Thurrock Council broke my windscreen strimming and refuse to pay!!

[bob]

You always have a right to appeal.

If you put a reasonable case forward they will re assess the claim.

In all honesty if you put most of the points previously mentioned then I would be hope full of a satisfactory outcome.

[Arran Turner]

:thumbdown:I live in thurrock. I hate it.

[Dean Lofthouse]

.

 

I would say the council must be responible for their stone flicking off your wheel....!

 

I personally would say thats life and if it was my window that was smashed and it happened often, I would take measures to stop it happening.

 

I also would say we have been namby pambied for far too long and now come to expect things as a right and not as a priveledge as some things are.

 

We pave over dirt tracks to make it easier for people to walk and then get sued as a thank you for one of the flags being a few mm out of true......

 

............... you get where I'm going

 

I'm just having a good old whinge..

[Mesterh]

Er, yeah sorry, I got in a bit of a kaffufle there. (Not very good at this remembering, or typing lark) What I meant was, the insurer said that the council were NOT negligent, that they had followed all guide lines,according to a statement from the operative, plain and simple, unless I could prove that the council WERE at fault, (negligent) they considered the case closed. So again I had to mention the safe working area, and he said he would re-examine the whole case. VERY interesting point about if they ARE proved to be negligent, that their insurance WON'T pay. LOL, thurrock Gazette are gonna LOVE that story!

 

To answer Graham S bellow, they sent me their risk assessment, which basically lists All operators are trained to use equipment...PPE to be worn, hi vis jackets and visor, ear defenders supplied (but left up to operator to choose whether to wear them or not). Guards to be in place. Manual handling courses completed, records are kept on personal files. Faulty vehicles, plant and equipment logged with transport reception and records kept. PPE issue records kept. On site monitoring by supervisors.......and in between all that 'Debris cleared when possible prior to work commencing'. A bit about muscle strain, footing ect, but apart from the debris there is NOTHING else mentioned about safety to the public, or property, surely that's not right?

As I've pointed out to every one I have spoken to, it seems Thurrock council have a 'get out of jail free' season ticket here, that allows them to cause as much damage as they like, and NEVER have to pay out .........as long as they tell the insurance company that (I quote) 'All relevant precautions were taken, and that the area was checked for obvious debris and large stones'

Man I WANT a policy like that!! "Yep, I have all the relevant courses, and I put out a few signs and stuff, sorry I dropped that log on your car and killed your dog, just one of those things, ever so sorry......what you want a new car and a new dog? Nope sorry, but I followed the guidelines luv, I'm insured with Zurich, they call it the 'Thurrock mug off policy'

 

As for 'chillin' out, yep. I left the matter for TWO months before chasing it further as I didn't see the point of getting worked up over £65 (Turns out after looking at receipt it was actually only £60)...but it kept niggling me, occasionally popping up in thought or conversation, and so decided to chase it...and 'once you pop, you just can't stop' as Mr Pringle says.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Graham, I look forward to hearing what your mate has to say, and looking forward to hearing back from HSE too

 

Sorry for any misunderstanding I didnt mean you were talking bollocks I meant the attitude of the insurance company.

 

What annoys me about all of this is that if you go down the solicitor route there is probably an extremely good chance you will win(the fact that they said they did the damage means it is undeniably their fault and too right they should pay for damage as should everyone who damages someones elses property!) and it will cost them a hell of a lot more than £65 which will push their premiums up so more money comes out of the tax payers pocket and straight into the back wallet slot of some leach of a solcitor, who will no doubt convince you you have been well and truly stressed out by all of this and should be paid compensation etc etc.

 

Insurance companies are their own worst enemy but then they don't need to care about the costs as they just recoup them by putting up the premiums.

 

Anyway I use a stump guard when grinding out stumps in pavements to stop stones flicking out at pedestrians and cars etc so why cant they do the same?

[Mark Bolam]

Thats a genius idea Barrington.

 

Job creation with one guy strimming and another walking beside him with a guard.

 

With a few more guys like you around we could solve the unemployment problem and have the country ship-shape again in no time!

