One of my monthly customers recently had some roofing work undertaken and a scaffold clamp was left behind in the long grass where the scaffolding had been, I ran over the clamp with my mower and it caused irrepairable damage
to my mower. I took images of the damage at the time and informed my customer.
My mower was inspected by my local garden machinery repair centre but was deemed too damaged to be economiclly repaired so advised on a replacement and a report was issued to me and sent to my cutomer upon thier request.
Has anyone had a similar experience, do I attempt to claim damages from my customer whom I have a verbal contract with to provide garden services to or the roofing company.
Views: 1390
Replies
Difficult one... Similar has happened to me, I took the hit, after all it was me pushing the mower through the grass.
I would think you would be in for a long fight, and will lose the client.
That's annoying. Normally on long grass which we have never cut or haven't cut in a long time we use a mower on a high setting or even better, use a strimmer. We do a lot of back courts where clothes poles have been cut but not cut low enough and have learned the hard way that this is better for our mowers.
Extract from our risk assessment for mowing- 'Always ensure the area you are working in is open and free from other objects and persons. Walk the area first and visually inspect the ground removing any visible large stones, flints, debris etc.' I'm astonished you think the client is liable, you should look where you're going.
Bit harsh!! If it was buried in long grass + you really wouldn't have expected something like that to be there as you mow the area regularly. You could always give the customer a sob story and ask if they could go halves on the bill......... otherwise, just try and forget about it and write themoney off. I've broken a few windows over the years............ not really my fault with stones mysteriously appearing on the lawn where they weren't there 2 weeks earlier............ I just write the money off....... annoying though.
I suspect claims refer mostly to personal injury rather than damage to machinery but I have known a customer claim for a new tyre after a builder accidently dropped some screws on the customers drive on route to the skip causing a puncture .
I always double check I have not left any tools or fuel bottles behind before leaving a site and scour any area to be cut with a mower and check shrubs for cables and wires as a precaution .
Also found scaffolding clamps in flower beds .
I feel anyone in business should be professional enough to clean up after themselves .
Devil is in the detail imagine if a carpet fitter left a loose tack in your pile carpet ? Ouch !!
If the grass was too long to see a scaffold clamp he shouldn't have been mowing. Strim and rake first so you can see what's there.
scaffolding firm / house holder / lawn mowing company are all liable to pay 1/3 each of the actual market value of the machine at the point immediately before it was destroyed
Scaffolder/Roofing contractor has no liability, unless proven negligent.
Householder has no liability, unless proven negligent.
Contractor has to foot costs to repair / replace his own machine.
There's no accepted T&Cs in place.
Contractor should have satisfied his workplace is clear - as said RAMS would identify that they should have checked ground especially as it has been acknowledged they were cutting long grass that *could* hide all manner of items.
Best one could hope for is an element of 'goodwill' from householder.
Householder could try to delegate any perceived liability to scaffolding/ roofing contractor but would suspect that would be a non-starter.
Cost of running a business and a lesson learnt 🤷♂️
house holder has vicarious liability for the actions of the scaffolder. if they do not accept responsibility it is down to their insurers to assess
Agree to disagree. You'd have show it was knowingly left by Scaffolder for that to go anywhere near an insurer or court or attribute causation to a Householder.
The real issue is the grass cutting Contractor did not discharge their duty of care/responsibility they were operating in a safe environment - especially as it was known long grass, in that it was not a surprise.
Contractor would need to confirm a risk assessment had taken place as part of their RAMS in that case ... and blows that out of the water.
Solution - Suck it up as a contractor and go forward. Anything else would be so tenuous, time consuming and expensive....
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next