Poo found in Brighton council microwave

DIRTY PROTEST: The contaminated microwave DIRTY PROTEST: The contaminated microwave

They normally deal with some of the grottiest aspects of human life. But bin men have had their meal times disturbed after someone heated human excrement in a microwave oven.

The soiled machine was targeted in a communal kitchen in Brighton and Hove City Council ’s Hollingdean depot.

Bosses have said they are taking the matter “very seriously” and are urging their refuse and recycling workers to help them catch the culprit.

But staff at the depot are still bemused by the incident and are referring to it as “Workforce Update 28” – the council’s vague title for what happened.

One worker, who did not want to be named, told The Argus: “This is both ridiculous and disgusting. It’s either some sort of protest or someone’s idea of a gag – either way, it’s revolting.”

The incident took place on July 20 but it took more than a week for the microwave oven to be removed.

Bosses said the microwave was immediately cleaned and sealed with airtight yellow and black tape more commonly associated with hazardous incidents.

A message was also left on the machine telling those who use the area what had happened.

An update sent round to all members of staff, titled Workforce Update 28, said: “The microwave in the canteen has unfortunately been used to heat excrement and cannot be made hygienic or safe to use.

“Please do not use. We will have it disconnected and removed.

“This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will not be replacing the microwave.”

A council spokeswoman yesterday said: “We were unable to remove the microwave straight away as it was bolted and wired to the wall and an engineer had to be called.

“The power was disconnected to prevent use. The microwave has now been removed. We do not know who was responsible for this incident.

“We take this matter very seriously, and have urged anyone who has any information on this incident to come forward.”

Comments(91)

Crystal Ball says...
10:02am Tue 31 Jul 12

What a load of... Oh.

derekhunt says...
10:17am Tue 31 Jul 12

The sign actually says "This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will not be replacing the microwave" not "This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will not be removing the microwave"

Discombobulated says...
10:39am Tue 31 Jul 12

A week to remove? What the hell? If someone got caught doing this where I work, it would take five minutes to remove. One for the trip to the skip, one to collect their P45 & three to pick up their teeth from the floor.

Jo Wadsworth says...
10:39am Tue 31 Jul 12

Thanks Derek - so it does. I have now changed the story.

Maxwell's Ghost says...
10:42am Tue 31 Jul 12

This is the depot where they set up a literacy centre because the staff can't read and write so maybe someone thought kitchen meant toilet.
Otherwise it's probably someone whose mum and dad were brother and sister because it's the actions of someone with a mental issue.

Andre Spooner says...
10:55am Tue 31 Jul 12

I do not understand why anyone would do this! Both I and my Mighty Horse have had issues with the neighbourhood kids messing with the bins outside our house. They even once attempted to throw a pigs head into my Mighty Horse's stable, which I can only imagine is some kind of cruel mafioso-esque joke. And I have written before on these pages about the time I found a dead stoat in a packet of porridge oats. But for anyone, especially an employee of the Glorious City Council of Brighton and Hove, to heat up human waste products in a microwave seems bizarre behaviour indeed. Why would they require the offending item to be hot? What extra properties would it gain?

I am all for practical jokes. I remember when my Mighty Horse decided to loose fifty furious goats into our front room as some kind of "April Fools Joke". After being thrown by their errant horns into the fireplace and breaking one of my toes, I must admit I was a little bit angry, but could not help joining in the laughter when my Mighty Horse burst out of the Grandfather Clock yelping "Surprise! April Fool!", and taking me and the goats out for a slap up dinner to make up for it. The good people at Terre a Terre did not know what to make of such an unusual party, but they coped very well and produced a whole range of Grass Pies and Oat Towers for our caprine companions. What a day that was!

But this seems like it is pushing the joke too far. Imagine if someone had eaten the offending item, believing it to be a Yule Log or a Chocolate Roll Stick? As a taxpayer, I cannot believe that our dear council is paying their employees to put such offending items in important culinary machinery. It is like the old joke: How many people who work in a pen factory does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one - the others have to carry on making the pens!

