Belongings stolen from work - on their cover?

laptop80

A company my partner works for part-time have a policy that any electrical items you need to bring in must be PAT tested before they can be used.

Recently she had to take a quite expensive item in for PAT testing, leaving it with them for the day. When we went to collect it, we found it had been stolen from the unlocked, unattended room they had left it in (CCTV shows someone walking into the building and walking out with it).

The initial rumblings from them are that they won't take responsibility for the theft or pay to replace the item. As we don't have personal possessions cover this would leave us massively out of pocket due to their carelessness.

Would they be able to claim on their insurance for my partner's item, and if not, would we have a good case to claim compensation directly from the company?

Thanks

McKneff

What value was the item. What actually was it. Why did she need to take it in, was it for her own use or company use.

Under the circumstances you have explained I would have thought the company would have to reimburse yu to be honest, although insurance excess is usually quite a lot for companies so they should pay you from their coffers.

laptop80

McKneff wrote: »

What value was the item. What actually was it. Why did she need to take it in, was it for her own use or company use.

Under the circumstances you have explained I would have thought the company would have to reimburse yu to be honest, although insurance excess is usually quite a lot for companies so they should pay you from their coffers.

Thanks.

Value is about £600. Yes, it was needed for her job or she wouldn't have taken it in. Likewise, she wouldn't have had it PAT tested if it wasn't a requirement of theirs.

McKneff

Personally I dig my heals in, if they wont cough up, send them a letter before action. Hopefully it wont get to that stage but I would even put it down to negligence on their part.

Cheeky beggars. Did they recognise who actually took it, were the police involved.

Let us know how you get on.

InsideInsurance

The PAT testing aside, did they ask her to bring in this device for use (not the testing)? If she needs one why don't they provide it? Or does she find it useful to have it but it isnt them actually asking her to bring it in?

What does her contract or any notices in/ around the building say about personal possessions? Are there any of the typical signs that items are left at the owners own risk?

laptop80

The police have been called and are supposed to be attending today at some point. Don't think they recognised who took it, so probably just an opportunist thief.

The requirements for what she does change week by week, so although they haven't formally requested she bring the item in, it's necessary for her work some weeks (which they know about, hence the need to get it PAT tested).

I don't know about anything in her contract, but I've never noticed any signs stating that objects are left at owner's risk. In any case, I would think that handing over an expensive item for testing at their request is different from leaving a coat in a restaurant.

I understand that the room it was in was supposed to be locked according to their own procedures, so they either haven't locked it as they were supposed to or the thief has broken in (unlikely).