Car dented by Tesco filling station

lukeRoot

Hello,

I have just received an letter back from the Customer Service Manager, regarding damage to my vehicle whilst filling up with fuel at Tesco.

What happened is as follows, I pulled the unleaded nozzle out the holder and the super-unleaded nozzle fell out of it's holder. Basically someone had swapped around the nozzles so that the unleaded holder had the super unleaded nozzle and the super unleaded holder had the unleaded.

How there isn't any sort of protection to stop people from doing this I don't know. So as a result of this my car has now got a dint in it as a result of the super unleaded nozzle falling on my car.

Now, if the car already had previous dents/scratches on it this would not bother me, but I always keep my cars in pristine condition, my 06 Astra VXR was like brand new.

I was advised by the staff working in the petrol station to report it to customer services, which I did I filled a damage report in store, detailing exactly what happened.

4 days later I got a response, before I opened the letter I thought "Oh great what good response times". My attitude soon changed once I read the letter, Tesco's reply is below;

---

Thank you for helping the staff at our Hewitts Circus, Humberstone by providing your details for a vehicle damage report, on the 20th August.

I understand your car was damaged when you were filling up with fuel at our petrol filling station. I'm sorry to hear this happened and can imagine how frustrating this must've been for you.

I've carried out a full and thorough investigation and found that the pump handles had been placed back in the wrong position and when you lifted the nozzle off the pumps fell and hit your car.

As the damage happened through no fault through Tesco, but the actions of another customer, we are unable to accept responsibility for the damage caused to your car.

Understandly, this reply will be disappointing. However, you may still be able to claim through your motor insurance.

Thank you for getting in touch.

Yours sincerely
For and on behalf of Tesco Stores Ltd

Chloe Stewart
Customer Service Manager

---

DaftyDuck

Doesn't sound too wrong to me. The pumps are often tangled. I suppose a Tesco employee could stand at each pump, and untangle them each time they get wrapped up....

Why would it be Tesco's fault, really? Inanimate object, sits still, until you came along and disturbed it. If you'd just dropped the unleaded nozzle on your car, would that be their fault? Sure, I realize somebody else had done something (slightly) wrong, but I've lost count of the number of times I've had to unwind cables like that.

You could ask for CCTV evidence of exactly who put the nozzles on wrong, and sue them....

lukeRoot

I know it's not Tesco fault personally, but due to some idiot purposely switching the pumps I now have a dent on my car. There should be something to prevent this from.happening. What annoyed me was the response, because people have previously had compensation for a cherry which was not placed center on a bakewell tart

k3lvc

lukeRoot wrote: »

I know it's not Tesco fault personally, but due to some idiot purposely switching the pumps I now have a dent on my car.

Purposely ??

In which case find the idiot and go after them

You also had a responsibility to check before you pulled out the nozzle you wanted

wealdroam

lukeRoot wrote: »

...people have previously had compensation for a cherry which was not placed center on a bakewell tart

Really? Can we see a link please?
Anyway, I suppose a £1 (or even £10) for a misplaced cherry is a small price to pay to get rid of a troublesome customer.

How much is your claim?
As in post #2, why do you think Tesco are responsible for their customer's actions?

unholyangel

lukeRoot wrote: »

I know it's not Tesco fault personally, but due to some idiot purposely switching the pumps I now have a dent on my car. There should be something to prevent this from.happening. What annoyed me was the response, because people have previously had compensation for a cherry which was not placed center on a bakewell tart

To be successful in a claim you'd have to show:

1. That tesco owed you a duty of care.
2. That they were negligent and in breach of that duty.
3. That that breach caused the damage
4. That the damage was not too remote.

Theres no question tesco owed you a duty of care - you were their customer. However, I don't believe they have been negligent in their duty. They're only expected to meet a reasonable standard - the law doesn't expect them to be flawless. Negligence weighs up 4 factors, the probability of harm, the seriousness of harm, cost of prevention and the defendants purpose. IMO you'd be hard pushed to show they had been negligent.

Which brings me to point 3. Even if you prove they were negligent, there is most likely going to be an element of contributory negligence. If you think that tesco were negligent by not noticing & fixing the tangle, then surely the tangle would have been obvious to you also and extra caution should have been taken when removing the pump. Also if your car was parked too close.

To establish causation, the but for test is generally applied. Would the damage have still occurred but for.........

And then theres the remoteness. If damage of that kind is not foreseeable, they're not liable. It probably is foreseeable if this is a common occurrence (never worked at a garage so I have no clue).

You need to have all 4 elements. If your claim fails one part, they are not liable.

Given the costs involved in fixing (a good panel beater will get it out and looking as new nps) and - imo - strong possibility of it being contributory negligence at best, I'd suggest that this would not be worth your time chasing.

marliepanda

I'm struggling to imagine how a falling pump could hit your car? But maybe I park a little further away from the machine.

Anyway it's not the fault of Tesco, in the end you caused the pump to fall, even if they were placed in a strange way by another customer (which again seems an odd situation as when you remove and put back the dials stop, so the customer would have had to have removed both pumps and put them back? Maybe I am a petrol station newbie...)

lukeRoot

/showthread.php?t=4681859 sorry cannot paste direct links due to being a new member, but look at the thread I'd.


Tbh the dent is small I'm not too bothered to pay for it myself but I think that tesco should have something to prevent this from happening in the first place

lukeRoot

That is exactly what happened, they must of removed both pumps to do it. So it was probably done on purpose

marliepanda

lukeRoot wrote: »

/showthread.php?t=4681859 sorry cannot paste direct links due to being a new member, but look at the thread I'd.


Tbh the dent is small I'm not too bothered to pay for it myself but I think that tesco should have something to prevent this from happening in the first place

The only way would be for each type of petrol to have a different holder, which is silly. I've never known it happen before, I assume you haven't either, so it's hardly something which happens frequently. As I said it will be a rare occurance a customer removes two pump handles.

Stevie_Palimo

lukeRoot wrote: »

/showthread.php?t=4681859 sorry cannot paste direct links due to being a new member, but look at the thread I'd.


Tbh the dent is small I'm not too bothered to pay for it myself but I think that tesco should have something to prevent this from happening in the first place

They do have it is called common sense.


Not a prayer of expecting Tesco to pay you out here.