If the microwave-poo-fiends learned from this stakhanovite, perhaps we would be living in a better world. A laugh is indeed a laugh. A joke is indeed a joke. But a microwave filled with human excrement is something entirely different.

elpachio says...
11:10am Tue 31 Jul 12

WHO DUNG IT???

Indigatio says...
11:18am Tue 31 Jul 12

DNA sample of the poo to see who's it is?
Totally disgusting. I'm all for a joke but this is way beyond that.

Charismatic Andrew says...
11:18am Tue 31 Jul 12

This is where a National DNA database would come in handy. The poo could be analysed (not a great job for someone admittedly) and the culprit immediately identified. Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.

Jannisaurus says...
11:42am Tue 31 Jul 12

DNA tests could mean nothing - you're ALL assuming that the culprit placed a piece of his own poo in the microwave. Think outside the box people. A true criminal genius would simply pick up a floater left by another employee and deposit it in said microwave - the perfect crime. Then there is always the possibility that a poo sampling procedure for all employees would be susceptible to espionage. Individuals could simply bring in someone else's poo in their pocket and pass it off as their own.

Besides, I think we're all missing the point. This individual has clearly made an art installation here. After all, microwave meals do actually taste like s**t. Look out Hirst.

Goldenwight says...
11:45am Tue 31 Jul 12

Charismatic Andrew wrote:
This is where a National DNA database would come in handy. The poo could be analysed (not a great job for someone admittedly) and the culprit immediately identified. Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.
You are assuming that the culprit used his own faeces. Even given that, it would be difficult to get a DNA extract.

And even if you did manage to overcome the obstacles above, would it really be worth the cost?

elpachio says...
11:46am Tue 31 Jul 12

What a waste...............
.

Jannisaurus says...
11:52am Tue 31 Jul 12

Goldenwight is right - You can't really dust for poo.

Gazza says...
11:53am Tue 31 Jul 12

So how much is this going to cost us council tax payers, freedom of information act?

1. taping up offending machine
2. 3 high viz paper cups
3. health and safety report
4. clean air health and safety report
5. disposal of offending machine
6. E.G.M at council offices
7. letters and office time spent on the case
8. D.N.A laboratory work on Poo sample
9. Log report
10. industrial tribunal for un fair dismissal
11. overall time wasted on subject mater (Poo)
12. new microwave with white ribbon and scissor along with special celeb guest for grand opening ceremony

Personally I would have just skipped it strait away and told all employees to bring lunch boxes from now on. All sorted in 1 minute.

I’m sure the workers would find out who really did it and take out there own retaliation tactics in a funny way of cause, just like the prankster , it’s called common sense in a non common sense world we now live in.

P.S has someone been sacked lately? Case solved

Yours faithfully
Messy Buttocks

Roundbill says...
12:02pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Hurr hurr hurr - LOG report!

derekhunt says...
12:17pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Goldenwight wrote:
Charismatic Andrew wrote: This is where a National DNA database would come in handy. The poo could be analysed (not a great job for someone admittedly) and the culprit immediately identified. Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.
You are assuming that the culprit used his own faeces. Even given that, it would be difficult to get a DNA extract. And even if you did manage to overcome the obstacles above, would it really be worth the cost?
If someone else supplied the poo you could arrest them for aiding and abetting a known felon

elpachio says...
12:19pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I feel sorry for the manager who now has to put the faeces of this jigsaw together............
...

elpachio says...
12:26pm Tue 31 Jul 12

But a gold medal must go to the culprit in the Curling (one out) event

elpachio says...
12:31pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Are you sure he just wasn't trying to microwave a PLOP TART for breakfast??

Crystal Ball says...
12:54pm Tue 31 Jul 12

derekhunt wrote:
Goldenwight wrote:
Charismatic Andrew wrote: This is where a National DNA database would come in handy. The poo could be analysed (not a great job for someone admittedly) and the culprit immediately identified. Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.
You are assuming that the culprit used his own faeces. Even given that, it would be difficult to get a DNA extract. And even if you did manage to overcome the obstacles above, would it really be worth the cost?
If someone else supplied the poo you could arrest them for aiding and abetting a known felon
Perhaps a known colon?

banargustrolls says...
12:58pm Tue 31 Jul 12

This is headline of the year..

elpachio says...
12:59pm Tue 31 Jul 12

You could say it's the highshite of the year's news.

