can i claim negligence from the council

[tasha2587]

last week our gas fire had its annual safety check by the council, and everything was said to be fine, we have the paperwork they gave us to prove this. Then less than a week later the fire, while on, randomly fell off the wall, like literally the whole thing. This is my dads house, who is a pensioner and disabled, and if i wasnt there to rush outside to switch the gas off by the mains, basically he wouldnt be here. He has to wait a week to get a replacement fire, and they are giving the exact same, free standing gas fire. Also the carpet was damaged and burnt. Really dont want to think what could of happened, but lets just say we were lucky in a way. I'm wondering if i have a case against them? as i say i have the safety check paperwork and pictures, i just dont know where to start

[bednobs]

well as he didnt suffer any loss i would highly doubt it. he could ask them to replace his bit of carpet though

[bednobs]

ps the safety check was probably just for gas safety. If there was no indication that the fire was falling off the wall, i cant see how it could have been predicted

[alexanderd]

sometimes the fire has to be removed to do a safety check on the flu, if that was the case here then they are to blame for not fiting it back properly

[bednobs]

good point alex

[ummmm]

Yes Alex...but no one was hurt except the carpet.

[bednobs]

however, even if this is the case, don't understand what they would compensate him for (except his burnt carpet), and you don't need a court case for that

[TonyV]

As Bednobs says - It was an accident - be thankfull that you Dad walked away from it - What do you want to claim from councill?

[alexanderd]

very true ummm but a new carpet wouldnt go amiss!!!

[ummmm]

Which I'm sure the council will deal with if it is deemed to be their fault.

If the workman didn't remove the fire in his safety checks then it'll be put down to a coincidence.

Has your dad got his own insurance?

[langara]

I say write a letter to the Council explaining what has happened. You have nothing to loose. Good Luck

[themas]

These checks are supposed to ensure the fire is SAFE. This one clearly wasn't safe at the time of the check unless someone damaged it afterwards. It just would not come loose & fall off the wall if it has been securely fixed there in the first place. It is pretty well inconceivable that the gas fitter doing the check would fail to notice it was not securely fixed if he/she had done the job properly.

It is very fortunate that no serious damage occurred, but the least you should expect from the Council is that the fitter is thoroughly questioned about what he did by someone in a responsible position & that your father has a written apology & assurance that action has been taken to prevent such things happening to other people. If this sort of failure is allowed to go without action being taken it could well lead to something much more serious happening.

If the Council will not act responsibly report the case to the Gas Safe organisation.

[tasha2587]

Thank you, found this all very helpful. Yes the fire was actually taken off the wall when it was checked. He does have his own insurance but there's an excess charge, and i think the council should pay for this, dont see why he should be out of pocket for it! I just don't think it should go unanswered, if it had happened when he was in bed this would be a very different case indeed. And when he rang them up to speak to them about it, well they were less then helpful, rude even.

[ummmm]

Write to the council and complain about bad workmanship and clearly state what you expect. Get a quote from the insurance company and pass it on to the council. At the very least they should replace the carpet.

[joko]

is it freestanding or on the wall...it cant be both...

but yes if they didnt replace properly i would seek a new carpet at the very least...you may get something by way of an apology but as he wasnt hurt i doubt he could get any sort of substantial amount....

the fitter needs to be reprimanded too...you cannot do shoddy jobs when it comes to gas...

[flip_flop]

"...if it had happened when he was in bed this would be a very different case indeed".

But he wasn't.