Neighbour's Wheelie Bin Damaged my Car

System

MercOwner wrote: »

It was quite windy, but nothing unusual. The bins had just been emptied, so they were lighter than normal and could easily blow over. If it hadn't been left so close to the boundary of my driveway, it would never have damaged my car. It seems obvious to me that it's their fault,

So the bins had been emptied and then left in that position by the bin men. If you are trying to pin responsibility then it sounds like the council employees/contractors are to blame.

MercOwner

No, sorry- they had been emptied the day before and put back by the neighbours.

marleyboy

MercOwner wrote: »

It was quite windy, but nothing unusual. The bins had just been emptied, so they were lighter than normal and could easily blow over. If it hadn't been left so close to the boundary of my driveway, it would never have damaged my car. It seems obvious to me that it's their fault,

So already, the binmen were negligent NOT the owner. Surely even YOU can see how this is going to go.

marleyboy

MercOwner wrote: »

No, sorry- they had been emptied the day before and put back by the neighbours.

Aaah, but of course. No doubt these neighbours have wrote this admission down for you or you have at least some kind of cctv to show this is the case, else its your re-adjusted word against theirs.

SeduLOUs

If it was a forseeable hazard to your car why didn't you choose to park elsewhere or ask the neighbours to relocate the bin instead of allowing it to hit your car?

DCFC79

Have you got a quote for how much it would cost to sort the dent out ?

And does that quote come to more or less than your excess ?

GwylimT

For someone to be negligent they have to be aware of a problem, eg a wheel missing making the bin liable to fall. If the bin is in good order they wont be liable, just as they wouldn't if a tile came off a well maintained roof on a windy day.

MercOwner

They put their bins right next to my driveway- I can't park anywhere else. They've not fallen over before, but surely it's foreseeable that they might if they aren't secured behind the wall? It's going to cost me £5-600 to fix.

SeduLOUs

MercOwner wrote: »

They put their bins right next to my driveway- I can't park anywhere else. They've not fallen over before, but surely it's foreseeable that they might if they aren't secured behind the wall? It's going to cost me £5-600 to fix.

If it was forseeable then you should have foreseen it and asked them to put the bins somewhere else or secure them appropriately.

If you didn't realise in advance that this might happen, why would they?

Retrogamer

If you can prove they were negligent you may be able to claim off of them but you may need to take it to small claims to force their hand.
I doubt you would be able to prove they were negligent though.