Fairfax Sakes says...
1:23pm Tue 31 Jul 12

They shouldn't have bought such a bog-standard piece of equipment in the first place

Flippin Burghers says...
1:31pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Bang out of ordure.

Poccypoc says...
1:59pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I've read about two similar cases in the past seven days. It's the turd this week.

uniteagainstparkingcharges says...
2:02pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Let me assure you, there is nothing funny about going up to a nice, clean, unsuspecting microwave, m'kay, dropping your pants, then turning around, squatting over that microwave, m'kay, maybe, maybe, pulling your butt cheeks apart with your hands, m'kay, and then laying out a big fudge dragon for all the world to see.

Dealing with idiots says...
2:07pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I think the bottom is falling out of Brighton.

Phani Tikkala says...
2:14pm Tue 31 Jul 12

To quote Nigel Tuffnell, "you can't dust for poo".

Maybe it's a protest at "Meat Free Monday"? Or maybe they just want to replace the Greens with "The Browns"

Poccypoc says...
2:17pm Tue 31 Jul 12

They must have "dropped" on the floor and then put it in the oven by hand. A direct shot on the oven would have defied biology.

I now know the origin of the term "sh*t hits the fan-assisted oven."

gwennieB says...
2:28pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Brighton Council are the biggest load of crap. They should all be flushed down the toilet along with the moron who perpetuated the incident.

Flippin Burghers says...
2:42pm Tue 31 Jul 12

How do they know the stuff was actually heated up though? Must have been quite a reverse Bisto moment.

Poccypoc says...
2:44pm Tue 31 Jul 12

The delay in removing the oven was because the engineer couldn't make it until Turdsday.

Crystal Ball says...
3:05pm Tue 31 Jul 12

uniteagainstparkingc
harges
wrote:
Let me assure you, there is nothing funny about going up to a nice, clean, unsuspecting microwave, m'kay, dropping your pants, then turning around, squatting over that microwave, m'kay, maybe, maybe, pulling your butt cheeks apart with your hands, m'kay, and then laying out a big fudge dragon for all the world to see.
Is a fudge dragon like a luck dragon but softer, browner and unflushable?

nickymitch says...
3:09pm Tue 31 Jul 12

oh...as ever the comments are better than the story. Mr Mighty Horse, I salute you, you made me laugh for a long time, I'm off to Terre a terre for a grass pie!

sussexram40 says...
3:19pm Tue 31 Jul 12

They must have had it scientifically analysed already or how could they be certain it was of human origin? How do we know it wasn't a dog turd? This wouldn't happen so often if everyone flushed.

Billyboyarnold says...
3:36pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Sounds like a "Dirty Protest" to me, lol

Poccypoc says...
3:36pm Tue 31 Jul 12

If this story is pivked up by the nationals, I think a good headline would be "Poo Dung It?"

Billyboyarnold says...
3:38pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Discombobulated wrote:
A week to remove? What the hell? If someone got caught doing this where I work, it would take five minutes to remove. One for the trip to the skip, one to collect their P45 & three to pick up their teeth from the floor.
Well said sir, nearly as bad as clingfilm across the bowl.

Billyboyarnold says...
3:43pm Tue 31 Jul 12

My wife used to be in charge of the "Ladies" on Leeds Station, some of the stories she used to tell me had me in hysterics. The comments on this story are brilliant. lol

Billyboyarnold says...
3:45pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Poccypoc wrote:
I've read about two similar cases in the past seven days. It's the turd this week.
Brilliant, it's a big job this one, lol

mustaphaLeeko says...
3:57pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Is this just another s**t story on The Argus? hahaha!

SGK2000 says...
3:59pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Isn't this council all about re-cycling?

SGK2000 says...
4:01pm Tue 31 Jul 12

If you'd seen "The Singing Detective" you'd know it was Mark Binney, Miss.

