Openreach Destroyed my garden in a rented van and won't do anything about it

cgfw201

A few weeks ago Openreach were here installing the overhead cables for our FTTP installation. There were 4 vans here for a few hours as they did the work. 
Towards the end of the day, one of these vans crashed off our road. It's a farm track, single lane concrete road, and somehow this van managed to end up crashing off the side, destroying the verge, and leaving a 10m long, foot deep muddy trench there. We had to go and get a tractor and chains to tow the bloke out. Bit annoying, not the end of the world, but the damage to the ground wasn't going to fix itself.

We reported it to BT on the day, they logged it on our account and said to leave it with them. This week I followed up with them as the home has now been connected to the Fibre network and I wanted to draw a line under it.

BT told me to contact Openreach direct for a faster resolution. So I did, except you cant actually contact Openreach. They send you to a company called DWF Law who handle all their damage-to-property issues.

So I did that, sent them all the details they requested, reg of the van, date, time, location etc as well as photos & videos of the incident.

Within a day they had shut the case, nothing to answer and told me to do one. The reason, the van that did the damage was rented for the day for a contractor paid for by Openreach. They have said it was a worker paid for by Openreach doing the work for Openreach, but their insurance only covers their own vehicles and as a result they have no case to answer and told me to get lost. 

I've sent an email to the legal ombudsman but they said that would take 6 weeks, and BT whilst being very helpful and friendly on the phone, don't seem to be able to do anything about this at the moment.

Anyone got any ideas who to contact and what can be done?

littleboo

Ask Openreach to give you a contact for the contractor?

cgfw201

littleboo said:

Ask Openreach to give you a contact for the contractor?

tried that, they refused. 

A_Lert

You need to pursue this as a claim against motor insurance.

The driver should have offered you their details and their insurance details the time. If they didn't, I would have no problems reporting that crime (because failure to give details is a crime) to the police.

Either the van rental company, or the "main" insurer for the van, would be my next port of call. Openreach may well be correct that liability doesn't lie with them, nonetheless they've been very rude and unhelpful.

[Deleted User]

Why would the fact that Openreach subcontracted the install eliminate their liability? 

cgfw201

Deleted User said:

Why would the fact that Openreach subcontracted the install eliminate their liability? 

This is what their email says. It's the arrogance and the lack of showing any willingness to help which really grates.

British Telecommunications Plc are self-insured and DWF Law consider all claims presented by third parties resulting from road traffic accidents and property damage caused by BT Employees.  Openreach is part of BT and the driver's (employees) and vehicles are covered under this insurance policy.

The problem you are faced with is that the vehicle identified is not owned by Openreach (BT). 

I trust that this clarifies matters and recommend that you re-direct your claim to your own insurance company.

If you wish to discuss this further then please do not hesitate to contact me on my direct dial telephone number detailed below.

We shall now close our file and we are unable to assist you further.

Chino

cgfw201 said:

The problem you are faced with is that the vehicle identified is not owned by Openreach (BT).

Nevertheless, the damage was caused by contractors working on behalf of BT and so BT is responsible. Whether or not BT is insured for such damage is its problem.

Norman_Castle

You say "crashed of the road", do you mean they parked on a grass verge?

cgfw201

Norman_Castle said:

You say "crashed of the road", do you mean they parked on a grass verge?

no, went off the road and got stuck. only possible if you're staring at your phone to be honest. 
Some photos on twitter here - 

https://twitter.com/woodallc87/status/1367061693038268419?s=20 

Hasbeen

Get the tractor and run it back and forward a few time to flatten the earth back to the concrete.

It looks like a field to me?

Greatgimp

Seems to me it's not a problem. Fill it in with a sack of topsoil and forget the compensation. Destroyed my Garden? Hardly.