Damaged railings

MSaxp

Hi,

A few days back, an articulated lorry drove over the pavement and mangled our fence. The fence is made up of standard estate railings. While I have the vehicle registration and I did inform the police, its unlikely anything will come that way, so I'm trying to assess whether the cost is worth claiming through our building insurance.

The damaged part is about 2 panels, let's say 3m long. I assume the difficult part is that you probably need to remove the concrete base and use new concrete for the replaced sections. I assume such railings can't be repaired.

I am looking for a rough estimate of cost. Are we talking £300 or £1000?

Also what kind of tradesman am I looking for? A builder? A fencing company?

Thank you

Mike

Aylesbury_Duck

Contact the vehicle owner's insurers and let them deal with it. Otherwise you'll be paying the excess on your own insurance and have a claim on your record.

MSaxp

The driver didn't stop, so I have no details. I have his company name and registration, but it's not a UK one. Reported to police and contacted the company but I don't expect them to offer to compensate me

Aylesbury_Duck

Perhaps ask your home insurer to pursue it on your behalf then. Do you have legal cover?

MSaxp

Checked the insurance schedule and no, i dont have legal cover on my home insurance (something to consider for my renewal i guess).

So still looking for someone to come and replace the panels. I think this is called estate railings, but i have absolutely no clue how much it might cost

Owain_Moneysaver

If you mean this sort of railings

https://www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/product/sc_079800/estate-panel-tubular-2m-wide-x-1.215m-high-o/length-legsgalvanized

about £80 a metre.

Traditional railings were fixed into the base using lead, which can be melted out.

Your railings might be repairable by a competent welder/fabricator.

MSaxp

mine are in a 'newly' built estate and the builders have put them on hundreds of houses, so i would expect them to be the cheapest money can buy. £80/metre * 4m = £320 without installation, which is beginning to feel steep. Not that i have any benchmark though.

Here is a photo , hope it works


https://imgur.com/a/qA1zLeY

Owain_Moneysaver

They're not damaged, just a bit bent. Bend them back the other way and grow some plants over them like the people across the road have.

MSaxp

how do i bend them back? I certainly cant push them. a big mallet?

the plants across the road are beech which i chopped off a few months back, as i hate the brown colour they turn into

Owain_Moneysaver

Long piece of wood as a lever? You'd need to bend it, not hit it.

Plastic ivy?

spo2

The buildings and contents insurance may not cover it. I know that when we had problems in our garden that we were told that if it doesn't affect the structure of the house or the contents inside, that we were not covered