Strimmer smashed Sunroof, who pays?

cyclonebri1

It's a pointless argument. I think everyone accepts that a stone etc could have been flung far/high enough to break the glass. The OP doesn't really know if it did, it's very much an assumption and a fair one. The proof would be virtually impossible to substantiate, even if the "offending item" should come to life mysteriously.

If it did, it could just as easily come from a car travelling in the opposite direction.

I have a dent smack in the middle of my bonnet, looks like a nail had been tapped into it. I know the neibhbours kids did it as they are forever throwing stones about, can I prove it, of course not.

skiddlydiddly

Yes I agree Cyclone.Its just that some people were implying that the sunroof is made of bulletproof glass and that a stone couldn't possibly smash it.

loobyloo2

Good Afternoon everyone, just finished cleaning out the car ready for the engineer to come and decide if it is worth repairing, quite sure this won't be a problem though.
I will pursue the nursery regardless of wether or not I can prove that an object thrown up from the strimmer smashed the sunroof.
Hopefully the local council will play a role in this, will be in a better position to speak about this next week.
On cleaning out the car, apart from a tonne of glass, i found plenty of old chips, drinks bottles, dog toys, chocolate wrappers and even a bra!!!! Plenty of bits of gravel and stones, but could well of been brought in on trainers or the dogs feet!
Oh, for those who want to work out the unlikliness of this happening, the sunroof is the front one, not the motorised sliding one, it pops up on hinges more like a vent, about 4 inches, and it had been open for days, so does that improve the chance of it happening???
Really, there have been some great people giving great advice on here and I really do thank them for it, but the doubters don't really have to escalate this into something else.
On searching the internet, I also found another victim of Tesco not paying out for their sunroof just a couple of months ago, once my engineer has been round and all is under way, I will get in touch with them and hopefully they will be able to take it up with the underwriters and get their money back.
Lets all go now and enjoy the glorious sunshine, seems a smashed sunroof on a day like today is a bonus;)

Quentin

loobyloo2 wrote: »

I will pursue the nursery regardless of wether or not I can prove that an object thrown up from the strimmer smashed the sunroof.

As has already been posted, even if you could prove the strimmer was responsible (you can't!), that is not enough. You need to prove negligence on the part of the operator.

Also bear in mind that if you take this claim for your £75 to court, and lose, you will have to pay all the court costs as well as the expenses and loss of earnings of the defendant (and any witnesses).

So do get some advice before embarking on your pursuit!

System

loobyloo2 wrote: »

Oh, for those who want to work out the unlikliness of this happening, the sunroof is the front one, not the motorised sliding one, it pops up on hinges more like a vent, about 4 inches, and it had been open for days, so does that improve the chance of it happening???

Well that puts it in the firing line for any stones thrown up by other vehicles on the road. It sounds more likely for a stone fired up from the road at effectively 40MPH hitting the glass to cause a week point. The result is then the effect that I suffered.
Although it may have been the strimmer.

Very difficult if not nigh on impossible to prove either way.

neilmcl

loobyloo2 wrote: »

Oh, for those who want to work out the unlikliness of this happening, the sunroof is the front one, not the motorised sliding one, it pops up on hinges more like a vent, about 4 inches, and it had been open for days, so does that improve the chance of it happening???

It's a shame you didn't make this clearer a bit earlier on.

cyclonebri1

Complicateder and more complicateder. I've only come accros double sunroofs where the front one opens and slides and the rear one doesn't ??

Lum

On this type of vehicle it makes sense, in terms of airflow, since it's basically the same shape as a transit van.

Google Image search didn't have much for the sunroof, the best I could find is this:
http://images.autoexposure.co.uk/AETA47645/AETV25307036_1b.jpg

I'm guessing the op has the E50 Elgrand as shown there since the "Homy" trim level was dropped in the E51 and prior to the E50 it was just called the Homy.

Wikipedia reckons there are about 600-700 of them in the UK, just for reference, and to stop the "just find one in the scrappy" comments

thescouselander

Quentin wrote: »

As has already been posted, even if you could prove the strimmer was responsible (you can't!), that is not enough. You need to prove negligence on the part of the operator.

Also bear in mind that if you take this claim for your £75 to court, and lose, you will have to pay all the court costs as well as the expenses and loss of earnings of the defendant (and any witnesses).

So do get some advice before embarking on your pursuit!

Actually, this isn't true for the small claims court - you pay your £75 and thats it - the other side cant come after you for their costs and there are no other court costs to pay.

Quentin

thescouselander wrote: »

Actually, this isn't true for the small claims court - you pay your £75 and thats it - the other side cant come after you for their costs and there are no other court costs to pay.

No. (The £75 is the amount the OP says is his excess that he would be pursuing the nursery owner for, so which £75 are you wrongly on about?)

The claimant pays the court fees (issue + hearing) up front. That would be £50 for MCOL.

If the case is subsequently won, then the defendant gets this added to the amount owing.

The winner is also entitled to both expenses for attending the court and loss of earnings, and these are paid by the loser.