Flippin Burghers says...
4:16pm Tue 31 Jul 12

sussexram40 wrote:
They must have had it scientifically analysed already or how could they be certain it was of human origin? How do we know it wasn't a dog turd? This wouldn't happen so often if everyone flushed.
"so often" LOL. A splendid point. Maybe The Argus could launch a campaign for more vigorous flushing. Let's put an end to this 'floater in the microwave' menace once and for all.

Bobabooey says...
4:26pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Chicken Korma ready meal for one.

tim wade says...
4:50pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Discombobulated wrote:
A week to remove? What the hell? If someone got caught doing this where I work, it would take five minutes to remove. One for the trip to the skip, one to collect their P45 & three to pick up their teeth from the floor.
oooh hark at you mr 'tough guy'

picking up their teeth, honestly !!!

it took me some effort to curl that beauty out you know

BornInBrighton1968 says...
5:20pm Tue 31 Jul 12

We had a guy at work who was later found to be responsible for 'upper decking' (taking the lid off the toilet, and fouling in the innards so that when someone later used the toilet and then flushed it, there would be an overflow of 'brown gravy').

This 'top tank terrorist' was later caught and dismissed; why do people engage in such behaviour?

Corrupt Scumbag says...
5:49pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I do hope the council is respecting diversity amongst employees. Could this simply have been a form of prayer or sacrifice to the poo fairy? It may, to some, have seemed like a natural progression upwards after approval of prayers before council meetings?

Perhaps it was someone responding to a management consultant pep talk and he/she/it took the term "you need to give a sh1t" too literally?

Perhaps someone was attempting to use the revolving plate inside to put a positive spin on the same old shi...

Maxwell's Ghost says...
6:02pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I bet this individual has been pooing without hand washing for years.
Just think of the fecal matter his/her colleagues have been and are coming into contact with.

John Steed says...
6:06pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I understood a baked one was called a "swillet" as in "swillet" go round the bend.
is there an approriate term for a microwaved one

vogon1 says...
7:06pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Defication.
Defication,
A defication, that's what you need,
If you wanna take a dump,
And give your work mates the hump,
Oooo, a defication, is what you need
You wanna be a microwave breaker,
ooooooohhhhh

Dealing with idiots says...
7:22pm Tue 31 Jul 12

After reading all this I feel really flushed.

Poccypoc says...
8:04pm Tue 31 Jul 12

vogon1 wrote:
Defication.
Defication,
A defication, that's what you need,
If you wanna take a dump,
And give your work mates the hump,
Oooo, a defication, is what you need
You wanna be a microwave breaker,
ooooooohhhhh
First-class.

Corrupt Scumbag says...
8:28pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Could this be the first squatter the Green council won't take sitting down?

Has it been added to the next council meeting agenda...under 'any other business'?

puddingandpi says...
9:32pm Tue 31 Jul 12

"Poo".

"Poo"?

Does The Argus think we wouldn't understand the words "excrement" or "faeces"? Do they think we're all stupid?

Baldseagull says...
10:08pm Tue 31 Jul 12

What sort of idiot microwaves a turd?
They just go rubbery, you need to poach it for best results.

hamishhove says...
10:22pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Maxwell's Ghost wrote:
This is the depot where they set up a literacy centre because the staff can't read and write so maybe someone thought kitchen meant toilet.
Otherwise it's probably someone whose mum and dad were brother and sister because it's the actions of someone with a mental issue.
uncalled fo ****, including this post

hamishhove says...
10:23pm Tue 31 Jul 12

so whilst this thread has entertained me ....this scum are the people keeping our 'cityclean' ....what hope do we have?

hamishhove says...
10:25pm Tue 31 Jul 12

puddingandpi wrote:
"Poo".

"Poo"?

Does The Argus think we wouldn't understand the words "excrement" or "faeces"? Do they think we're all stupid?
pudding ****...the notice says excrement...

hamishhove says...
10:30pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Microwave.... bidding starts @ £1

Flippin Burghers says...
10:33pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Shame on you Argus. It's a sh!t story, reheated.

hamishhove says...
10:33pm Tue 31 Jul 12

classy binmen

Helena Handcart says...
12:38am Wed 1 Aug 12

They have launched an investigation, but mist of us think....they are only going through the motions....

