I'm new to this DIY business and I don't want to spend too much money on spare parts and bits and bobs that I know that someone, somewhere will be throwing away- I always thought you could just walk into a junkyard/scrapyard and take whatever garbage you needed just like I always saw on TV but apparently not?
I mean they obviously make money from this rubbish and they pay people to take this rubbish away from them e.g used cars etc so surely they won't just let me walk in take stuff for free? I'm thinking bits of rubber, metal piping, wood- just the odd stuff which might come in handy.
I'm also looking for small dead engines to take apart and learn from cos I'm starting to become a bit of a petrolhead- but I seriously doubt garages will let me have stuff for free, will these scrapyard gentlemen?

Edit: They also seem to only want to buy stuff from people not sell stuff

you wont know until you ask
but in general if you think it has a use then its a "spare part" so has a value and a cost

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surely there are council based metal recycling places and not just private scrapyards though?

Most of the council based ones won't let you take stuff out of them these days.
If you hunt around there are all sorts of places though. Remember that most are in business though, so they may be "cheap" but they ain't "free"
Asking around your mates / at work / in the pub etc can come up with some surprising stuff.
Car boots too.

Not that I have heard of, pointless really. Councils "farm" everything out. Even if you go to most "council tidy tips" you can take stuff in, but you sure can't take it out, the people working there do that (When every one has gone home) Just because you "saw it on TV" does not mean its real, next you will be telling me superman is real, after all, lots of people have seen him on T.V.

You have to understand that most TV programmes are made for "Entertainment" Yes, even watchdog and the like is made for entertainment, since they all only show / pick the "interesting / sad" items because ................its entertaining.

Welcome to the real world.

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Talking to one guy at our local dump even they have trouble taking stuff out because of the cctv watching their every move. Another mate works on the recycling collections and the lorries too have cctv which makes it hard for them as well , the cameras run for twenty minutes after the ignition goes off so the only chance he has , er I mean could have , is when they stop for half an hour for lunch.
Getting back to the original question I used to go to scrapyards for bits and pieces but haven't done it for many years and I doubt they let people wander around taking bits off , health and safety and all that , but some I know do remove stuff them selves and sell it on that way. Otherwise then there's always the possibility of using freecycle and eBay , just type in spares and repairs.