LPG Tank Removed by Contractor

luxeterna

We had a gas tank in our property when we bought it. I contacted the gas company asking them to remove it. They wanted to charge me to remove the tank. They also wanted me to sign a maintenance contract as part of that process. I declined. We had some groundworks done and as part of that the contractor removed the gas tank and took it away. The gas company have just sent an engineer to check the tank and I told them the tank had been removed. Engineer informed me that the tank is the gas companies property and that it should not have been removed. What will happen next ?

BarelySentientAI

If they want to, they can sue you for the value of the tank.

I doubt they will though.

tacpot12

If they did try to sue you, your first action should be to check to see if you have legal expenses cover as part of yourr home insurance. If you do, you will have a legal helpline you can call. The Helpline should help check that the gas company can prove that they owned the tank, unless you are prepared to admit that you knew who owned the tank as a result of your due diligence when buying the property. 

lohr500

How long ago did the contractor take away the tank? Is it possible that they may still have it and that they haven't weighed it in for scrap yet? If they do still have it, ask them to return it to you, or the gas company. They probably knew it wasn't theirs to take anyway! 

luxeterna

We have an update.. Gas company have just sent me an invoice for £1000 for "uplift charges". Given I didn't sign a maintenance contract with them I fail to see how they can rightfully charge me anything, let alone a fee for a service they have not provided.

matelodave

I'm guessing that whatever they have called it, it's to cover the cost of their tank which you've had uplifted and now been taken away by your contractor.

At the very least, if you had the tank removed then you should have offered it back to the gas company as it's their property and not yours to give away. You should probably consult a solicitor as this could get pretty difficult if they decide to keep chasing you. 

Have you contacted your contractor to see what been done with it as, technically speaking unless you instructed them or gave them permission to take it then it could possibly be construed that they took it without permission so refer the gas co to the contractor to try and recover the cost from them.

lohr500

matelodave said:

Have you contacted your contractor to see what been done with it as, technically speaking unless you instructed them or gave them permission to take it then it could possibly be construed that they took it without permission so refer the gas co to the contractor to try and recover the cost from them.

I did suggest the OP contact the contractor in my earlier post but no update on this was provided.

The contractor must surely have known that the tank wasn't theirs or the property owner's to remove.
And presumably the OP must also have known this having already contacted the gas company to remove it.

I don't have LPG but I would imagine there would be some form of notice attached to the tank stating "Property of
xxx"

luxeterna

Thanks for the input so far.. The way I see it is as follows..

• I bought a house which already had a gas tank in the ground - which I assumed was owned by the vendor
• I knew I didn't want LPG moving forward so I rang the gas company who the previous vendor used which was when I found out that the tanks are owned by a gas company. The company supplying had no record of the tank being theirs.
• I asked them to come and take it away which was when they told me that I would need to pay them for that privilege *and* if I didn't do that I would need to take out a 24 month maintenance plan which carried a monthly fee.
• I did not sign the maintenance contract, I never purchased gas from them and it simply sat in the ground doing nothing for 2 years..
• We had some groundwork done and during the planning process, I relayed the above situation to the groundworkers. They offered to remove it so I told them to do what they wanted with it.

Given that I never signed anything with the gas company, nor did I give them permission to keep their gas tank on my land, I'm kind of inclined to question their logic.

Doing some digging, there is actually a protocol to govern LPG tank transfers which has a calculator on it... Assuming the tank was a 2500l tank and it has never been checked (which I have no info on) then the residual value is £11.30.... Maybe I'll just offer them that, or send them an invoice for 4 years ground rent for the time they left their tank on my land ;-)

[I tried to post a link to the calculator but apparently I have not earned enough kudos.. if you use your search engine of choice with the words "calculating lpg tank value" you'll find the links I'm referring to]

BarelySentientAI

Assuming things doesn't absolve you of liability or allow you to set the cost for disposing of someone else's equipment without their consent.

luxeterna

Where is the liability ?

lohr500

Sadly although I am not a legal expert I think the liability will sit with you.

The groundworkers offered to remove it so you told them to do what they want with it.
Arguably, based on the conversation you had with them and their general awareness they probably should have realised it wasn't yours to dispose of, but they acted on your instruction.

Your earlier discussion with the gas company must have alerted you to the fact that they had ownership of the tank despite their initial response saying they didn't have a record of it.

As per @tacpot12 suggestion, I would check to see if you have any legal advice cover on your household policy and seek professional advice.