Angryoldman says...
7:16am Wed 1 Aug 12

Discombobulated wrote:
A week to remove? What the hell? If someone got caught doing this where I work, it would take five minutes to remove. One for the trip to the skip, one to collect their P45 & three to pick up their teeth from the floor.
It takes a week because of all the paperwork and three hundred pen pushers that the council need to do anything. Not to mention all the meetings and prayers to be held before the sealing of the microwave.

Grendel says...
7:39am Wed 1 Aug 12

Andre Spooner wrote:
I do not understand why anyone would do this! Both I and my Mighty Horse have had issues with the neighbourhood kids messing with the bins outside our house. They even once attempted to throw a pigs head into my Mighty Horse's stable, which I can only imagine is some kind of cruel mafioso-esque joke. And I have written before on these pages about the time I found a dead stoat in a packet of porridge oats. But for anyone, especially an employee of the Glorious City Council of Brighton and Hove, to heat up human waste products in a microwave seems bizarre behaviour indeed. Why would they require the offending item to be hot? What extra properties would it gain?

I am all for practical jokes. I remember when my Mighty Horse decided to loose fifty furious goats into our front room as some kind of "April Fools Joke". After being thrown by their errant horns into the fireplace and breaking one of my toes, I must admit I was a little bit angry, but could not help joining in the laughter when my Mighty Horse burst out of the Grandfather Clock yelping "Surprise! April Fool!", and taking me and the goats out for a slap up dinner to make up for it. The good people at Terre a Terre did not know what to make of such an unusual party, but they coped very well and produced a whole range of Grass Pies and Oat Towers for our caprine companions. What a day that was!

But this seems like it is pushing the joke too far. Imagine if someone had eaten the offending item, believing it to be a Yule Log or a Chocolate Roll Stick? As a taxpayer, I cannot believe that our dear council is paying their employees to put such offending items in important culinary machinery. It is like the old joke: How many people who work in a pen factory does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one - the others have to carry on making the pens!

If the microwave-poo-fiends learned from this stakhanovite, perhaps we would be living in a better world. A laugh is indeed a laugh. A joke is indeed a joke. But a microwave filled with human excrement is something entirely different.
"What extra properties would it gain?"

Heat, perhaps?

sussexguy says...
7:46am Wed 1 Aug 12

Perhaps if it was green the council would be full of praise for the action. They pour out so much **** all the time anyway, they have nothing to complain about.

Numptyone says...
8:08am Wed 1 Aug 12

I want to know how they got there rear end in the microwave? :o)

Sprintervan says...
8:52am Wed 1 Aug 12

I had thought about doing something similar, however my friend poo-pooed the idea !!

Flippin Burghers says...
9:42am Wed 1 Aug 12

Time to call in Jamie Oliver? He is the reheating-sh!t-in-th
e-microwave tsar after all.

chrisinbrighton says...
9:42am Wed 1 Aug 12

All council workers must be honest.
no turd burglars !

Sa11yB says...
10:54am Wed 1 Aug 12

I know its wrong, so very wrong, but I'm desperately trying not to laugh

GIVE UP says...
1:19pm Wed 1 Aug 12

It started of as a p!ss take which back fired !!

baye says...
1:38pm Wed 1 Aug 12

sussexram40 wrote:
They must have had it scientifically analysed already or how could they be certain it was of human origin? How do we know it wasn't a dog turd? This wouldn't happen so often if everyone flushed.
Errr, do you really think a DOG could have sneaked in, found the microwave, opened it, clambered ontop, dropped one in, closed it up and wandered out again without being spotted? Think it through for goodness sake.

