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Yep then said friend could indeed be done for fraud if they were successful and the truth come out but plenty people still do it.
Help a friend: House fire caused by candle, insurance refuse to pay out?
- Thread starter rG-tom
- Start date
Yep then said friend could indeed be done for fraud if they were successful and the truth come out but plenty people still do it.
Unlikely unless the incident involved a fatality or it it was suspected to involve wilful fire raising/arson.
Nowadays, all incident recording after we attend fires is carried out electronically on the IRS - Incident Recording System. This is used to collate statistics which in turn assist with IRMP and Community Fire Safety in as far as allowing us to look at a picture of where,when and why fires occur in our respective service areas.
However, what the IRS system does not do, unlike the old hand written FDR1 fire reports is go into any particular detail about the incident concerned and this includes possible cause. Only when an incident which involving a fire in a domestic premise has a fatality involved or foul play/wilful fire raising/arson is suspected will the Police, Procurator Fiscal or lastly the insurance company concerned request a more detailed fire report.
your friend was a bit silly tbh... and I can certainly see why the insurance company would want to object to paying out for something like that
Indeed. The stats are quite alarming. One of the handful of very close shaves I've had when fighting a fire in a domestic premise was an incident in which the cause was attributed to an unattended tea-light candle. Myself and my BA partner suffered facial /neckline burns that particular evening. Very intense compartment fire but luckily the occupant was not inside at the time, although that could not be 100% confirmed when we arrived which is why we made entry and carried out search and rescue procedures.
perhaps they don't - perhaps their position is that falling asleep while something is burning in your room is a fire risk that they don't want to cover
insurance companies are scum
My mate got burgled and they refused to pay out due to his downstairs windows not
having locks on them ..... they didnt open the windows anyway they smashed one and opened to the door
I imagine your mate must have ticked the locks on windows check box when buying the insurance. There are loads of little things that you could miss when doing the comparisons that they 'assume', but then they will check these things in order to void the insurance and avoid paying out.
Another one to check is if there are any trees or shrubs within 5 meters of your house. Some insurers assume there aren't when you do the online comparisons, but they would use that as a reason not to pay out should your house start to subside or something.
When I sorted the insurance for my house, they went through "all" the terms and conditions on the phone, and never mentioned locks on the windows.
When the paperwork came through, it was all there, in the small print. When I called them up, to talk about it they just said they had told me on the phone, which was a complete lie. It's a damn good job I don't trust Insurance Companies and went through absolutely everything from them, isn't it? Horrible companies.
I was surprised when I was burgled and the insurance company just paid without the slightest quibble. They even paid me for the money I'd had to spend on having my home boarded up as a temporary fix until the door and frame could be replaced - a cheque arrived 2 days after I phoned them. Everything else was handled directly - I never even saw any bills, never had to provide any proof of purchase. They even gave me a better PC than the one that was stolen. I got a couple of quotes and some better components were cheaper than the ones in my PC that was stolen (the next generation of some components had come out and had models that were cheaper and faster than the high end of the previous generation). I phoned the insurance company and explained this, and they just said it wasn't a problem. Get the better kit and they'd pay the shop directly, no worries. They seemed more concerned about me than about the money. In retrospect, it was quite surreal.
They didn't renew my insurance at the end of the year, though, or send me a reminder. I was uninsured for a while until I noticed.
I wish I could remember what company that was.
They didn't renew my insurance at the end of the year, though, or send me a reminder. I was uninsured for a while until I noticed.
I wish I could remember what company that was.
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TIP: Don't light candles in the first place!
This. Electric lights aren't a newfangled thing that can't be relied on. There's no point in having naked flames in homes any more.
I think it's worth the OP's friend getting some more informed advice on this one. Negligence doesn't necessarily void insurance and there are degrees of negligence. The insurance company might just be trying it on to avoid paying even if the terms of the insurance contract don't really support that.
A few years ago I was in the process of phoning a friend on a Fri eevening to go to the pub when my doorbell rang. It was an upstairs elderly neighbour who had called to ask me to ring 999 because of a fire in our neighbour upstairs. I ran up and saw smoke coming from the door and called 999. I told the elderly neighbour to go down to the street level and direct the fire fighters to the correct place. The neighbour with the fire was an alcoholic and I noticed that the door was open so I thought that I could go in and drag him to safety, as he may have died before the firemen arrived. I went back to my flat and got a wet towel and went into the burning room. I had seen hollywood films of fires but this was nothing like that, just extremely dense acrid smoke. I heard a groan and went out of the flat to breathe before going back in. I tried to locate him with my foot but to no avail. When the firemen arrived I asked one if he could give me anything to get rid of the black grunge that I was coughing up. He told me to follow him out of the building and I was given an oxygem mask. An ambulance arrived for me then the police and asked who had made the call. The policeman sat in the ambulance and took my details before I was taken to the hospital. They wanted to do a chest Xray but I refused as I had a recent chest Xray, so they put me in a bed, with oxygen until my CO level went down. The police arrived at 3am, asked me some questions and drove me home. The flats have concrete floors, so there was no real danger of the fire spreading. When I arrived home the building was full of white suited CSI types. The next day I had to make a police statement and I had the feeling that I was a suspect as I had smoke marks on my nose and mouth.
It was an incredibly surreal experience as one minute I was about to go to the pub and the next I was in hospital.
The moral is to think twice about being a have-a-go hero where fire is concerned, however I could not just stand by and do nothing.
I have prematurely grey hair and the papers said that an elderly gentleman had to be taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation!
It was an incredibly surreal experience as one minute I was about to go to the pub and the next I was in hospital.
The moral is to think twice about being a have-a-go hero where fire is concerned, however I could not just stand by and do nothing.
I have prematurely grey hair and the papers said that an elderly gentleman had to be taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation!
