Money Moral Dilemma: Should neighbour pay as her son smashed the window

kiddyguy

Hi some years ago my car was damaged when parked on the road side at a friends house.
I reported the damage to police and they took the details. A couple of days later i got a call from the police and they said they had spoken with someone about this.
It seems a young lad was riding his pushbike on the road and went into the back of my car. His father had contacted the police and hence the contact was made. I spoke directly with the father of the lad who put a claim through his public liability on his house insurance and all was settled.
Give that a try ask the neighbour who their insurance is with and go from there.
Good luck

arthur2

Over 15 years ago my car was parked on a fairly busy road in the evening. A lad in his teens IIRC was cycling downhill and not looking properly and ran into the back - going quite fast. He ended up on the roof of my car and then landed in the road. His handlebars had fallen apart. I had been in a nearby house, and just missed seeing it happen - I just noticed the lad staggering about (dazed) in the road, bits of bike in the road, and my broken rear window. I called the emergency services. An ambulance and police car attended.

The Police decided not to take any action because the lad had hurt his face - several broken teeth and other lacerations, and his bike was seriously wrecked.

My insurers wanted to write off my car (it was a six year old Austin-Rover Metro) rather than replace the hatchback tailgate. I said that I would rather put up with the dents and just have the rear window replaced by the insurance. (They agreed, and the car was only out of action for a couple of days). My insurers attempted to recover the cost of the replacement window from the lad, but he was apparently a school pupil, and it turned out that his family had no home insurance and therefore no public liability cover. The insurer's solicitors therefore abandoned it.

I had a protected NCD, so I had no direct financial loss, just a dented hatchback and roof.

I was relieved that my insurers dealt with attempting to claim from the lad or his family, albeit unsuccessfully.

YORKSHIRE_GUY

telsco wrote: »

Of course the neighbour should pay.
Has the OP never seen Judge Judy? That's exactly the sort of case that they have on there.

It might be that the neighbour has a job and doesn't have time to sit around watching trashy tv shows.

suited-aces

Op should compensate the neighbour's son for the shock and stress caused by her window

msrbelfast

AndiePandy wrote: »

The definition of criminal damage in the Criminal Damage Act 1971 is as follows:-

A person who without lawful excuse destroys or damages any property belonging to another intending to destroy or damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged shall be guilty of an offence.

AndiePandy wrote: »

It sounds like what your neighbour's son did would fall into the reckless category, and I think it should go without saying that your neighbour pays for the damage.

What you probably haven't considered is that as a result of your having made a claim on your car insurance, albeit being a 'no fault' claim, i.e. not your fault and you know whose fault it was, your insurance premium will rise, possibly for the next three to five years. I would have asked the neighbour to pay in full for the damage and not claimed. However, as you have claimed, you could check with your insurance company how it will affect the premium and ask the neighbour for the difference. Try the polite approach but if it doesn't get you anywhere you should involve the police.

Children are regularly given on the spot penalty notices which their parents have to fund, this is no different except that you are offering to miss out the police! Your neighbour should grab that with both hands and be grateful that you were so reasonable.

I believe, however, that the age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales & Northern Ireland is currently 10 (8 in Scotland)... so if the person causing the damage is aged 10 (8 in Scotland) or under there's nothing that can be done!

jenniewb

She should pay. No discussion, not only as her son should have been brought up to be more cautious with a football (playing around cars with balls was something I knew not to do when I was 5! prior to that age I was not allowed out on my own). Parents should take responsibility for their children.

And I don't buy the "I can't afford to" line- can the owner afford the excess? no one likes to pay money. If it were she who did the damage, would she still refuse? accidents happen, it does not mean you are not responsible for them.

K0zb0

gjohnson wrote: »

Thank goodness you don't live on my street. What a fascist! Would you really harm a child (as you seem to suggest with your comments about ending up in prison) over something as superficial as a broken car window? If so I feel extremely sorry for you, and can only surmise that you have never had to contend with REAL tragedy in your life.

Cars should be banned from parking on streets where kids are playing, then no-one would have to worry about them being damaged. Do we really live in a society which values a car window over the freedom and enjoyment of kids to play in their street? Goodness knows that there is precious little else for them to do, but then you're probably the sort of person who endorses putting kids up chimneys to make them earn their keep.

In terms of what the 'injured party' should do, they should shrug their shoulders and put it down to experience, plain and simple.

HERE HERE!!!!! about time someone spoke some sense! i just wish i could have convayed my sentiments in such a well written way!

K0zb0

kneelbeforezod wrote: »

"...it's obnoxious to think you have a god given right to park safely on the street"

With comments like that and you think other people posting on here are crazy?? :rotfl:

No doubt with your skewed view of the world you were brought up to think anyone can do whatever they like with impunity. Just because people haven't offered to pay for any damage to your property doesn't make it wrong to seek any recompense. IMHO anyone who thinks otherwise is either a spineless doormat or trying to salve their conscience of their own past (and no doubt current and future) misdemeanours

P.S. what is a qwerk?

you see this is what causes neigbours to fall out, it's PUBLIC SPACE!!! you leave your stuff there and it's not safe at all!!!! you cant complain when someone was doing something harmless like a child playing and an accident happens!!! its public, ive got as much right as you do as does the child and the "victim" if thats what this person is.

i totally agree that it's very unfortunate and frustraiting for the poster but thats life, S**T happens, keep your own house in order and stop worrying about other peoples actions. ALSO ITS SUCH A SMALL AMMOUNT OF MONEY!!!!

John_Pierpoint

Morally the parent should pay. its your kid you decided to have it; so take responsibility for your actions.

But before we get too legalistic about calling the police etc. etc.
How old is the child ?
What was the "child" doing, it takes a lot to break a car window - the wing mirror example given by someone above is far more typical.
This seems to be a genuine accident.
Was the child behaving without "due care and attention".
Where exactly was the car parked? Blocking the pavement?
Has the car owner behaved with due care and attention - perhaps parking the brand new beemer next to the recreation ground is irresponsible.
Should the child or its parents be more "guilty" because the rich neighbour has a 25K fancy jam jar rather than an old banger? Perhaps the kid's dad can get a replacement window from a scrap yard and fit it to the old banger for less than 50 quid?

To the car obsessed poster below all can say is:

Our children have been playing in the streets long before the internal combustion engine was invented.
Parental fear of the ever increasing traffic has had a nasty effect on childrens' society, activity and general health.
The streets are public property, your tin box is de facto causing an obstruction, your ability to purloin a 20 ft by 8 ft space outside your house is not a right, it is a privilege.
If you choose to flaunt a five figure amount of your wealth in the space you have purloined you have exposed yourself to risk - let this be a wake up call, tomorrow you might find that overnight a fellow "motorist" has scraped the entire off side of your vehicle.
If the parent chose to have the responsibility of a child playing in the street, so you chose to have the responsibility for a vehicle left in the street, perhaps you should have kept it indoors in your garage?

marklv wrote: »

I'm glad this has not happened to me because I would be so angry that I would probably do something that would end me up in prison. :mad:

Kids should be banned from playing on streets where there is heavy parking. The council should have put up a 'no ball games' sign and then a breach of that could have meant a fine. Anyway, the neighbour definitely should pay, no question about it. Take her to the small claims court.

lyndorset

Definately should pay - even if the kid washes your car and cuts your grass or something towards some or all of the cost.

Put it in writing but start off with a freindly chat and then hand her the letter stating, "I just wrote it all down here before I came to see you so we would both be clear". If they still refuse, after a week send a more formal sounding letter, put a deadline on for the first payment, if necessary small claims court. Dont antagonise though - or you find mysterious scratches and dents to your car!