Advice please. DS has broken a shop window!!

TAG

Just wanted some opinions on this or what you would do's ,

My DS who's 15 has today broken a shop window. It was an accident, threw a ball to his mate, mate didn't catch it and it cracked the shop window.

Now he has admitted what happened. The shop owner wouldn't let him leave the shop until the police turned up which took 2 and a half hours. Police took his details and basically said go home tell your parents what has happened and make sure they ring the shop owner by 6.00pm. Which we did.

Now the long and the short of it is that the shop owner wants us to pay the £250 excess on his insurance claim, which is fair enough. But neither of us has the money to pay it. DS has said he will get a job to pay for the damage or work off in someway.

I have to go down there tomorrow and explain this, with DS in tow, and I know the shop owner will not be happy. Basically if we don't pay he will get the police to follow it up is pretty much what has been said.

So advice/opinions please

michellenealemum

hubby says go and see the citizien advice the shop owner should have public liability since it was an accident these things do happen.
hope it helps

Tashja

If it was a genuine accident I am not sure what action the police would take barr having a word with your son.

I would say this is more a civil matter than a criminal matter and we all know how the police feel about civil matters . . . .

T xx

nearlyrich

I am a bit perturbed that the shop owner was allowed to detain a minor for that length of time, I agree he should pay for the damage but could the shop owner not have called you whilst waiting for the police?

TAG

Well that is a bone of contention. I'm certainly not happy about it. It's unclear whether or not he was told he could. I very much doubt.

Pssst

Now hang on people....accident or no accident there is a shopkeeper who is potentially £250 out of pocket. Why should he suffer that loss?

Before this young man turned up,this chap had an intact window,now he doesnt and this young man is apparently liable.

IMHO what needs to happen is that the shopkeeper needs to prove that without question,he will suffer a financial loss. To do this,you could ask him to ask his insurance company to write to you and confirm that an actual loss will be incurred, i.e the policy excess.

If that is the case then morally if not legally,the cost rests with the young lad.

If his parent choose to stand that cost then they may wish to recover that cost from son in some way.

As for affording it,well on definite proof of loss by the shopkeeper,parents should borrow or otherwise obtain the money.

Public liability insurance is to insure the shopkeeper against any insured liability which he might incur as a result of a claim from a memver of the public,not the other way round..eg someone slips in his shop,they are injured in the shop in some way etc etc

Accident or not,do we wish to teach and demonstrate responsible attitudes to our children or do we want to show them how to usurp responsibility?

Pssst

Just a further thought...does YOUR home insurance have a third party liability bolt on and if so,could it cover this instance?

G-G_4

Pssst - I've come across a couple of your posts tonight and i'm very impressed with your replies Just what this forum needs

I would suggest your son gets a job (or you can agree with the shop keeper to let him help him on weekends in the shop?)

Mojisola

TAG wrote: »

My DS who's 15 has today broken a shop window. It was an accident, threw a ball to his mate, mate didn't catch it and it cracked the shop window.

There were two boys involved - shouldn't there be two families finding the money?

TAG

Pssst I fully appreciate what your saying. As I have already said DS has admitted what has happened and is willing to pay for it or work it off in someway. However as it's a tattoo shop I doubt there's much he could help with. And neither of us can borrow or obtain money from anywhere, hard as that may seem.

I will ask for a break down of the cost to replace the window though. Apparently it's around £1000. I don't know if the house insurance will cover anything will have to look into that one.

Talk about a bad week it's only Monday and DS2 had his bike nicked yesterday whilst trying to earn a bit of money doing a paper round. The exhaust is literally hanging off of my car and now this.

TAG

Mojisola wrote: »

There were two boys involved - shouldn't there be two families finding the money?

Apparently the police officer let the other boy go as soon as he got there and just took my son's details. Easy for him I suppose seeing as DS was honest.