Fire Engine drove through my garden

Princess_Coupon

I got home yesterday to find huge tyre tracks through my front garden, after asking the neighbours it appears a fire engine drove through it.
(I live in a private street and we have no fences/walls the lawn meets the path) I understand why they have done it, I guess they were on an emergency call and thought it would save them a few seconds.
I feel a bit petty as I estimate the damage only at about £50 ( plants, 2 shrubs and 1 length of stone edging) but appart from the money I have the hassle of sorting it out and there's nothing I can do about the huge indentation in my lawn:mad:.
Are they alowed to drive anywhere they fancy and cause damage to private property?

cyberbob

Phone the fire service ask who you need to claim from for the damage. If they have the possibility of saving lives I can't believe your questioning if they are allowed to. I'm sure you'll be able to claim the money back. If you were trapped in a fire would you want them not driving over a lawn to help save you. I doubt it

Princess_Coupon

cyberbob wrote: »

Phone the fire service ask who you need to claim from for the damage. If they have the possibility of saving lives I can't believe your questioning if they are allowed to. I'm sure you'll be able to claim the money back. If you were trapped in a fire would you want them not driving over a lawn to help save you. I doubt it

Clearly I'm not asking that as I wrote "I understand why they have done it, I guess they were on an emergency call and thought it would save them a few seconds."
What I'm questioning is the fact they have caused damaged and not claimed responsibilty, I had to do detective work to find out what had happened, someone else may have imediately phoned the police.
I'll clarify my point, is the fire service allowed to cause damage to private property without advising the owner?

mikey72

Princess_Coupon wrote: »

Clearly I'm not asking that as I wrote "I understand why they have done it, I guess they were on an emergency call and thought it would save them a few seconds."
What I'm questioning is the fact they have caused damaged and not claimed responsibilty, I had to do detective work to find out what had happened, someone else may have imediately phoned the police.
I'll clarify my point, is the fire service allowed to cause damage to private property without advising the owner?

Well, if your house is on fire and you're out, they'll break down your doors and fill it full of water.
Maybe the road was blocked when you were out, so they squeezed through over your lawn.

hieveryone

I don't think the OP is questioning the motives of the fire engine driver for going over her lawn, but rather whether they need to pay up or not. I.e is it their right to drive through things at will.

OP, I'd certainly be looking for the service to pay for the damage, petty or not.

vikingaero

I have a few Firefighter Sam friends. Sometimes a fire engine will clip cars, walls, plants, trees, hedges etc on their way to an emergency call. Sometimes they'll leave a note, other times they won't remember where they caused the damage and leave it to the householder to contact them.

Princess_Coupon

hieveryone wrote: »

I don't think the OP is questioning the motives of the fire engine driver for going over her lawn, but rather whether they need to pay up or not. I.e is it their right to drive through things at will.

OP, I'd certainly be looking for the service to pay for the damage, petty or not.

I'm glad someone understood:T

vikingaero wrote: »

I have a few Firefighter Sam friends. Sometimes a fire engine will clip cars, walls, plants, trees, hedges etc on their way to an emergency call. Sometimes they'll leave a note, other times they won't remember where they caused the damage and leave it to the householder to contact them.

Thanks, that's what I was asking.



Why do some people on this forum put so much effort into trying to provoke an argument?

SnowyOwl_2

Quite possibly the actual road was blocked or partially blocked and the quickest and least destructive way forward was to take a short cut over your garden. You should definitely contact them! You do not have to be out of pocket because of this. If the answer is no, then they will tell you, but if you never contact them they will never put the damage right.

Don't feel guilty that you are concerned about damage to your property.

BargainGalore

They probably have insurance for this sort of thing

No harm contacting them dont see why you should be out of pocket obviously the best thing was to get there quickest time to save lives

Dollardog

The police were chasing some thieves through our back gardens a while ago. They needed to get the dogs through, my neighbours fence was damaged but they were able to fix that themselves fairly easily. My back got got damaged and was irrepairable. I went to the local station, was asked to take photos of the damage, explain what happened and they paid for me to have a new gate and have it fitted. I was just told to get a quote, they authorised it straight away.

cyberbob

hieveryone wrote: »

I don't think the OP is questioning the motives of the fire engine driver for going over her lawn, but rather whether they need to pay up or not. .

No she was questioning the motives read it again

Are they alowed to drive anywhere they fancy and cause damage to private property

Now if she said I understand they had to drive there how do I claim now that would heve been just asking about the claim but she didn't