Unexpected bill from the Fire Brigade.

BillJones

AdrianC wrote: »

Low surface friction doesn't cause a car to end up on it's side.
Low surface friction causes a car to slide a bit.
Sliding into a kerb hard enough for the momentum to take the car over causes a car to end up on it's side. Sliding into a kerb tends to lead to bent suspension long before the impact is hard enough for the car to fall over.

That sounds like a pretty reasonable string of events. There's got to be a fair chance that a diesel spillage was to blame, especially on the entrance to a roundabout.

As a biker I'm all too familiar with the effects of lorry drivers overfilling their tanks. I'd not be happy if that happened to me to be billed for the subsequent costs.

pineapple123

Pay up or get insurance involved seems to be the only solution. You could ask for breakdown of costs but I think you still will have to pay.


Unfortuate to have had this accident but thank your lucky stars that your wife and no one else was injured and that the car was not damaged too much.

A pain involving the insurance it may be or alot of money to fork out but it could have been so much worse.

InsideInsurance

rs65 wrote: »

In a previous life as a motor claims handler, I have seen many emergency treatment invoices for injuries. This is allowed under the RTA and is currently £21 (ish) which in no way represents the actual costs incurred.

I don't recall seeing a Fire Service one. Does anyone actually know what enables the Fire Service to produce invoices - especially one at £500?

They did say it was in the 70s when they got the bill for £21

As to their charging, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18058311 as an example, their fee is an abritary per applicance fee

There is prior news articles about local authorities being written to by MPs advising they can and should look at charging more for non-fire use of the firebrigade. Fees vary significant between areas from a flat per vehicle as the above or an hourly rate

System

rs65 wrote: »

I don't recall seeing a Fire Service one. Does anyone actually know what enables the Fire Service to produce invoices - especially one at £500?

It's been going on for years. Cheshire were billing non-emergencies in 1996.

A lot of brigades now have a policy of charging for non-emergencies. The cost is normally x * standard cost of one tender & crew where x is the number of tenders attending. In a lot of cases it is at the discretion of the senior officer present whether to bill or not.

If the OP's wife had to be cut from the car then that would have been an emergency and therefore free!

dacouch

!!!!!! wrote: »

It's been going on for years. Cheshire were billing non-emergencies in 1996.

A lot of brigades now have a policy of charging for non-emergencies. The cost is normally x * standard cost of one tender & crew where x is the number of tenders attending. In a lot of cases it is at the discretion of the senior officer present whether to bill or not.

If the OP's wife had to be cut from the car then that would have been an emergency and therefore free!

I think last time I heard it was circa £500 for the Fire Brigade to turn up and rescue someone from a lift.

rs65

!!!!!! wrote: »

If the OP's wife had to be cut from the car then that would have been an emergency and therefore free!

That probably explains why I never saw it in a motor claim.

II's link mentions:-

Fire authorities have more freedom to charge after a revision in the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 in February.

maninthestreet

If you refuse to pay, what happens? The FB hands it over to a debt collection agency??

InsideInsurance

maninthestreet wrote: »

If you refuse to pay, what happens? The FB hands it over to a debt collection agency??

They blacklist you and refuse to attend any call from you/your property? Maybe they will bring back the fire plaque and you lose yours for non-payment

[Deleted User]

I already knew that companies (or their insurance providers) had to pay for fire service attendance. Didn't know that the public had to too.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

question here is should someone be liable for the invoice, answer is yes, but as the OP/wife didn't call the fire brigade for assistance and a by stander did then I would say the bystander is liable for those costs.


Also comes the question of was the OP wife informed of service charges prior to those services carried out by the Fire brigade? If not then the OP-wife had no option to refuse assistance, I cant come to your house clean your windows on a neighbors phone call because he thinks theyre stinking, then knock your door and ask £500.00 for my services, the fire brigade cant either!.


They should be persueing the caller, and should be informing you of charges prior to carrying out the service if they deemed it not an emergency on site.