Who should deal with this insurance issue

soolin

I wasn't sure whether this was a consumer issue or a Insurance issue, and am happy to move this if people think it should be on the insurance board.

Short version of long story (can add more later but I have to go out)

Item bought from Amazon, delivered by courier AIT home delivery, caused damage to my property. AIT are impossible to get hold of in the UK and I ended up in the US who told me to claim from Amazon. Spent 3 hours on live chat with Amazon spoke to 6 different departments and was eventually told I needed to go back to courier. I explained that I could not contact them, and they tried to find me contact details but failed- so said they would pass it further up to legal. legal emailed me this morning saying they are needing to pass my details onto the courier and did they have my permission, and confirmed it was nothing that Amazon could deal with. However they said the courier was 'Panther'.

I have messaged them back saying I have had no contact with panther, all my paperwork shows AIT and I feel Amazon need to deal with this.

Question - who should I be talking to, and has anyone dealt with AIT home delivery or Panther before?

Also should I speak to my own insurers now, or wait until I see if this can be easily rectified by courier/Amazon. I should add that all I want is a new man hole cover to make the hole safe. Unfortunately it is a non standard size, hence me trying reclamation yards today. 

Meanwhile I have an open main drain man hole on the edge of my property abutting a pavement used by primary school children from the school at end of road. Obviously I have covered it as best I can with planks of wood and a cone, but it is unlit, and the hole is very large. It also means my husbands car is completely blocked in as it is directly in front of it and he has no room to manoeuvre around it.

Longer version:

I bought something small from Amazon, using Amazon Prime, but it obviously wasn't from their warehouse as it had a 3 day delivery window. yesterday was the delivery date and item turned up (later than expected, but traffic and stuff so no real issue) . All the delivery updates, notifications, messages came via a company called AIT home delivery. My small item came on the back of a large lorry, the one with big doors that are opened with a bar on the back used for small home removals, not a standard Bedford or similar.

At some point the driver decided to back onto my drive, according to the neighbours this was after delivery and he was potentially looking to do a three point turn. We have a man hole cover on the drive, and basically they parked the lorry with a wheel on man hole cover and it broke.

Lorry now stuck, all the neighbours out watching, took almost an hour to get lorry out of hole and back on road. meanwhile I was speaking to one of the courier guys, one wouldn't talk to me at all, the other varied as to whether he would speak to me or not, there was a bit of a language issue between us. I asked for their details, which they refused and neighbours insisted they gave them to me as I would need to claim, courier got a little aggressive saying if I sued them they would sue me for having an open main drain on my drive and damaging their van! They then drove off despite my neighbours trying to stop them.

One kind neighbour donned overalls and got down into the hole and retrieved all the bits of the man hole cover, and also did a cursory check on the pipes which are now visible. I have photos, the bits of the man hole cover and neighbours happy to support my story.

user1977

Presumably you have reg number for the lorry and can pursue that way?

born_again

It might just be easier to go via your insurance.

sheramber

AIT Home Delivery originally launched in 1989 as Panther Logistics, offering a general haulage service for more than two decades.
……….. 
s. In November 2020, Panther was acquired by U.S.-based AIT Worldwide Logistics and in July 2024, the team rebranded as AIT Home Delivery


https://aithomedelivery.com/en-gb/about-ait-home-delivery/

soolin

user1977 said:

Presumably you have reg number for the lorry and can pursue that way?

Thank you all.

I have the lorry reg but I wasn't sure what use that was - all i can find out about it is that it is properly taxed and insured. 

If I go to my insurance company now will they be able to make more use of it?

user1977

soolin said:

user1977 said:

Presumably you have reg number for the lorry and can pursue that way?

I have the lorry reg but I wasn't sure what use that was - all i can find out about it is that it is properly taxed and insured. 

If I go to my insurance company now will they be able to make more use of it?

Anyone (as long as they state a reasonable cause) can use it to get details of the registered keeper from the DVLA. Which won't necessarily be the liable party but it at least gives you a starting point. You may wish to just let your insurers deal with it.

Ectophile

According to their web site, they are:

AIT Home Delivery

Lodge Farm Industrial Estate,
Northampton,
Northamptonshire.
NN5 7US

01604 215 000

If nobody wants to talk to you, find out how much it will cost to fix the manhole and send a Letter Before Action to that address.

soolin

Ectophile said:

According to their web site, they are:

AIT Home Delivery

Lodge Farm Industrial Estate,
Northampton,
Northamptonshire.
NN5 7US

01604 215 000

If nobody wants to talk to you, find out how much it will cost to fix the manhole and send a Letter Before Action to that address.

I'm struggling with the man hole cover at moment as it's not standard, I'm looking at standard ones being £600 plus VAT and having someone chip out a slightly larger hole to make a bigger one fit. I'm going to try the water board as well see if they can suggest something.

I have tried phoning some reclamation yards but they appear to have rules about the public buying metal from them, so I have temporarily given up that idea.

My next step is to talk to insurers and leave all this in their lap - but my sense of urgency of trying to get this fixed means my brain tells me to 'sort it' cover the hole and get husbands car out. 

DeathByFluffy

Use AskMID to get the name of their insurer via their reg, and go down that route IMO. 
It'll cost you £3 (from memory) but with the info you have, it should be fairly straightforward once you speak to the insurer. 

Okell

DeathByFluffy said:

Use AskMID to get the name of their insurer via their reg, and go down that route IMO. 
It'll cost you £3 (from memory) but with the info you have, it should be fairly straightforward once you speak to the insurer. 

Yes.  If they damaged the cover by driving over it/parking on it, seems like a claim on the vehicle's insurance.

MyRealNameToo

soolin said:

user1977 said:

Presumably you have reg number for the lorry and can pursue that way?

Thank you all.

I have the lorry reg but I wasn't sure what use that was - all i can find out about it is that it is properly taxed and insured. 

If I go to my insurance company now will they be able to make more use of it?

Sounds like you are illegally using the "check my vehicle is insured" which only states if your vehicle is insured or not as of today but obviously this isnt your vehicle. 

MID has a second process for applying for the insurance details of a vehicle not owned by you. You have to pay £10 and certify you have a legitimate interest (normally that the vehicle has caused damage to your property but you seem fairly relaxed about false decs anyway) and what date the incident was. It will then give you the insurer, the policy number and the contract details for claims. 

Your insurers may be able to, if they also sell Motor insurance they will have access to MID on a subscription basis. If they dont sell motor they may or may not have access. Obviously as soon as you call them you then have to declare the incident for the next 5 years, in principle you need to anyway but some will choose to "forget" to if they havent spoken to any insurer. 

DeathByFluffy said:

Use AskMID to get the name of their insurer via their reg, and go down that route IMO. 
It'll cost you £3 (from memory) but with the info you have, it should be fairly straightforward once you speak to the insurer. 

Inflation has taken it to £10