Bloody council knocked my wall down and gate off.

[tlogic]

Hi,

I am fuming this evening,

I came home this evening after a long day at work to see a trail of devastation left behind by my local council.
It appears the council was doing it's routine waste collection at an access road at the back of my house, the twats that were loading the vehicle up forgot to close the gates on the vehicle ( caged type vehicles) , and as they drove away the gate swang open, took out both mine and my neighbours gates and knocked a brick wall down including damaging my neighbours garage.

To top it off they left a trail of debris behind them and didn't stop. Luckily I caught it on camera and someone also witnessed the incident. and took the REG number down. I will be contacting the council first thing tomorrow.

What would you do in my situation, go through home insurance ( I don't particularly want to pay the excess as it's not my fault)
Or make the council pay for the damage?

I was thinking of giving them seven days notice to repair the damage or otherwise take them to a small claims court.

My property is currently not secure as anyone can come in through the back garden even though I have temporarily blocked the access and my neighbour can't use his garage anymore as the garage door is knackered.

 

[fus10n]

I'd have reported it to the police.....your home insurance would want a case number anyway. They would probably go to the council anyway with your evidence.

 

[tlogic]

I've reported to the police, but will most probably have to call my home insurance tomorrow.

 

[Napster]

ring the council, have luck getting the right dept. I'm sure they will fix it, it will be just a matter of when

 

[shaun127]

**** claiming off yr insurance. get onto them, make them pay and make sure its not council brickies/builders that put it right. Twats not stopping

 

[avid]

If you have legal cover on your insurance I would speak to your insurance company for advice. It may be better for your insurance company to arrange for all the repairs with reputable builders. Then they would claim the money back from the Council for the repairs. As mentioned, how long are you going to have to wait for the council to repair the damage and what standard off work will they carry out.

The council also have their own insurance departments to settle claims made against them, so maybe worth contacting them first to see what solution they offer.

 

[tlogic]

Hi,

Thought I'd update the thread.

I ended up going down claiming of my own home insurance and had to pay £350 excess for the privilege . Main reason I opted for this route was because I wanted to get the repairs done straight away as if I went after the council I would of had to wait a couple weeks.

My own insurer (Barclays) did assure me that they will recover the cost of repairs as well as my excess from the council directly.
After nearly 3 weeks the police contacted me today wanting more information.

 

[silverdale]

I certainly wouldn't have claimed on mine. When you shop around to renew your house insurance you'll find your premium will be slightly higher due to the claim flagging up on your address.
I would have wrote to the council, stuck the video up on YouTube or something so they can view it and given them 14 days to respond or you'll throw it in the hands of a solicitor or a claims firm saying your property is no longer secure.
Or,
Paid private then billed them and threaten small claims court. It wouldn't or shouldn't have cost much more than £350 get it done, well round here it wouldn't. It's a day's work that.