A FORMER five-time motocross champion is likely to escape charges for taking a vacuum cleaner from a nature strip amid confusion about the law.

Trevor Flood, 58, who won five championship titles in three categories in the early 70s for his uncompromising off-road riding, came unstuck early this morning when he was arrested as he fossicked through the hard rubbish.

Mr Flood is known in the racing community as a man who knew more about how to get the most out of motorbike than anyone on the circuit, but he won't know if the vacuum cleaner was still performing after he was arrested in Chirnside Park, not far from his Lilydale home.

Mr Flood was arrested after taking the vacuum cleaner from a pile of hard rubbish in Melbourne's east.

A police patrol spotted him at about 12.20am, trawling the nature strip for salvageable items among the rubbish left out for the Yarra Ranges Shire collection, which began yesterday.

Mooroolbark police interviewed Mr Flood early this morning.

Initially, police said he was expected to be charged on summons, but made a swift reversal this afternoon after determining his actions were not illegal.

Police Superintendent Jeff Forti said his current legal advice led him to believe "we won't proceed any further".

The Municipal Association of Victoria president Cr Bill McArthur, told the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader that while some local government bodies had introduced local laws to stop people stealing from hard rubbish piles, Yarra Ranges was not one of them.

The issue triggered a strong reaction by heraldsun.com.au readers, with more than 90 per cent saying collecting hard rubbish from nature strips should not be illegal.

Have your say: Do you pick up hard rubbish? Do you consider it theft? Add your comment below.

Supt Forti described claims – including from other police – that councils own hard rubbish once it is placed on nature strips as “a bit of a fallacy”.

Under Yarra Ranges Shire local laws, residents continue to own property on their nature strips until it's collected. Other councils have different local laws.

“There's no doubt he ... took the property. It's a matter of whether he was legally entitled to take it,'' Supt Forti said today.

“As I sit here now, based on what I have been advised, it's legitimate and we won't proceed any further.''

Supt Forti said two officers on a night patrol believed Mr Flood was acting suspiciously.

They discovered the vacuum cleaner, which they thought may have been stolen, in the back of his car.

Supt Forti said Mr Flood had been taken for questioning after he acted “evasively” to officers.

He said the incident was one of the more unusual cases to come across his desk.

“One man's junk is another man's treasure,'' he said.

“I think there's a community expectation ... that if you put something out on the footpath, it's anyone's.''

Confusion over hard rubbish law



Police were giving the community mixed messages today, with the force's media section advising that hard rubbish was council property once placed on nature strips.

They told the heraldsun.com.au that despite the widespread practice of people trawling hard rubbish for kids toys, furniture, knick knacks and the occasional collectable, people should not be tempted to take objects.

Sen-Constable Marty Beveridge said this morning anyone taking property left out for hard rubbish collection was a thief, and his advice was that hard rubbish became council property once it was put on a nature strip, which is technically council-owned land.

“It’s against the law,” Sen-Constable Beveridge said.

“A lot of people don’t realise they can be charged for it.”

While police resources meant most people got away with picking through kerbside valuables, Sen-Constable Beveridge said police were not turning a blind eye and any patrols spotting offences would act.

“They just need to understand that they can be charged with theft,” he warned.

He said councils often recycled kerbside materials or sold it onto other dealers, and local governments had raised concerns about the practice in the past.

“At the end of the day, theft is theft. And while a lot of people think it’s a grey area … if there’s potential for those items to be recycled or on-sold it means they have some value.

“It’s like if you go to a milkbar and steal a 5c lolly. It’s still theft. The actual monetary value doesn’t matter.”

The Municipal Association told the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader only 41 of 79 local councils still offered hard rubbish collections, largely due to the problems of scavaging.

He said contractors paid councils to offer the service because they could make money out of recycling, but little was left if people cherry-picked the best.

Hard rubbish hunting 'an Aussie tradition'



Many Herald Sun readers said the arrest was an affront to “an Australian tradition” of trawling for valuables.

A Monash University study has previously found up to 35,000 tonnes of hard rubbish is pilfered each year or about 35 per cent of the material put out for collection.

Up to two in five households are involved in the illegal practice, the study by Monash University lecturer Dr Ruth Lane has found.

Heather Jones, who lives near Mr Flood, said she believed police should be ashamed of themselves for arresting him after witnessing Yarra Ranges council workers collecting hard rubbish from nearby streets including complete wheelbarrows, barbecues and lounge suites only to crushed in the back of a compacting rubbish truck.

And Dave Warner, who lives in the Cardinia Shire, said local authorities did not appear to recycle hard rubbish.

“The compactor truck just squashes it all up and it goes to landfill. If someone gets some use out of the "junk" then good for them. In this day and age of "recycle, reuse, renew" I applaud anyone who can turn my junk back into something of use.”

There are Facebook sites dedicated to hard rubbish collection dates and places in Melbourne, with members today saying they would not be deterred by the arrest.

The Hard Rubbish Melbourne site has 3500 members and declares: “Hard Rubbish is a valuable resource. We have more than enough stuff manufactured already. This group is an attempt to make hard rubbish fossicking easier for all and keep everyone out of the shops.”

Online commenter Liz agreed with the sentiment and said she hoped people would collect her hard rubbish.

“Precisely the reason we put things on the lawn so other people can recycle it! Council must be upset it cant sell it in their rubbish shops! Fair dinkum!”

But “Jimmy C” had the support of many people who think it is time for increased controls on hard rubbish trawlers.

“The problem is the scavengers who take hard rubbish collection far too seriously. There is nothing worse than people trawling your suburb, disrupting the neighbourhood and disturbing rubbish placed neatly on nature strips, and then driving around with trailers laden with filthy mattresses and shoddy refrigerators; not to mention the safety concerns.”

with AAP

Originally published as Champ dodges junk theft charge