No they are not allowed to,it would be classed as theft.
Funny thing is if you live near the beach and the sand blows onto your property and you shovel it up to deposit it back on the beach, you will be prosecuted for fly tipping
The fly tipping thing gets mentioned regularly in our local paper,Lytham St.Annes has lots of houses practically on the beach and they get drifts of sand on their driveways etc.I have no idea what the council expects them to do with the sand.lol
My friend had a massive argument with a bloke from the council over bags of leafs she left out. He said he couldn't take them and she shouldn't be leaving garden waste out etc etc. She went mad saying 'they're your Fluffing leafs not mine...they're from that tree in the street and if you don't take them I'll be sending you a bill for clearing them up'
Her language would have been a lot more colourful and she would have went on and on and on and on...
On that last one, we had something similar. Our council now collects rubbish, recycle, garden waste and food waste. The garden waste is a big wheelie, the food is a little caddy.
Anyway a guy filled his green waste bin with windfall apples, as you would, only to be told they were food and in the wrong container. Like you were gonna buy, and waste, that many apples!
thanks guys for the answers, comments and observations (he should have killed the maggot!). On a more serious note though ~ a few years ago I watched as dredgers were scooping up sand from the sea bed a mile or two out then bringing it in and pumping it up on to the beach to strengthen our east coast defences against high tides ~ a very expensive and necessary job. If everyone drove away from the beach with a bootful of sand ......!