Council Hell - Claim Advice

keithdc

hayz347 wrote: »

Hello there,

I am currently in the letter before action stages with my local council (Birmingham City Council-BCC ) and need some advice.

A summary of this is as follows: between 14th December - 5th February BCC did not arrange collection of my waste. I logged this with them via phone, emails and tweets including the CEO and local councillors. This led to a large scale rat infestation which in resulted in over £1,000 damage to my car caused by rats, Their own pest controller has also stated that the bins had holes which provided easy access for the rats. To add to this between 5th February - to date I have not had a refuse collection.

https://imgur.com/rEucOPr

I have issued the below to them but need to refer to sections of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which they have breached. The main one is clearly s45 however I am not sure if there is any others? and hoping someone can help as what they are doing is not fair.

A extract of my LBA is below:

The summary of my claim is as follows:
• Under Section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it states ’to arrange for the collection of
household waste’. No collections were arranged by Birmingham City Council for a minimum of 7
weeks between the dates of 14th December 2019 – 5th February 2019 despite numerous calls, tweets and
emails for resolution. This was only resolved when a local councilor raised the issue in full council on
Tuesday 5th February 2019.
• The lack of refuse collection for this extended period led to a large-scale rat infestation which resulted
in damage to my vehicle
• My issue was not handled correctly.
• The refuse containers are in a poor state of dis-repair, which has added to the rat infestation.
• In support of my above claim my refuse has not been collected since 5th February 2019 (currently 34
days) showing once again Birmingham City Council are not arranging the collection of my refuse.
• I am a small business owner, this has taken up extremely valuable time and energy which should not be
spent on Birmingham City Council
From you I am claiming for the repair, cleaning and inspection of my 68 plate Range Rover Velar (MA68 xxx).
If mechanical damage is found on inspection, I will also be claiming for this in addition to the below costs.
I have calculated the sum (as it currently stands without reports of any further mechanical damage) as follows:
• Land Rover: £800.50
• Mint Condition: £250.00
Total: £1,050.50

What is the legal basis for your claim?

Assuming that a breech of a statutory duty has occurred, is it even actionable by an individual?

hayz347

wesleyad wrote: »

Sounds like a nightmare (and let's be honest, not surprising).

I would say that "mitigate your losses" in this instant isn't really about removing the rubbish by other means (although you could argue you personally tried with some of your rubbish, but everyone else just kept on piling on). In this case mitigating your losses is making sure you didn't park there after you found out about the damage. I'm assuming you didn't? Any damage caused after this point could be argued negligence on your part.

I dont see why any claim for damage up till this point would fail, especially if you have logs of multiple attempts to warn the council. Not really any different to a pot hole claim.

Good luck with it, let us know what happens

Absolutely spot on with everything you say here. I have not parked there since and no further damage has taken place!

hayz347

agrinnall wrote: »

No, not at all. You mention involving councillors, what have they had to say about it? If it happened in my ward my councillor would be all over the Waste department until they came out to make the collection.

One councillor has been extremely helpful. Huge thanks to a gentleman Roger Harmer! It was not until he raised it in full council I got a bin collection on 5th Feb

hayz347

NCC-1701 wrote: »

Park somewhere else ASAP when you realised?

Exactly what I done as soon as I realised what was happening.

hayz347

unholyangel wrote: »

https://www.lgo.org.uk/


Im on the fence with this one. I don't think theres been enough one way or another to establish whether the council have been negligent or not. So I would suggest trying the lgo.

Thank you I have logged a complaint with them about a week ago

hayz347

iammumtoone wrote: »

I think you need to make your letter clearer that is not your rubbish it is communal rubbish.

When I first read it I was thinking no claim as you could/should have taken your rubbish to the tip yourself but when I read the comments from others I see this wasn't possible as you aren't just talking about your rubbish.

I would take out the bit about being a business owner it is totally irrelevant.

When I went back and looked at the photo, it doesn't help your defense as the car park looks empty so you could have parked further away from the rubbish. Do you have any others that show the only available parking spot was next to the rubbish?

Thank you I completely agree I should make this clearer. The car park is empty as all of us now have to park elsewhere due to the rats. I did not realise what was happening at first as soon as I did I informed my neighbours and we all began parking in alternative areas.

hayz347

da_rule wrote: »

If you are determined to progress down this route then have a read of paragraph 6 of the general pre-croon protocol (https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct#6.1). The main take home is to be concise, factual, and to the point.

Completely agree I need to improve my claim

Loanranger

Buy rat poison. By the tonne!