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HGV struck house. Caught on CCTV. Delivery company denying liability for damage
NotMuchOfARindOnYou
Posts: 14 Forumite
Hi MSE!
A friend advised me that this may be a great place to ask for some advice.
TLDR version of situation: A delivery company drove an HGV into my house causing visible internal and external damage, and possibly structural issues. The company are refusing to accept that they have done any damage despite builder assessment and CCTV footage of incident, and are unwilling to accept liability.
A quick(ish) summary of events are:
I arranged for a builder to review the damage (after failing to get delivery company to do anything). They are in no doubt that the internal damge to the wall is due to the external impact (internal face of wall is lifted due to force from opposite side, cracks are clean and dust free, crack lines up perfectly with impact point). Give the strength/damage from the impact they advised that the internal wall needs exposing and a specialist engineer will need to check for to see if the masonry has been damaged from the impact and whether the structural integrity of the property has been compromised. We believe it is a solid wall (100+ years old) rather than partition wall, it wasn’t really a case of brick dropping into cavities. My buld advised that the engineers assessment will involve the removal of fitted wardrobes, skirting, carpets, flooring, and obviously the internal face of the wall, prior to even assessing for structural damage, and may take the room out of use for weeks/a month
The company’s story changed a few times since the incident, specifically around ‘not knowing they hit the wall’ changing to ‘we knocked on your door and notified you at the time’. Although no recording of conversations occurred, the cctv disagrees with their version of events.
I called my insurance companies helpline and they advised to make a claim on the other parties insurance at their expense.
Hayward transport refused to give name of driver, their correspondence address or insurance details when asked, and subsequently when chased, so I’ve reported the incident to the police on that front. I was finally given the contact details of the owner of Hayward Transport, and written to him explaining the facts and the damage, but their main line of response is that they cannot accept any liability for the damages I am claiming occurred from the incident, and that they are not willing to pay the costs. They are also bemused by how such extensive damage could have been done by such a low speed collision. I told them they should weight their (40 tonne+) truck and go read up on the Force = Mass x Acceleration formula
I did manage to get their insurance information myself via MIB (sorry - not allowed to post links) using the registration of the vehicle. I did finally manage to get a copy from the company, (9 days after incident) when threated, though only to prove they are insured rather than for me to make a claim against.
Wickes have been advised of the incident twice, but have yet to respond with anything other than a ‘we have passed this on internally’ style mail.
Does anybody have any thoughts on next steps? The easier route may be to open a claim myself though it’s not clear to me what would happen re the insurer pursuing the delivery company for costs (presumably it would be easy for them given the CCTV and clear damage), nor whether I would be out of pocket due to the excess / changes in premiums.
My preference would be to claim this on the delivery companies insurance, but they are denying responsibility for the damage, despite the cctv evidence and builders assessment.
Any advice would be appreciated, and thanks for reading
A friend advised me that this may be a great place to ask for some advice.
TLDR version of situation: A delivery company drove an HGV into my house causing visible internal and external damage, and possibly structural issues. The company are refusing to accept that they have done any damage despite builder assessment and CCTV footage of incident, and are unwilling to accept liability.
A quick(ish) summary of events are:
1. I ordered 48 x 25L bags of soil from Wickes (free delivery – yay!). I went for small bags rather than a large single container, expecting them to deliver to kerbside of my property with intention of moving them to my garden myself.
2. A third party company, Hayward Transport Ltd, working on behalf of Wickes, roll up with a huge HGV with my goods. Rather than deliver road side, they attempt to reverse they HGV down the side of my house.
3. HGV hits the external wall of the house at steep angle (they are still on a public road as opposed to a private road). House causes HGV to stop. HGV drives back on to main road.
4. Driver calls me to say he has arrived, and to ask which property he delivering to. I advise him that it is the house on the corner, and that my wife is home to speak to about delivery.
5. Note that at this point, Driver does not tell me about the collision on the phone – it is possible, though I would assume unlikely, that he is unaware of collision at this point
6. Driver knocks on my door, talks to my wife about delivery, and he advises her that there is nowhere suitable to drop the load off and returns to the HGV
7. Again, driver does not tell my wife about the collision at this point – again, it is possible that he is unaware at this point
8. My wife calls me to complain about the failed delivery. Whilst we are chatting, the door bell rings. A neighbour who witnessed the collision comes to house as she has realised that driver has not notified us about it (lack of shouting/armwaving when my wife and driver spoke). I can hear neighbour asking if driver told us, and then them going outside to inspect damage.
