Equipment stolen from company car, who is liable?

Put it this way, if the company doesnt cover the whole house and everything in it if it got burgled with their company items inside then why would you take the risk of having it in there?? Your wife did the right thing leaving it in the car, what if the burglers only broke into the house because they saw the expensive equiptment in there? I would expect the company insurance to cover everything that was stolen as well as damage to the property.

As others have said they are just chancing their luck. How has your wife dealt with all of this? It sounds very stressful what the company are putting her through (which youwill probably find out isnt legal)
 
AndyCroft1982 said:
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Good point! Its a very reasonable argument that if someone saw you unloading expensive equipment in to a house it drastically increases the chance of being burgled which could lead to violent assault etc.

My feeling is (with no experience or knowledge) that what the company is trying to do is illegal. Get legal advice and laugh in their face.
 
mattyfez said:
Its not clear if it's her privately owned car or a company car..?
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It is clear. It's in the title; it is a company car.

You said yourself they didn't know who would be liable if your house was burgled if you'd have moved it 'safely' into the house, houses get burgled for a lot less than 10k, why should you take that risk to your property and person? hers and your personal safety would have been at risk.
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Yeah I was just bringing it up because it was adding to the obfuscation that the company seem to be bringing to the subject.

As others have said, it sounds like the company are trying to do things on the cheap, give ACAS a ring for their take on things before paying for legal advice, I would raise a formal grievance in the first instance, and not admit any liability what so ever.
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The GOCs legal cover should cover things like this. She's going to phone them tomorrow, if no luck will definitely look ACAS.
 
AndyCroft1982 said:
As others have said they are just chancing their luck. How has your wife dealt with all of this? It sounds very stressful what the company are putting her through (which youwill probably find out isnt legal)
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Well she was in the officer for her annual review. Which apparently went really well, until five minutes from finishing when they hit her with the bill.

She cried, and then cried all the way home, and has cried some more..
 
platypus said:
Well she was in the officer for her annual review. Which apparently went really well, until five minutes from finishing when they hit her with the bill.

She cried, and then cried all the way home, and has cried some more..
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Definatly get some legal advice as the company have potentially opened themselves up to a law suit. Extortion, bullying various other infractions so definatly get some proper legal advice
 
platypus said:
Well she was in the officer for her annual review. Which apparently went really well, until five minutes from finishing when they hit her with the bill.

She cried, and then cried all the way home, and has cried some more..
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That is absolutely disgusting.
 
AndyCroft1982 said:
Definatly get some legal advice as the company have potentially opened themselves up to a law suit. Extortion, bullying various other infractions so definatly get some proper legal advice
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I'm not sure about bullying/extortion, but I've been speaking to her Dad (neither of us are lawyers/solicitors!) and we both agreed that it sounds like they're trying to shock her into paying up quickly, so tomorrow will involve calls to the GOC, our home contents insurance, and a family friend who is a solciitor.
 
platypus said:
It is clear. It's in the title; it is a company car.
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My bad.

platypus said:
Yeah I was just bringing it up because it was adding to the obfuscation that the company seem to be bringing to the subject.
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Importantly it points to a confusing situation, which strengthens your argument.

platypus said:
The GOCs legal cover should cover things like this. She's going to phone them tomorrow, if no luck will definitely look ACAS.
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Indeed, if there was possible wrong doing on her part, there should have been a formal disciplinary investigation into her potential negligence.
This does not seem to have happened, it seems they have simply told her to cough up the money/dock her wage, a clear breach of employment law.
 
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platypus said:
I'm not sure about bullying/extortion, but I've been speaking to her Dad (neither of us are lawyers/solicitors!) and we both agreed that it sounds like they're trying to shock her into paying up quickly, so tomorrow will involve calls to the GOC, our home contents insurance, and a family friend who is a solciitor.
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Why should you phone your insurance company im confused? Speak to a solictor first before anything else. It has nothing to do with your insurance and if you tell them they can still put it on your policy that you have had an incident whether you claim or not. GET PROPER LEGAL ADVICE BEFORE you do anything.
 
Because we have legal cover on our home insurance.

So, if the GOC (actually it's the AOP sorry for the innacuracy) won't cover the case for legal fees because it's not malpractice then we'll need to call our home insurance company. Nothing to do with claiming.

We have a close family friend who is an employment solicitor (wahey!), but obviously if it were to go to court we'd need cover for the legal fees in case of a loss.
 
Good luck! Just interested, what kind of equipment is it? I'm guessing medical but just interested as to why they wouldn't insure it. We regularly travel with over 20k worth of photographic equipment and it doesn't cost a lot to insure. Ours also covers us for overnight storage if the boot isn't accessible from the car, or if stored in a hotel etc.
 
Optometrist equipment, whatever that may entail. Not really sure but one piece of equipment (tonomoter) was £2500 alone.
 
platypus said:
Optometrist equipment, whatever that may entail. Not really sure but one piece of equipment (tonomoter) was £2500 alone.
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I was right with medical then! No idea why they wouldn't insure it. They're clearly bricking it and trying to get away with passing the buck.

Hope she gets through the other side without too much stress and then finds another job with a better employer!
 
Russinating said:
I was right with medical then! No idea why they wouldn't insure it. They're clearly bricking it and trying to get away with passing the buck.

Hope she gets through the other side without too much stress and then finds another job with a better employer!
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Agreed, surely that kind of stuff should be sent by a properly insured courier, or company van and not just 'chucked in the back of a car and hope for the best'?
 
I don't have any expertise in this area but I can't see how the company will be able to get away with it.

Interested to see how this goes...
 
If the company want company equipment in her car they should insure it... end of. This situation is utterly crazy :mad:
 
No legal knowledge here, but logically it was a company carX. They should be covered to carry their kit. If they aren't it's their fault surely?

As for staying at her friends, if she had that much time to kill, I'd say it was exactly the same as checking into a hotel, where presumably again, it wouldn't be insured.

Get a lawyer basically.

kd
 
Probably a good idea for her to start looking for a new job. Whilst it seems relatively clear that she isn't legally liable for the cost of equipment, I imagine she's a shoe in for dismissal due to gross negligence.
 
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