Habeas Domus Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 This story has recently been making the rounds, first on the New Statesman, then the Telegraph London's trail of buried diggersProperty experts estimate there could be up to 1,000 JCBs buried underground because they are cheaper to bury than lift to street level following basement extensions This is a completely made up story: "Property experts" apparently estimated there could be up to 1,000 JCBs buried under sand, gravel and concrete, close to some of the capital’s most expensive houses. But it is worth noting that neither the New Statesman or Telegraph mention any direct type of source, or reference any quotes within their articles. The claims would have meant that approximately £5 million worth of machinery has been casually discarded. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/06/london-urban-legend-jcb-digger_n_5459717.html Other errors in the story are that the quoted £6000 price of the JCBs is wildly incorrect (they are more like £20K used) and were any of this true there would not be enough used JCBs to fill the demand. The question I'm left wondering is what these 'property experts' were hoping to achieve with this made up story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbeth79 Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 The proles love to hear that the rich are stupid, never wondering that it is the other way around, it stops them rioting and other such behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okaycuckoo Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 The Wikipedia model has been around for about 15 years - but journalists still don't use the trivial device of including online links to sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybong Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Haven't they heard of temporary ramps. Do they charge for the diggers on top of the basement price. If it's true (there might be a few totally broken down diggers buried) then it's a reinforcement of the spendthrift, throwaway economy. Lots of movies reinforce that theme with crash and burn car chases - cars as disposable items. More and more people in the UK seem to park like that these days. The discredited broken window stimulus to the economy theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuggets Mahoney Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Haven't they heard of temporary ramps Alternatively... CANADIAN MAN EXCAVATES HIS BASEMENT USING R/C TRUCKS OVER 7 YEARS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 LOL So how do they dig and fill the hole back in after they've finished the basement extension? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNACR Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Why does an article about mechanical diggers have the tone of one discussing ponies children have outgrown being sent to the glue factory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I recall being told many years ago that much of the machinery used to build the M25 would be buried under it. There was little market for the second-hand specialist machinery, much of which was worn out at the end of construction. I think it is a matter of record that at least one of the huge tunneling machines building the crossrail link will finally bury itself - the others are to be removed because they can be brought to the surface. Of course any story from 'property experts' is inevitably BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronyx Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 There is at least one machine buried under there because my uncle nicked it and drove it into a massive puddle. Just the top of the exhaust sticking out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Come to think of it, my Aunt disappeared shortly after my uncle made her dig the allotment. Onlookers wondered why spuds supposedly needed holes six feet deep. Rumour has it she is buried under the vegetable patch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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