9. My wife goes after the driver shouting and gets him to return to house.
10. I speak to neighbour on the phone who explains that she saw HGV hit house, and then the guy attempt to leave without telling us about it. She also gave me the registration number. Driver is now back at house, and phone gets passed to him and he did not notice collision. I ask for his details, and he says his transport manager will contact me shortly. Advises just a graze and ‘some dust’
11. Transport manager of Hayward Transport calls me, says that he understands they accidentally hit house but it looks like nothing serious. Says that he can arrange to repair the scratch the next day. I advise that I would like to check first.
12. When I get home that night, upon checking, the 'scratch' is a 15cm deep, 30cm long gorge in the external, solid wall of the house. A roof tile 10 feet above impact site had also been dislodged. There is internal damage to the wall the other side the impact point, as indicated by a 170cm crack and raising of the internal wall.
13. Whilst I am trying to arrange next steps, the next day company return to property and repair the external wall, without my permission (badly).
Thankfully, all of the above was captured on CCTV, and clearly shows the impact, a 1.5m explosion of concrete into the road from my house, and the aftermath of the driver trying to leave without notifying us and being brought back to the house.2. A third party company, Hayward Transport Ltd, working on behalf of Wickes, roll up with a huge HGV with my goods. Rather than deliver road side, they attempt to reverse they HGV down the side of my house.
3. HGV hits the external wall of the house at steep angle (they are still on a public road as opposed to a private road). House causes HGV to stop. HGV drives back on to main road.
4. Driver calls me to say he has arrived, and to ask which property he delivering to. I advise him that it is the house on the corner, and that my wife is home to speak to about delivery.
5. Note that at this point, Driver does not tell me about the collision on the phone – it is possible, though I would assume unlikely, that he is unaware of collision at this point
6. Driver knocks on my door, talks to my wife about delivery, and he advises her that there is nowhere suitable to drop the load off and returns to the HGV
7. Again, driver does not tell my wife about the collision at this point – again, it is possible that he is unaware at this point
8. My wife calls me to complain about the failed delivery. Whilst we are chatting, the door bell rings. A neighbour who witnessed the collision comes to house as she has realised that driver has not notified us about it (lack of shouting/armwaving when my wife and driver spoke). I can hear neighbour asking if driver told us, and then them going outside to inspect damage.
9. My wife goes after the driver shouting and gets him to return to house.
10. I speak to neighbour on the phone who explains that she saw HGV hit house, and then the guy attempt to leave without telling us about it. She also gave me the registration number. Driver is now back at house, and phone gets passed to him and he did not notice collision. I ask for his details, and he says his transport manager will contact me shortly. Advises just a graze and ‘some dust’
11. Transport manager of Hayward Transport calls me, says that he understands they accidentally hit house but it looks like nothing serious. Says that he can arrange to repair the scratch the next day. I advise that I would like to check first.
12. When I get home that night, upon checking, the 'scratch' is a 15cm deep, 30cm long gorge in the external, solid wall of the house. A roof tile 10 feet above impact site had also been dislodged. There is internal damage to the wall the other side the impact point, as indicated by a 170cm crack and raising of the internal wall.
13. Whilst I am trying to arrange next steps, the next day company return to property and repair the external wall, without my permission (badly).
I arranged for a builder to review the damage (after failing to get delivery company to do anything). They are in no doubt that the internal damge to the wall is due to the external impact (internal face of wall is lifted due to force from opposite side, cracks are clean and dust free, crack lines up perfectly with impact point). Give the strength/damage from the impact they advised that the internal wall needs exposing and a specialist engineer will need to check for to see if the masonry has been damaged from the impact and whether the structural integrity of the property has been compromised. We believe it is a solid wall (100+ years old) rather than partition wall, it wasn’t really a case of brick dropping into cavities. My buld advised that the engineers assessment will involve the removal of fitted wardrobes, skirting, carpets, flooring, and obviously the internal face of the wall, prior to even assessing for structural damage, and may take the room out of use for weeks/a month
The company’s story changed a few times since the incident, specifically around ‘not knowing they hit the wall’ changing to ‘we knocked on your door and notified you at the time’. Although no recording of conversations occurred, the cctv disagrees with their version of events.
I called my insurance companies helpline and they advised to make a claim on the other parties insurance at their expense.
Hayward transport refused to give name of driver, their correspondence address or insurance details when asked, and subsequently when chased, so I’ve reported the incident to the police on that front. I was finally given the contact details of the owner of Hayward Transport, and written to him explaining the facts and the damage, but their main line of response is that they cannot accept any liability for the damages I am claiming occurred from the incident, and that they are not willing to pay the costs. They are also bemused by how such extensive damage could have been done by such a low speed collision. I told them they should weight their (40 tonne+) truck and go read up on the Force = Mass x Acceleration formula
I did manage to get their insurance information myself via MIB (sorry - not allowed to post links) using the registration of the vehicle. I did finally manage to get a copy from the company, (9 days after incident) when threated, though only to prove they are insured rather than for me to make a claim against.
