This is because it was located in exactly the place you would put it if you wanted to station one of the radio based spying devices developed by Peter Wright (of Spycatcher fame). Neighbours speculated that it had come out of a nearby garage, but what it was doing rotting and proving a target for the local vandals, was a bit of a mystery.
A surveyor from the county council turned up and I spoke to him hoping I could get him to remove it. This he could not do, but he provided some interesting information.
Apparently he was a caravan enthusiast and had one in his back garden he was rebuilding. He reckoned the abandoned caravan was actually worth something. I invited him to take it but he said he hadn't got a tow bar.
Anyway, on Friday a skip was delivered and two men subsequently turned up and did a most thorough demolition job. This was like one of those tv games where you smash something up and post the bits through a small hole.
But it was perfectly obvious from the word go that there was no way it was going to fit into the skip. Having seen the frame it is on I now believe you would need cutting equipment to break this up into small bits, and of course they had none.
Interestingly, the extra material that was piled onto the skip over and above the conventional top, is being held in place partly by asbestos cement roofing. Now I am no expert but I do wonder if skip companies like removing asbestos?
Of course, asbestos cement is perfectly safe but when it comes to health and safety there's a tendency to err on the side of caution. If I didn't know better I'd think the whole thing was being filmed Keystone Cops style for some wacky stunts tv programme.
Jonathan Brind