Windscreen smashed

[avinalarf]

This morning I found that a branch from a tree,under which my car was parked, had fallen and smashed the car windscreen.
Wondering if I can claim against the Council for a new replacement windscreen ,possibly on negligence grounds ?
Anyone on here had similar a experience and had a successful claim ?
I have insurance but I was concerned of a hike in premium,excess payment etc.
Advise please.

[Mammasaid]

Act of God.

Suck it up, claim on insurance, pay the windscreen excess (~£70)

Move on.

/thread

[TooMany2cvs]

Can you prove the council were negligent in their (lack of) maintenance of the tree?

[CYMR0]

Mammasaid said:

Act of God.

Suck it up, claim on insurance, pay the windscreen excess (~£70)

Move on.

/thread

Not an act of God and therefore excluded, more like... insurance only covers you against actual liability that you are required to assume. The council is only liable if it is negligent. So prove they're negligent, or move on. (And for the sake of a standard glass excess, it's got to be the second).

[tigger1]

Reasonably forseeable that branches might fall in high winds - contributory negligence on your part.

Definitely not the council's fault.

[avinalarf]

Mammasaid said:

Act of God.

Suck it up, claim on insurance, pay the windscreen excess (~£70)

Move on.

/thread

That's not advise ,that's stating the bleedin obvious.
It appears you have strayed from posting on Mumsnet ?

Act of God !...........I'm not religious.

Edited by avinalarf on Friday 13th January 14:42

[CYMR0]

avinalarf said:

Mammasaid said:

Act of God.

Suck it up, claim on insurance, pay the windscreen excess (~£70)

Move on.

/thread

That's not advise ,that's stating the bleedin obvious.
It appears you have strayed from posting on Mumsnet ?

To be fair, the original question demanded nothing other than a statement of the bleedin obvious.

[imdeman87]

avinalarf said:

That's not advise ,that's stating the bleedin obvious.
It appears you have strayed from posting on Mumsnet ?

It's good advice.

[avinalarf]

CYMR0 said:

avinalarf said:

Mammasaid said:

Act of God.

Suck it up, claim on insurance, pay the windscreen excess (~£70).

Move on.

/thread

That's not advise ,that's stating the bleedin obvious.
It appears you have strayed from posting on Mumsnet ?

To be fair, the original question demanded nothing other than a statement of the bleedin obvious.

To be more than fair......
Just seeking advise on a forum.
I was interested in finding out if anyone had made a similar successful claim.
If you don't ask ,you don't know.
I'm not a fool and know all about sucking it up and Acts of God but that still leaves the fact that the tree branch that caused
the damage was rotten.
I realise most claims against a Council are going to be hard work to win but that doesn't absolve them from their lawful obligations.
It wasn't so much about the £70 but more about my chances of having a case against them.

[Magic919]

Appropriate username.

[TooMany2cvs]

avinalarf said:

but that still leaves the fact that the tree branch that caused the damage was rotten.

Ah. You didn't mention that.

What's the council's tree maintenance policy? When was this tree last inspected?

[avinalarf]

TooMany2cvs said:

avinalarf said:

but that still leaves the fact that the tree branch that caused the damage was rotten.

Ah. You didn't mention that.

What's the council's tree maintenance policy? When was this tree last inspected?

All relevant and facts I will have to find out about.
I have sent an email to the Council's insurers and go from there.
If I get a result,which I must admit is very doubtful,I'll post.
It may help others on the forum with the same problem in the future.

[fatboy b]

Wow. These people really do exist

[Gavia]

avinalarf said:

All relevant and facts I will have to find out about.
I have sent an email to the Council's insurers and go from there.
If I get a result,which I must admit is very doubtful,I'll post.
It may help others on the forum with the same problem in the future.

How did you find out who their insurers are?

[GT6k]

So you are going to waste the coucil's time (which you are paying for with your taxes) and if you are successful they will come and cut all the trees in your road down and then increase your council tax to pay for the work. Explain how you have benefited by all this.

[mybrainhurts]

fatboy b said:

Wow. These people really do exist

...and they don't know how to spell advice...

[wack]

Mammasaid said:

Act of God.

Suck it up, claim on insurance, pay the windscreen excess (~£70)

Move on.

/thread

get a quote from an independent windscreen fitter before making a claim, it doesn't affect your NCB but yes it is a claim you'll have to declare for the next 3-5 years

[anonymous-user]

avinalarf said:

This morning I found that a branch from a tree,under which my car was parked, had fallen and smashed the car windscreen.
Wondering if I can claim against the Council for a new replacement windscreen ,possibly on negligence grounds ?

Is it actually the councils tree??

[anonymous-user]

avinalarf said:

TooMany2cvs said:

avinalarf said:

but that still leaves the fact that the tree branch that caused the damage was rotten.

Ah. You didn't mention that.

What's the council's tree maintenance policy? When was this tree last inspected?

All relevant and facts I will have to find out about.
I have sent an email to the Council's insurers and go from there.
If I get a result,which I must admit is very doubtful,I'll post.
It may help others on the forum with the same problem in the future.

You'd do all that for £70? Jeez I wish I had time to waste like that.............

[elanfan]

Act of God doesn't exist in insurance contracts - a common fallacy.

"Definitely not councils fault" - that too could be wrong. Assuming the tree is the councils responsibility it's quite likely that their arbocultural officers are under time/money/manpower pressures and I think it's highly likely they haven't inspected in an appropriate time period, Could they / should they have reasonably have noted the tree was rotten?

So yes in theory you could have a claim. That said you have a DB9 I'm sure you can afford the windscreen yourself without burdening your council with it.