Car damage by shopping trolley

Mattbarker1980

Hi,

Recently a group of kids went on a rampage and stole all the delivery cage trolleys from round the back of my local tescos. Unfortunately for me they decided to push them down the road and into my car at the bottom of the road. This caused significant damage to my brand new car. The kids have not been caught but I have all the footage of them on my home cctv. Tescos and the police are aware as several other cars were damaged but it is unlikely that anybody will be prosecuted and the cctv footage is poor quality.

Are tescos liable for this damage as the trolleys were obviously not secured properly overnight?

What would u recommend for me going forward with this?

Any help would be great

Regards

Matt Barker

stator

If you think they were neglegent you could try claiming from them. The first step is to write them a formal letter and see what they say. Then you write a letter before action, google some templates. Then you take them to small claims court. You won't normally be liable for costs unless you are found to have acted unreasonable. I would at least consult a solicitor.
The question is, how do you prove their neglegence?
Was the store closed at the time? Were the trolleys chained up?
To be honest I don't think you have much hope of winning.

Fat_Walt

Mattbarker1980 wrote: »

Hi,

Recently a group of kids went on a rampage and stole all the delivery cage trolleys from round the back of my local tescos. Unfortunately for me they decided to push them down the road and into my car at the bottom of the road. This caused significant damage to my brand new car. The kids have not been caught but I have all the footage of them on my home cctv. Tescos and the police are aware as several other cars were damaged but it is unlikely that anybody will be prosecuted and the cctv footage is poor quality.

Are tescos liable for this damage as the trolleys were obviously not secured properly overnight?

What would u recommend for me going forward with this?

Any help would be great

Regards

Matt Barker

Claim on your insurance.

gilbert_and_sullivan

The police have presumably done their usual enthusiastic duty, they provided you with a crime number? bravo them.

Tesco might help out but in all honesty they can hardly be called to account for the actions of a pack of uncontrolled hooligans, short of electrifying fences and putting razor wire out what else could they be expected to do, had the pack hurt themselves on such defences their otherwise engaged unparents would soon be claiming more free compo.

Your own insurance is the only solution here if Tesco won't cough up, i would ask Mr T nicely not start off confrontational.

ukjoel

I think you have a case. Unsure if its a legal or moral or fear of bad publicity social media one but definitely a case.

Tesco (round here certainly) have all their trolleys chained and to take one out costs £1 in the slot) This has been done to reduce the number of trolleys stolen.

Prior to this they had a magnetic line on the floor which locked the wheels if the trolley left the car park but this was useless.

As they take that consideration with retail trolleys why should their cages be left unsecured and inaccessible.

I dont think they would want it to go to small claims court and I have worked for a number of businesses in the past where similar instances have occurred (I think it was with industrial wheelie bins) and you need to push but the likelihood is they will pay.

It may also spur them on to release their CCTV which is probably better than yours and could be picked up by the local paper in a quiet news week.

They should definitely not be leaving items around which could kill a motorcyclist if he crashed into one on the road.

Fat_Walt

ukjoel wrote: »

I think you have a case. Unsure if its a legal or moral or fear of bad publicity social media one but definitely a case.

Tesco (round here certainly) have all their trolleys chained and to take one out costs £1 in the slot) This has been done to reduce the number of trolleys stolen.

Prior to this they had a magnetic line on the floor which locked the wheels if the trolley left the car park but this was useless.

As they take that consideration with retail trolleys why should their cages be left unsecured and inaccessible.

I dont think they would want it to go to small claims court and I have worked for a number of businesses in the past where similar instances have occurred (I think it was with industrial wheelie bins) and you need to push but the likelihood is they will pay.

It may also spur them on to release their CCTV which is probably better than yours and could be picked up by the local paper in a quiet news week.

They should definitely not be leaving items around which could kill a motorcyclist if he crashed into one on the road.

The ops car wasn't hit by a retail trolley.

agrinnall

Fat_Walt wrote: »

The ops car wasn't hit by a retail trolley.

As pointed out in the post you quoted (although it probably meant to say accessible rather than inaccessible).

ukjoel wrote: »

As they take that consideration with retail trolleys why should their cages be left unsecured and inaccessible.

scotsbob

That's strange, all our local supermarkets, including both Tescos, have electronic locking wheels. If taken outside the car park the wheels lock up.

Fat_Walt

scotsbob wrote: »

That's strange, all our local supermarkets, including both Tescos, have electronic locking wheels. If taken outside the car park the wheels lock up.

What on the delivery cages?

mije1983

ukjoel wrote: »

why should their cages be left unsecured and inaccessible.

How do you know they weren't secured? They may well have been behind a locked gate, or chained. There is nowhere near enough info from the OP to come to your conclusion.

Yes Tesco may pay out to get the OP out of their hair, but if it went to court the OP would have to show Tesco were negligent.

---lee---

I don't see how Tesco could be held responsible under any circumstances.

They don't secure the trolleys to prevent people conducting criminal acts with them, they secure them to stop them being stolen.

How is this different from one of these rampaging kids taking a garden ornament from your neighbors garden and damaging your car with it - you would not then hold your neighbor responsible.

Another scenario - someone in the Tesco carpark damages your car with a Tesco trolley - would this make Tesco responsible?

This is what car insurance is for.