[Mesterh]

Hey I'm always one step ahead.

 

Anyway my plan was to use 4 extra men all sort of penning the strimmer guy in with an 8x4 foot piece of ply board. Hmm maybe one guy at the front with a flashing beacon on his helmet for good measure.

 

Besides there are loads of grass cutters scratching their arses ATM so why not use a few of those? Better than sending them out to mutilate the street trees with a bow saw, pole saw and a wooly hat for protection.

[Mark Bolam]

:lol:

[cartman]

Hi all, not been on here for about three years, took me ages to 'guess' my password again

 

Ok, so get this! I came home a couple of months ago, to find the council had been striming down the side of a public foot path next to where I park my car (which is on my land) and they kindly put a stone through the rear window! The car was about three feet from where they were strimming, and in my opinion, was way too close to be strimming that near.

They admit that they caused the damage, but their insurance wont pay out because they.....get this....'were not negligent' !!!! WTF!!

I spouted health and safety, and basic risk assesment to them, and they sent a snotty letter back listing the health and saftey guidelines set out in the Sthil stimmer hand book. This states that PPE should be worn blah di blah, and 'Debris (is) cleared when possible prior to work commencing'....

So their point is that because they followed these guidlines (the hand book doesn't mention common sence, so they didn't use that) they claim they aren't in breech of health and safety and so are not liable!

 

I had a real hard time keeping my cool when I then spoke to the 'manager' of the strimming team, who happily admitted that his team broke my window, but refuses to admit that they were at fault. I asked why they didn't knock on my door to ask to get the car moved (yes, some one was in) he claimed that they 'didn't have time to go knocking on every door 'just' because a car was near to where they were working'......and 'would I preffer (in a sarcastic tone) that in future, thourrock council didn't bother strimming down the alley way'!!!

 

So 'Thurrock council' have the legal right to go around causing damage to peoples property (Over £500 worth in my case, thank god I have wind screen insurance) and as long as they 'check for debris, and claim that it was cleared before commencing work', they can damage what the hell they want it seems!

 

Any thoughts...comedy or indeed helpfull comments?

 

Hi,

 

sorry to hear what has happened,

 

A similar thing happened to my car a few months back,it was parked on our drive, and the council contractors came around strimming the grass around the drive. ok so far, next i hear a strimmer that is up and down through revving it, so i go to my window where i see them working.

 

one of the personnel finishes and then decides to put his strimmer on the pavement and revves it to full facing my car to blow debris back onto the grass.

 

in the process of him doing this stupid stunt he smashes my windscreen, pebble dashes the entire cars paintwork, and chips the front number plate.

The car was severely damaged.

 

so what i did was went and got photos of the damage to my car, and then phoned the council up (Lincolnshire county council) and explained what had happened quoting time date and location.

 

They then say well it has nothing to do with them, so i asked who the contractors are who did the work, they gave me the details, Tilbridge landscapes ltd.

 

i contacted them asked to speak to the manager of the firm, explained what had happened, they eventually after several days of me pestering them, admitted liability, i contacted my insurance straight away after them admitting this, and they arranged for my car to be repaired, it took over 3 months of waiting and phone calls before it got sorted and my got a respray, costing £5,000 for parts labor and paint, the contractors admitted that they had sacked the person responsible , as the day before he had smashed someone elses windows with a stimmer.

 

to date the contractors insurance have not paid our insurance yet, and they still pester them for the money. and say if they don't pay then they will take the company responsible to court and sue them for the costs of the repairs etc.

 

long and short don't give up just keep pestering the council ask them for the contractors details, and as soon as they have admitted liability they have to pay up, there is no way out of it

 

Sorry for long essay

 

Hope you get it sorted

[bob]

Thats a genius idea Barrington.

 

Job creation with one guy strimming and another walking beside him with a guard.

 

With a few more guys like you around we could solve the unemployment problem and have the country ship-shape again in no time!

 

humans are not allowed within 15m

maybe developing a robot with a screen

or loads of remote contolled cars

Now that would be a laugh:thumbup: