Hull: Even more fucked-up than previously suspected?

I'm 90% sure I heard this on Radio 4 on Friday. Then again I might have dreamt it.

People in Hull are sawing up flood damaged furniture that has been piled up outside their houses 'so that looters don't steal things'.

Which of the following statements are true?

1. People in Hull are even more fucked up than I ever suspected.
2. People in Hull have a very strange definition of 'looting'.
3. People in Hull are scamming bastards, trying to get new furniture through insurance / govt handout.

When I was a small child my Brother told me that if you drop a sweet or a crisp on the street you had to stamp on it 'to make sure the tramps don't get it'. Perhaps this mentality survives into adulthood in some people.

My feelings toward Hull are a little warped to begin with, having dated a daughter of the city a few years ago. Her dad got very ill and as a result I spent 3 days in Hull hospital. I've lived in some fairly grim bits of the world, and the only experience which bares comparison with Hull hospital is a stint in prison in Egypt. And even there the people were freindlier and the hygeine standards were better.