Associate
- Joined
- 28 Jan 2005
- Posts
- 1,842
- Location
- Lymington
Hi Guys,
My girlfriend runs her own dog services business. She was in the process of collecting up four dogs for a group dog walk. As she pulled onto a customer's drive to collect one of the dogs she drove through some wet tarmac and caused the following damage:
Now this was the signage outside the house when she drove through the tarmac:
I personally don't think this is enough signage to indicate there is wet tarmac down. I mean the sign in the picture is facing the other way! From what my girlfriend has said there was not obvious signage leading up to the clients drive either. I think the simple fact that she drove over wet tarmac suggests that there was no adequate signage. I would expect wet tarmac that has been freshly laid to be sealed off? She has been driving for over 8 years without any incidents so I confident she was paying attention.
My girlfriend immediately called the client to inform her of the situation. The client noted what had happened and my girlfriend left to walk the dog. She came back an hour later after dropping the dog at a friend of the clients and the workers had placed a lot more signs down:
Shortly after this the client returned home, saw all the signs down, spoke with the workers and sent this message to my girlfriend in early evening:
Hi [Name],
Hope your ok?
I understand that this afternoon was a accident and probably upsetting. I have spoke with the guys that did the tarmacking and also spoke to the council this evening. A guy from the council has also been out to see it.
Although an accident, the men are saying (backed by there photos) that there is clear signage down the whole road and a cone was placed outside my drive. They said, they alternate the direction the sign on the cones face, to ensure people see them whilst driving up or down the road. I know the one outside my house was facing in the direction you weren't facing. However, the council are saying that because there was signing the whole way down the road and that you drove past the guys doing the work that they feel they couldn't have done anything else.
For me its not a matter of who did what but of a case of needing to have my drive sorted. The men doing the tarmacking said if petrol is poured on it and scrub with a wire brush it may come off but it will be difficult. We are going to get it professionally cleaned and hope that does the trick. Obviously we need this paid for and I hate being in this position but we will have to ask its paid for. I am so sorry as know it was a mistake but hopefully you can understand the position I am in. I don't know if your insurance may cover it or if you want to dispute it with the council?
[Client] x
My first comment would be to call BS on her claims that the council sent someone out in the space of an hour or two. I won’t address this point though as it will cause her to get annoyed we are calling her a liar.
One thing that annoyed me is that the client should have known that tarmacking was taking place outside their house but did not inform my girlfriend, instead she turns up with no actual way to access the property without either driving or walking over wet tarmac. My girlfriend had to drop the dog off at a friend of the client’s house a few roads down as she had no way to reach the front door.
I am guessing that this denial of responsibility is the standard council response? They are stonewalling her and she sees us as a softer target so is looking for us to pay for the damages.
Now, our stance is that our client should not have to pay for the cost of the cleaning but then I don’t think it is right for the council to blame us and for us to roll over and ask how much.
The client has not seen our “before and after” photos, I am hoping when she sees this that she will realise that the council have tried to cover their asses.
For the purposes of being pragmatic I am thinking of asking the client to get some quotes on the work that needs to be done and then to get back to us with the quotes. Would this be a good move? If it is a nominal cost (<£75) then we might just pay it up but if it’s more I don’t want us to have to foot the bill. My girlfriend is fully insured so if it’s more we will be covered and we will eventually get the money back.
Has anyone got any suggestions on how to reply to her or how to proceed? The business has been up and running for a while and this is the first real issue we have had!
Thanks!
My girlfriend runs her own dog services business. She was in the process of collecting up four dogs for a group dog walk. As she pulled onto a customer's drive to collect one of the dogs she drove through some wet tarmac and caused the following damage:
I personally don't think this is enough signage to indicate there is wet tarmac down. I mean the sign in the picture is facing the other way! From what my girlfriend has said there was not obvious signage leading up to the clients drive either. I think the simple fact that she drove over wet tarmac suggests that there was no adequate signage. I would expect wet tarmac that has been freshly laid to be sealed off? She has been driving for over 8 years without any incidents so I confident she was paying attention.
My girlfriend immediately called the client to inform her of the situation. The client noted what had happened and my girlfriend left to walk the dog. She came back an hour later after dropping the dog at a friend of the clients and the workers had placed a lot more signs down:
Shortly after this the client returned home, saw all the signs down, spoke with the workers and sent this message to my girlfriend in early evening:
Hi [Name],
Hope your ok?
I understand that this afternoon was a accident and probably upsetting. I have spoke with the guys that did the tarmacking and also spoke to the council this evening. A guy from the council has also been out to see it.
Although an accident, the men are saying (backed by there photos) that there is clear signage down the whole road and a cone was placed outside my drive. They said, they alternate the direction the sign on the cones face, to ensure people see them whilst driving up or down the road. I know the one outside my house was facing in the direction you weren't facing. However, the council are saying that because there was signing the whole way down the road and that you drove past the guys doing the work that they feel they couldn't have done anything else.
For me its not a matter of who did what but of a case of needing to have my drive sorted. The men doing the tarmacking said if petrol is poured on it and scrub with a wire brush it may come off but it will be difficult. We are going to get it professionally cleaned and hope that does the trick. Obviously we need this paid for and I hate being in this position but we will have to ask its paid for. I am so sorry as know it was a mistake but hopefully you can understand the position I am in. I don't know if your insurance may cover it or if you want to dispute it with the council?
[Client] x
My first comment would be to call BS on her claims that the council sent someone out in the space of an hour or two. I won’t address this point though as it will cause her to get annoyed we are calling her a liar.
One thing that annoyed me is that the client should have known that tarmacking was taking place outside their house but did not inform my girlfriend, instead she turns up with no actual way to access the property without either driving or walking over wet tarmac. My girlfriend had to drop the dog off at a friend of the client’s house a few roads down as she had no way to reach the front door.
I am guessing that this denial of responsibility is the standard council response? They are stonewalling her and she sees us as a softer target so is looking for us to pay for the damages.
Now, our stance is that our client should not have to pay for the cost of the cleaning but then I don’t think it is right for the council to blame us and for us to roll over and ask how much.
The client has not seen our “before and after” photos, I am hoping when she sees this that she will realise that the council have tried to cover their asses.
For the purposes of being pragmatic I am thinking of asking the client to get some quotes on the work that needs to be done and then to get back to us with the quotes. Would this be a good move? If it is a nominal cost (<£75) then we might just pay it up but if it’s more I don’t want us to have to foot the bill. My girlfriend is fully insured so if it’s more we will be covered and we will eventually get the money back.
Has anyone got any suggestions on how to reply to her or how to proceed? The business has been up and running for a while and this is the first real issue we have had!
Thanks!
I used to get paid £5 a week to walk my neighbours dog 
.
She's worked incredibly hard to get and retain all the business that she has and her first month she only made £130 