Council killed my entire bonsai plant collection..

elsien wrote: »

It's times like this that I wish I knew how to find the cached copies of deleted posts.

shuko wrote: »

Hi folks,
I wonder if I may get some advice here.

The council came to do some work on the block I live in and scaffolded the entire building back and front. This also included wrapping the whole block in a plastic blue mesh that reduced the light into every home by around 50%.

This work was only meant to take a year but dragged on for three and a half years! Many people suffered vitamin D deficiencies due to the natural light into their homes being reduced so drastically and for so long including me. We were all affectively put into and 3.5 year winter. I personally suffered multiple health issues as a result of this but that's another issue.

What I want to discuss is that this drastic light reduction resulted in the death of almost all my plants.

The council have admitted liability and sent me a claim form and said they would compensate me the cost to replace my plants. They kind of choked when I told them they were practically all bonsai trees.
I had about 72 plants in my home almost every single one planted from seed or cutting, many took several years to even stratify and germinate.
Some of these plants I started from a single tiny leaf with my mother when I was 15 years old. I am now 53 so I have been tending, nurturing and caring for them for 38 years.

The council killed and wiped out the last living memories I had of my mother who died of cancer 12 years ago. All dead.

The basic cost to replace just some of my plants in terms of young samplings is £2,000. Many of my specimens are completely irreplaceable.

In fact to me ALL of these plants are completely irreplaceable, you simply can not buy if you wanted to them as they do not exist anywhere. 38 years of my life cultivating and nurturing these plants is irreplaceable.

How do you put a price on 38 years of your life’s hobby and work and such deep and personal life memories?

They have basically wiped out my whole collection that gave meaning to my life and pleasure and joy. I have almost nothing left and am now struggling to start them all over again.

Worst of all they have erased and destroyed all the living things that kept me close to my mother and her memory. You cannot imagine the sadness, grief, deeply hurt feelings and pain this has caused me. I have no family
and keep to myself so my plants were kind of my life..

Nothing can undo this.

What kind of compensation should I be seeking from the councils insurers?

Thank you.

Mojisola wrote: »

If the plants were that important to me, I would have found somewhere else to take them once it was clear the work was dragging on.

I couldn't have looked at them deteriorating every day and not taken action.