Neighbour's Wheelie Bin Damaged my Car

MercOwner

Thanks everyone. I'll write them a letter and see what happens.

G_M

Thinks...... every week (OK, fortnight in some places), thousands of binmen empty tens of thousands of wheelie bins, and leave these empty, flimsy, light-weight bins haphazardly on pavements across the country.

Some of the tens of thousands of pavements concerned are wide, and the bins are (or may be) left some distance from the nearest parked vehicle. Some are narrow, and the bins are of necessity left within bonking distance of parked cars.

Additionally, thousands of kiddies in pushchairs, adults in wheelchairs, and persons of excessive age with sticks, pass close to these highly unstable and hazardous bins.

If you succeed in your court action, you will be setting a legal precedent, the result of which will be that the binmen will have spend twice as long with each bin, ensuring it is placed carefuly in a position from which it cannot be moved, or alternatively tying it down.

The inevitable consequence is that those of us with weekly collections will then get fortnightly, while those currently suffering fortnightly collections will get them 3 weekly.

dacouch

Although county court does not set legal precedents

MercOwner

I'm not saying the bin men were at fault- my neighbours shouldn't have left their bin so close to my driveway where it could damage my car.

SeduLOUs

MercOwner wrote: »

I'm not saying the bin men were at fault- my neighbours shouldn't have left their bin so close to my driveway where it could damage my car.

The point he was making is that if your neighbour's actions were indeed negligent, there would be hundreds if not thousands of existing cases of people having already successfully sued for it.

Granted it's not unheard of, but claims aren't commonplace, which suggests leaving your bin on your driveway is a fairly normal and non-negligent thing to do.

G_M

dacouch wrote: »

Although county court does not set legal precedents

OP might appeal and take it to the Supreme Court.

But that that was hardly the point of my post...........!

Muds1

If the bins were placed in your neighbours property with no ill intentions and no previous warnings from you (considering past)
I don't think you can put your neighbour liable for this really, its unfortunate to be in this position but consider if you were in his shoes you would have other views..


if its a small dent (as big as wheelie bins can make), I think 600 is an over estimate, get a decent quote from company service centre and local garage as well.... it might not be as big as you think and then if its not that big, you might be able to convince your neighbour to pay that and not goto court....

MercOwner

There's 4 dents- 2 on the door and 2 on the wing. If my bin had blown on to someone's car I'd pay.

magpiecottage

You CAN take your neighbour, or the council, or anybody else to court over this.

That does not mean you will win. You first need to prove, on the balance of probability, that they were at fault.

Under the legal principle that he who asserts must prove, it is for you to prove your assertion is more likely than not - and not merely equally likely - to be true.

In this instance you will say "my neighbour should not have put it so close to my car".

Your neighbour will say "I had no reason to believe it would blow over".

This is consistent with your testimony:

MercOwner wrote: »

It was quite windy, but nothing unusual.

If you attempt to claim from your neighbour, they should pass it on to their household insurer who, in turn may exercise a right to take on the matter in your neighbour's name and seek, amongst other things, recovery of their costs if, as seems certain, you lose.

When you eventually come to sell your home you will also need to disclose to any purchaser that you attempted to sue your neighbour.

MercOwner

The law's an !!!!