Drive damaged by 3rd party delivery lorry.

Boohoo

If you took photos of the drive on the day of delivery and after the delivery lorry left or have CCTV/ door cam footage then that would help in your claim against them.

Do you have a photo of the whole drive and not just the small area as it's not easy to see the damage from the photos in the 1st post but if all the drive is shown next to the pavement it could show more detail.

As it will be replaced in a few months anyway I would take £30-£50 if offered and do it yourself or just live with it until you get a new driveway.

pumas

doodling said:

Hi,

It remains unclear what actually happened so it is very difficult to establish who might be liable.

Questions:

1. What address / instructions did you provide when ordering?

2. Were there any Ts&Cs when you ordered which provided any detail of how delivery would be made?

3. When the lorry arrived was there any discussion about exactly where the stuff would be deposited and / or where the lorry would be positioned to achieve that?

4. During the delivery were you present at any time?

5. Exactly what interactions were there between yourself and the driver of the lorry?

6. You state that the drive is otherwise flat but has cracks - is that correct?

Without answers to questions 1 to 5 it is difficult to establish who might be liable.

Based on the existing state of the drive, I would speculate that the extent of liability is probably limited to the cost of materials to fill the dip (bag of sand plus some cement ~ £15) plus the cost of someone to mix it and lay it (say 2 hours' work at less than £50/hour).

Personally, I'd spend the £15 and DIY.

1 I had no dealings with the lorry company.
2 Just 'kerbside' from the the company I was dealing with.. 
3 No discussion at all.
4 I was about, I wasn't watching.
5 Hello, Goodbye
6 That part of the the drive is sloped, with cracks but no 'dips'

I'm just annoyed that they blame it on the drive! They've been in business since 1969.

pumas

Boohoo said:

If you took photos of the drive on the day of delivery and after the delivery lorry left or have CCTV/ door cam footage then that would help in your claim against them.

Do you have a photo of the whole drive and not just the small area as it's not easy to see the damage from the photos in the 1st post but if all the drive is shown next to the pavement it could show more detail.

As it will be replaced in a few months anyway I would take £30-£50 if offered and do it yourself or just live with it until you get a new driveway.

Guess it's not worth the angst, if it was a new drive, I'd be really annoyed.

Section62

pumas said:

Edit
 I've had no contact with the 3rd party lorry company. The company I was dealing with said - "we ask that plenty of space is left at the front of your house/ and or drive as this will be a kerbside delivery" - There was.
I only noticed the leg prior to the lorry leaving.
The rest of the drive has cracks, but no 'dents' and is on a slope

Those cracks look old - there appears to be dirt/detritus in them.  Unless you have clear CCTV showing the stabilising leg placed in this area and the concrete sinking as the leg is lowered then I think you'll have considerable difficultly in demonstrating this damage was definitely caused by this lorry.

There's no sign of recent scuffing or scratching of the surface caused by the foot of the stabilising leg.

Unless you have photos of the driveway immediately before the lorry arrived then it would be hard to counter a claim that the damage was pre-existing.  As the damage is so close to the road it is plausible that another vehicle using your drive to turn round in could have been responsible.

In terms of repair, due to the cracks it would be relatively easy to remove the concrete around the dip (no need for sawing or breakers) and then replace the concrete like for like.  The cost of that work - which would bring you back to what you say you had before the lorry arrived - should be around a couple of hundred pounds.

Unless you do have other evidence, the cost and hassle of taking this to court is unlikely to be worth what is likely to be a fairly small payout.  So if the company aren't willing to offer anything as goodwill then you'll need to think carefully about taking it further.

Cheslea2010

My guess would be that the driver was told where you wanted the goods and the only way to get them there with the range of the HIAB was to back onto the driveway. No doubt you wouldn't have been happy if it was dropped on the roadside or in the middle of your driveway. Not worth taking to court IMHO

pumas

Cheslea2010 

Thanks
The point is, I wasn't consulted at all, had no conversation with the  lorry company, and didn't know what to expect. The load was put on the drive, it the stabilising leg what done the damage.

Not worth taking to court -agree, just annoyed, it wasn't my fault.

koalakoala

And you’re sure that is a new dip?

pumas

koalakoala said:

And you’re sure that is a new dip?

Most definitely!