Council damaged my property - should I complain?

MrsG2019

Just had a two seater sofa removed by the council for a princely sum of £46.00 for the privilege. They scratched my painted back gate in the process leaving big scuffs down the front, and on the edge (where the hinges are) they’ve actually chipped away at the wood and paint trying to squeeze the sofa out. It’s minor damage that a buff/sand down and repaint will fix (not that I could do it!) but I’ve had to pay what is in my opinion an extortionate amount of money for the removal of the item. Should I complain or is it just not worth it?

Doozergirl

It sounds like your sofa was a bit to big too fit properly. What was the other solution?

Previous councils where I've lived would have expected us to leave bulky items over the boundary in the first place, precisely because of the risk of damage to property. It sounds like they were doing you a favour.

My present council doesn't even offer that service, so I'd personally be grateful that they do at all - there's no obligation for them to do so and they won't be profiting from it. It's the sort of thing that councils have to cut back on in these times. If the service becomes more of a liability because of people making claims, they may just decide not to offer it at all anymore.

It's an hour or so in time, a bit of sandpaper and paint. Next time, run through a bit of a risk assessment beforehand and try to mitigate it - removing the arms, etc.

RelievedSheff

IMO it would be pretty petty to complain to the council about such minor damage to a fence.

Just get the paint brush out and sort it yourself.

Aylesbury_Duck

I'd leave it. I don't think you've paid an extortionate amount for its disposal, either. Two people and a vehicle to manhandle and drive a sofa from your house to a tip for £46? What would it cost you to hire the van alone if you had a mate who could help?

As Doozergirl says, they're not obliged to offer the service at all and if you think it's "extortionate", do it yourself or find some friends and a van to do it for you.

Davesnave

My council won't enter private land for jobs like this for insurance reasons, which is tough on neighbours down the private lane, who have up to 150m to bring any large item like this for disposal + all their normal waste and recycling. Unsurprisingly, they tend to use private contractors for large items, which was an option you had too.

If the council guys came into your property and then had difficulty removing the sofa, this may well have been the result of doing you a favour. I wouldn't repay that with an attempted claim against them for a small, touch-in job myself.

TELLIT01

Our local council will only collect bulky items from outside the property so that problem wouldn't arise. The OP has said the damage is minor anyway so I doubt they'd get anywhere with the claim. I actually think the council removals team would have been within their rights to say they couldn't remove it because it might cause damage.