Accidental delivery of oil- we didn’t order it!!

Holliesteph

Hi! We are in N.ireland and in February we had a delivery of 800l that was meant for our neighbours house. I rang that night and told the company and they said they would be in touch but haven’t until tonight.

in the meantime, we have discovered that our oil tank has a crack in the bottom ?? Caused by the huge fill of oil and put pressure on the bottom on the tank. 

So I’m now facing a bill off over £600 to pay for a new oil tank, possible digging of land by the council for lost oil and the company is now looking to reclaim for their delivery. 

Can anyone help??

JGB1955

Your home insurance? In mainland GB an oil spill can cause more than £20K bill from the Environment Agency. Hopefully (for you) not the same in NI.

Mickey666

I doubt the oil company can be held liable for the leak in the tank.  Not only should it be bunded to contain such a leak but filling it up to the top - even by accident - is hardly an unexpected condition, so if it really was this filling up that caused the tank to crack (which may be hard to prove) then it has only highlighted the fact that the tank was not fit for purpose.

Is the tank still leaking or has all the oil been lost?  800+ litres in the ground is going to be an expensive problem to clear up.  Time to dig out the household insurance policy and check the small print!

Reed_Richards

This is the ideal opportunity to negotiate with the oil company that supplied you in error to drain your tank and resupply you with anything over 800 litres when you get the new tank.  Maybe they can even arrange a deal to remove your old oil tank?  I think new oil tanks are required to be double-walled ("bunded") and £600 seems quite cheap for one of those.  

TC56_803_9

I would love to know how this one finished off.  I am not sure it is the responsibility of the insurance company.  I think their loss adjuster would be quite justified in seeking to push the bulk of the clean up costs onto the delivery company. I think critical would be how much oil leaked out and how much was taken back out of the tank by the supplier.  If they sucked back out 800 litres the balance of liability certainly shifts all the way back.  If the tank was nearly empty, I would be asking to delivery company to make good my soil after they had removed their 800 l of oil they put on my property. 

dunstonh

Tanks should be able to hold the oil to their stated capacity. If your tank has deteriorated to a level that it cannot hold its stated capacity then that is your issue and the oil firm is not responsible for it.

However, in reality, for all sides, it does not make sense to argue as that just increases costs for all.  The logical option is for you to get a new tank and for the oil company to remove the oil they put in it until the new tank is in and then refill it.  Many oil companies also install tanks. So, a deal on the labour costs there could be in order.  yes, it is a cost for you but you were having to face that cost anyway with the tank in that bad condition.

Potential issues are that requirements on where tanks are placed and the platforms they sit on have changed over the years.   Your structure may no longer be legal for a new install (although perfectly acceptable for an existing one).

Is the leak a minimal one that has stopped after being patched or have you lost most of the tank?  

If it was a local independent oil company, then they will likely bend over backwards to be helpful.  They know they cannot compete on price. So, their service levels are usually far superior.   

Mickey666

TC56_803_9 said:

I would love to know how this one finished off.  I am not sure it is the responsibility of the insurance company.  I think their loss adjuster would be quite justified in seeking to push the bulk of the clean up costs onto the delivery company. I think critical would be how much oil leaked out and how much was taken back out of the tank by the supplier.  If they sucked back out 800 litres the balance of liability certainly shifts all the way back.  If the tank was nearly empty, I would be asking to delivery company to make good my soil after they had removed their 800 l of oil they put on my property. 

I'm sure the OP's loss adjuster would 'seek' to push the clean up costs onto the delivery company but I'd be amazed if they won that argument after the delivery company's insurers had finished with them.

I'd say that dunstonh's post cut right to the heart of the matter:

dunstonh said:

Tanks should be able to hold the oil to their stated capacity. If your tank has deteriorated to a level that it cannot hold its stated capacity then that is your issue and the oil firm is not responsible for it.

TC56_803_9

Mickey666 said:

TC56_803_9 said:

I would love to know how this one finished off.  I am not sure it is the responsibility of the insurance company.  I think their loss adjuster would be quite justified in seeking to push the bulk of the clean up costs onto the delivery company. I think critical would be how much oil leaked out and how much was taken back out of the tank by the supplier.  If they sucked back out 800 litres the balance of liability certainly shifts all the way back.  If the tank was nearly empty, I would be asking to delivery company to make good my soil after they had removed their 800 l of oil they put on my property. 

I'm sure the OP's loss adjuster would 'seek' to push the clean up costs onto the delivery company but I'd be amazed if they won that argument after the delivery company's insurers had finished with them.

I'd say that dunstonh's post cut right to the heart of the matter:

dunstonh said:

Tanks should be able to hold the oil to their stated capacity. If your tank has deteriorated to a level that it cannot hold its stated capacity then that is your issue and the oil firm is not responsible for it.

We have differing opinions.  I think your logic is flawed and vice versa.  Fortunately for the OP we are both irrelevant. 

matelodave

With the best will in the world we can only guess or venture an opinion.

In the whole great scheme of things, no one on here knows what will be the attitude of the insurance company (assuming that the OP is insured), the oil supplier or even the local council if they find that a vast quantity of oil has been spilled into the ground. 

Perhaps a solicitor is the best person to advise rather than the collective wisdom, guesses or opinions of forumites. Just my opinion you understand.

Mickey666

TC56_803_9 said:

Mickey666 said:

TC56_803_9 said:

I would love to know how this one finished off.  I am not sure it is the responsibility of the insurance company.  I think their loss adjuster would be quite justified in seeking to push the bulk of the clean up costs onto the delivery company. I think critical would be how much oil leaked out and how much was taken back out of the tank by the supplier.  If they sucked back out 800 litres the balance of liability certainly shifts all the way back.  If the tank was nearly empty, I would be asking to delivery company to make good my soil after they had removed their 800 l of oil they put on my property. 

I'm sure the OP's loss adjuster would 'seek' to push the clean up costs onto the delivery company but I'd be amazed if they won that argument after the delivery company's insurers had finished with them.

I'd say that dunstonh's post cut right to the heart of the matter:

dunstonh said:

Tanks should be able to hold the oil to their stated capacity. If your tank has deteriorated to a level that it cannot hold its stated capacity then that is your issue and the oil firm is not responsible for it.

We have differing opinions.  I think your logic is flawed and vice versa.  Fortunately for the OP we are both irrelevant. 

 Not really.

The whole point of a discussion forum is to, er, have a discussion, during which a wide variety of views and opinions will be expressed.  The value of such a discussion for the OP (and perhaps the participants) is that they get to read all those different views and opinions, some of which they will already have thought about and some of which they haven't.  In that sense, BOTH our opinions are relevant to the discussion.

What would really be helpful is for the OP to report back on how the matter worked out in actual fact so that we could all learn if our views were correct or not.  Sadly, the OP often never reports back.