Wickes have been advised of the incident twice, but have yet to respond with anything other than a ‘we have passed this on internally’ style mail.
Does anybody have any thoughts on next steps? The easier route may be to open a claim myself though it’s not clear to me what would happen re the insurer pursuing the delivery company for costs (presumably it would be easy for them given the CCTV and clear damage), nor whether I would be out of pocket due to the excess / changes in premiums.
My preference would be to claim this on the delivery companies insurance, but they are denying responsibility for the damage, despite the cctv evidence and builders assessment.
Any advice would be appreciated, and thanks for reading
0
Comments
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This may be one that's easier and quicker for you to make an insurance claim for.
Your insurer would subsequently pursue the third party but your house would be fixed first0 -
My advice would be to let your Buildings Insurance company sort this out ... They can then decide who is at fault and should make remedy. Why are you doing the chasing as regards the haulage company's details, their insurance details etc?
eta. Incidentally, company information (registered address, directors) can always be found via Companies House online.:heartpuls Mrs Marleyboy :heartpuls
MSE: many of the benefits of a helpful family, without disadvantages like having to compete for the tv remote
Proud Parents to an Aut-some son 0 -
@Qentin / @Tigsteroonie : Thanks for the replies. I was going to try on their insurance due to
1) my insurers free legal helpline advised that I should be seeking to pursue on other parties insurance due to them being at fault
2) the likely expense i will have to incur with the excess and increased insurance premiums in the future.
I am wondering why I seem to be having to do so much chasing. Agree - might just be best to pass over to my insurer, especially given their steadfast refusal to budge, and then chase for any expense that isn't covered by insurance through the courts afterwards.
Thanks for the advice0 -
Word of warning, the insurer may not pursue a recovery if it's only a few thousand.
They have to look at effort vs reward. Ultimately they would only get their outlay back, not the cost of handling the claim (i.e. Paying the staff to handle and chase recovery) so they'd have to consider if it's worth it in the grand scheme of things.
Until the insurer gets their full outlay back you've got a claim against you which will increase rates at renewal.0 -
paddyandstumpy wrote: »Until the insurer gets their full outlay back you've got a claim against you which will increase rates at renewal.
Yes - that's specifically what I'm concerned about. Seems harsh to be potentially out of pocket for a no fault event where there is an obvious 3rd party who should be covering this. I'm also likely to be out of pocket due to unpaid time off to see builders.
The time off I would plan to cover vis a small claims court claim at the end. Not sure if I could do the same re the excess / increased rates0 -
Now you've got the insurer details for the HGV, have you tried contacting them directly? If you advise them you have cctv of the incident I doubt they'll dispute liability. That way would be excess free and you wouldn't need to go via your own home insurer then.0
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Yes you could (should!) pursue the other side for all your uninsured losses including excess and loss of earnings.NotMuchOfARindOnYou wrote: »Yes - that's specifically what I'm concerned about. Seems harsh to be potentially out of pocket for a no fault event where there is an obvious 3rd party who should be covering this. I'm also likely to be out of pocket due to unpaid time off to see builders.
The time off I would plan to cover vis a small claims court claim at the end. Not sure if I could do the same re the excess / increased rates
The thing to also consider is that establishing liability could take months rather than weeks, so are you happy to wait?
Compare the benefit of claiming now and getting this fixed properly, or if happy, to pay yourself for repairs now, then pursue the third party for recompense later rather than wait along time.
(If you were to go to a MCOL then expect that to take in the region of 4/6 months to reach a hearing after the initial claim is issued if they defend all or part of the claim)0 -
Have you spoken to Wickes?
The haulage company are working as an agent of Wickes, you have a contract with Wickes0 -
Have you spoken to Wickes?
The haulage company are working as an agent of Wickes, you have a contract with Wickes
OP said he has twice spoken to them in his original post. Wickes claimed it was being dealt with internally.
Maybe a social media "blackmail" jobby on twitbook might be a good start though or write one of the papers like the Observer who do a consumer matters letter thingSam Vimes' Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness:
People are rich because they spend less money. A poor man buys $10 boots that last a season or two before he's walking in wet shoes and has to buy another pair. A rich man buys $50 boots that are made better and give him 10 years of dry feet. The poor man has spent $100 over those 10 years and still has wet feet.
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I fail to see how Wickes have been negligent.0
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