BornInBrighton1968 says...
1:46pm Wed 1 Aug 12

baye wrote:
sussexram40 wrote:
They must have had it scientifically analysed already or how could they be certain it was of human origin? How do we know it wasn't a dog turd? This wouldn't happen so often if everyone flushed.
Errr, do you really think a DOG could have sneaked in, found the microwave, opened it, clambered ontop, dropped one in, closed it up and wandered out again without being spotted? Think it through for goodness sake.
If the microwave is going to be thrown out, can I have it?

hubby says...
2:07pm Wed 1 Aug 12

It's a bum rap and people seem to have sunk to the bowels of humour for this article.
I remember many many years ago,before saunas in Brighton "Changed".I was in the jaccuzi at Edens saunasium (Did they really call it that) with about half a dozen other people when a rogue turd floated to the surface.
Nobody owned up.

Morpheus says...
9:00pm Wed 1 Aug 12

I wonder if they will be making a male version of "two girls one cup" next? Look it up, but be warned it wasn't chocolate ice cream they were sharing.

GIVE UP says...
12:15am Thu 2 Aug 12

Morpheus wrote:
I wonder if they will be making a male version of "two girls one cup" next? Look it up, but be warned it wasn't chocolate ice cream they were sharing.
GO AND GET SOME HELP !!

hubby says...
9:07am Thu 2 Aug 12

Sussex toilet humour is going down the pan!

BornInBrighton1968 says...
9:22am Thu 2 Aug 12

Wouldn't surprise me if it's a woman who did this; when I was a student I used to clean toilets, and you wouldn't believe the filth that women would leave in the cubicles; on many occasions I have seen excrement smeared on the walls of the cubicle and human waste all over the floor.

Don't jump to the conclusion that it is a male who did this...

lfcrule1972 says...
2:31pm Thu 2 Aug 12

Morpheus wrote:
I wonder if they will be making a male version of "two girls one cup" next? Look it up, but be warned it wasn't chocolate ice cream they were sharing.
Brilliant - Two Binmen, one microwave !

Flippin Burghers says...
3:07pm Thu 2 Aug 12

Poccypoc wrote:
They must have "dropped" on the floor and then put it in the oven by hand. A direct shot on the oven would have defied biology.

I now know the origin of the term "sh*t hits the fan-assisted oven."
A forensic ballistics expert could help to settle questions about the "no direct shot on the oven" theory, the grassy knoll etc. Best left to the experts.

royalal says...
7:55am Fri 3 Aug 12

Obviously a big job removing that piece of equipment

Flippin Burghers says...
11:30am Fri 3 Aug 12

Which snapper got the pic of the oven? One of the pooparazzi I suppose.

DennisKuntman says...
1:46pm Fri 3 Aug 12

Crystal Ball wrote:
What a load of... Oh.
I heard it was Brenda in accounts since she's partial to a perrrlop on her thrups on a friday morning. Microwave nugget plop monster. Give her my number tho.

Sprintervan says...
9:18am Sun 5 Aug 12

I bet it happened on a Turdsday

DennisKuntman says...
6:01pm Sun 5 Aug 12

So anyway, I bumped into Brenda down the Wetherspoons on Saturday, turns out it wasn't her cos she was busy mopping up pone in the ladies with a slice of bread and a digit in her plaster. However, she has got strong reason to suspect Tony the Pony as he was seen walking around with a bowl of spaghetti bolognese down his alans, round about 8pm on the Wednesday night.

Flippin Burghers says...
6:11pm Sun 5 Aug 12

The Argus should call for an immediate crackdown.

BornInBrighton1968 says...
12:21pm Mon 6 Aug 12

The rumour going around Brighton is that a certain Green councillor is responsible for this outrage.

Flippin Burghers says...
12:26pm Mon 6 Aug 12

BornInBrighton1968 wrote:
The rumour going around Brighton is that a certain Green councillor is responsible for this outrage.
Well, it's 'organic' I suppose...

Moodycow70 says...
7:47pm Mon 6 Aug 12

I hope they checked it for Minger prints ....

DennisKuntman says...
8:01pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Just for your guide, I have done projectile ponies at a good 85 degrees from the floor before so assuming an average weight of 100 grams per nugget and a table height of 50 cm, he could easily have done it and stood a good half a foot away while he was at it.

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