When you need one
| Where the skip stands | Permit? |
|---|---|
| Your own drive, garden or other private land | No |
| A public road | Yes |
| A pavement or a verge that is part of the highway | Yes |
| A private road or a private car park | Usually no council permit. You need the owner's permission instead |
If there is room on your own land, that is the simplest answer: no permit, no fee and no waiting.
Who issues it, and who applies
The council responsible for the road issues it. In most of England that is your unitary or metropolitan council. Where there is a county council, the county issues the permit, not the district: Kent, for example, licenses skips for 12 districts. In London each borough issues its own, except on red routes, which Transport for London controls. In Scotland and Wales it is the council for the area; in Northern Ireland it is a government department rather than a council.
The law is section 139 of the Highways Act 1980 in England and Wales, and section 85 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 in Scotland.
The permit is granted to whoever supplies the skip, so the supplier applies, not the householder. When you book a skip on the road with us, the permit is arranged as part of the booking and you never contact the council.
What a permit costs
Each council sets its own fee, and what the fee buys differs: one council's licence lasts a week, another's a month. So the fair comparison is the cost for the same number of days. For 14 days on the road, the council's charge comes to between about £55 and £110 in half of the 171 councils whose fee we hold; the middle of the range is about £78.
| Council | The council's fee | With us, 14 days (incl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester | £44 per 7 days | £105.60 (2 licences) |
| Liverpool | £44 per 7 days | £105.60 (2 licences) |
| Sheffield | £17 per 15 days | £20.40 |
| Bristol | £90 per month | £108 |
| Cardiff | £44 up to 7 days; £88 up to 28 days | £105.60 |
| City of Edinburgh | £46 for the first 7 days, then £40 to renew | £103.20 (2 licences) |
| Hertfordshire | £54 for the first 14 days, then £28 to renew | £64.80 |
| Kent | £45 per 7 days | £108 (2 licences) |
| Central Bedfordshire | £65.10 per 28 days | £78.12 |
The fee for every council we hold, with where each was read.
How long a permit lasts
A permit is a licence for a set period, and the period is the council's choice. Of the councils whose page states one, 46 sell it by the week, 39 for a fortnight, 46 for four weeks or a month and 7 for another length. Days on the road beyond one licence need another: 14 days in a council that licenses by the week, such as Kent, takes 2 licences. 28 councils charge less to renew than for the first licence: Hertfordshire charges £54 for the first 14 days, then £28 to renew.
A permit follows the days the skip is on the road, not the hire you booked. If you need longer, tell us before the licence runs out.
How much notice councils ask for
Councils need time to process an application. Among the 60 whose page states a notice period in working days, it runs from 1 to 10 working days, and 39 ask for five or more. You can often still choose an earlier date, and it can cost more: some councils charge for a late application, and there can be a charge of our own for arranging a permit at short notice. The booking calendar marks the dates that cost more, so you can pick a later one.
What you pay when you book with us
When you book with enough notice and we hold the council's published fee, we charge that fee for the licences your days on the road need, and nothing of our own on top. VAT is then added to the booking's total, the permit included, because the permit is part of the service we supply. The council's own fee carries no VAT. So the figures in our tables are higher than the permit line you see while booking, which is shown before VAT. Where we hold no published fee for a council we charge our own price: £102 for 14 days on the road, including VAT.
The permit is always its own line, shown before you pay.
What else can be charged
- Short notice. Book a delivery only a few working days ahead and the permit can cost more: some councils charge for a late application, and there can be a charge of our own for arranging one quickly. The calendar shows it against each date before you choose.
- A parking bay. If the skip takes a marked parking bay, some councils also charge to suspend the bay. The booking asks whether it does, and prices the suspension as a separate line. In some councils with controlled parking zones, the on-road price you see first assumes a bay is needed; answer that it is not and it comes off.
What the council expects
- The skip is lit at night and marked so that it can be seen. That is the supplier's job.
- It stays where the permit says, for no longer than the permit allows.
- Some councils limit the size of skip allowed on a road.
Putting a skip on a public road without a permit is an offence, and the council can have it removed.
Where these figures come from
Each council fee was read from the council's own website or, for a few, from another official source; the full table links to what was read and gives its date. Councils change their charges, often in April. The price shown with us is what the permit adds to a booking's total for 14 days on the road, booked with enough notice, from our own pricing; it is updated about hourly.