20
- N21
- N22
North West London
- NW1
- NW2
- NW3
- NW4
- NW5
- NW6
- NW7
- NW8
- NW9
- NW10
- NW11
South East London
- SE1
- SE2
- SE3
- SE4
- SE5
- SE6
- SE7
- SE8
- SE9
- SE10
- SE11
- SE12
- SE13
- SE14
- SE15
- SE16
- SE17
- SE18
- SE19
- SE20
- SE21
- SE22
- SE23
- SE24
- SE25
- SE26
- SE27
- SE28
South West London
- SW1A
- SW1E
- SW1H
- SW1P
- SW1V
- SW1W
- SW1X
- SW1Y
- SW2
- SW3
- SW4
- SW5
- SW6
- SW7
- SW8
- SW9
- SW10
- SW11
- SW12
- SW13
- SW14
- SW15
- SW16
- SW17
- SW18
- SW19
- SW20
West London
- W1B
- W1C
- W1D
- W1F
- W1G
- W1H
- W1J
- W1K
- W1S
- W1T
- W1U
- W1W
- W2
- W3
- W4
- W5
- W6
- W7
- W8
- W9
- W10
- W11
- W12
- W13
- W14
Skip hire in London: your questions
Do I need a permit for a skip in London?
Only if it stands on a public road, pavement or verge — on your own drive or land you need none. In London the permit comes from the London borough your street is in — each sets its own fee — except on red routes, which Transport for London controls. It is arranged for you as part of the booking, and you see it as its own line in the price before you pay.
How much is a skip permit in London?
It depends on the borough: the fee for your street is the fee of the borough it is in. For 14 days on the road, the borough's own charge comes to between about £75 and £149 in half of the 31 London boroughs Waste Central prices from their published fee, and about £95 in the middle — before the VAT a booking adds to its total. The booking shows the permit for your address, as its own line, before you pay.
How much notice does a skip permit need in London?
It depends on the borough: each sets its own notice period. Among the 10 boroughs whose own page states a notice period in working days, it runs from 2 to 10 working days. The booking calendar marks the dates that cost more, because a permit arranged at short notice can cost more. On your own drive none of this applies: there is no permit and nothing to wait for.
How much does skip hire cost in London?
At a London postcode (SE1 7PB), skip hire runs from £366 for a 4-yard skip to £672 for a 16-yard skip, including VAT — for general mixed waste, delivered to a driveway. A council permit is extra where the skip stands on the road. Prices can differ by area, so enter your own postcode for yours.
How soon can a skip be delivered in London?
Deliveries can be booked from the next day, Monday to Saturday — Sundays and bank holidays are not offered. A skip going on the road waits for its council permit, so a delivery to a driveway is usually the quickest.