A car smashed into my house – and I’m liable for the cost of repairs
“You want to get that fixed,” the man with the large dog tells me sternly. “It makes the road look terrible.” Every time someone stops in front of the bomb site that used to be our front garden, I blush. Of course, we’re the local eyesore.
A month ago, I’d just come out of a matinee of the National Theatre’s hilarious The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Dr Who’s Ncuti Gatwa, feeling pleasantly relaxed. Then the phone calls started.
“Liz, a car has crashed into the front of your house,” my next-door neighbour said. “The police and the fire brigade are here.” I almost collapsed at the thought of a giant hole in my flat with all my possessions falling into the street.
In the event, it wasn’t quite so dramatic. But a driver had veered off the busy main road in front of our house (divided into ground floor and basement flats) and demolished our garden wall, gates and fencing, and cracked the brick “piers” either side, sending masonry flying. An eyewitness claimed the driver was on the wrong side of the road.
When we got home later, both I and Alex, the owner of the flat downstairs (who had only moved in three weeks before, poor man), were in shock. To make the road safe, the fire brigade had lifted the heavy brickwork out of the traffic and hurled it back into our garden.
At least no one was injured. And Alex’s brand-new windows – installed the day before – had survived the bins being thrown against the house. We dealt with it with typical English humour and went to bed.
Insurance nightmare
Then the nightmare started. A policewoman rang to say the driver had been arrested for “numerous offences” and gave me a crime number. But because they had been arrested, we couldn’t know their name or claim against their car insurance.
Instead, we would have to make the claim against our joint buildings insurance policy to clean up and secure the site, as well as rebuild the wall (plus sections of our neighbours’ walls).
Trying to get builders to turn up just after Christmas is no fun. And it wasn’t going to be cheap. One company quoted £850 (plus VAT) to demolish the wall and clear the site and then £7,650 (plus VAT) to rebuild the wall and add a new picket fence.
Another wanted us to hire a skip and buy the London Stock bricks ourselves (he was a very nice man, but we panicked at the idea of trying to get planning permission for a skip on a road where you can’t park).
I emailed the council which actually built the wall 25 years ago (we paid a nominal £100 each to upgrade our properties when the area was regenerated), asking if we were required to build the wall in the same style. And could they help us rebuild our neighbours’ walls if it turned out they were renting, or social housing tenants? The council politely replied that they had no legal responsibility for any of the properties.
Professional advice
In despair, I paid to talk to a solicitor advocate nominated by Citizens Advice. He confirmed that, yes, we needed to put the claim through our buildings insurance, explaining that our insurers might later try to contact the police for details of the other party involved, then seek their costs from them.
He added: “You can also go to the police and make a formal statement as the victim of criminal damage and provide the police with estimates of the costs incurred, then when the person appears in court the court should be able to consider compensation to you for your losses.”
I rang the Metropolitan Police and after numerous wrong extensions (the operator mistook gritty Southwark for leafy Suffolk) they took down our details; this month we’ll go to our local station to make a formal victim statement.
There is a chance we will have to pay to clear the site before the insurers agree to any quote. It feels very stressful. I’m a freelance writer (precarious enough), while Alex is studying part-time on top of a demanding job.
The Association of British Insurers can’t comment on individual cases but advised: “Most insurers run 24-hour claims helplines – make a note of the phone number and keep it somewhere safe. Give your insurer as much information as possible about the loss, including photos and a police report reference number if needed. If you have to arrange emergency repairs, speak to your insurer first and keep any receipts as these can form part of your claim.”
Mounting frustration
But is there really no way of identifying the driver and claiming on his car insurance? A spokesperson for the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) said: “You may be able to ask the police to provide Limited Particulars, as these details are legally required for making a motor insurance claim. If they are unable to share it directly with you, they may as an alternative be able to share it with your insurer. In due course, you can also ask the police for a copy of the Accident Report, but this can only be made available once any prosecution and appeal period has been completed.
“Alternatively, if you have the vehicle registration, for a £10 fee you can use our askMID service to request a search of the Navigate database, which will confirm if the driver has motor insurance and provide the details needed to pursue a potential claim.”
Unfortunately we don’t have the vehicle registration because neither Alex nor I were at home at the time of the incident. And whenever I call, the police stress they can tell us nothing. But it’s good to know these options exist.
“If the driver has no valid insurance, or they cannot be traced, you may potentially be able to make a claim with the MIB,” added the MIB spokesperson, explaining that it is a not-for-profit organisation which exists to compensate victims of uninsured and hit-and-run drivers; this includes compensation for all types of property loss.
My tree-lined urban street, with its cafe and bars, is a very desirable location (apart from the current eyesore of my property). But this is the second smash in a year. Last summer a car mounted the opposite pavement, mowed down a bike stand and roared off.
How often does a driver crash into a boundary wall, I asked MIB’s spokesperson. “While this type of claim is less common, we have previously provided compensation for building damage caused by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver,” they said. “But as we are a fund of last resort, one of our terms means that if there is an alternative source of recovery available – such as a valid building insurance policy – MIB can only consider covering parts of the claim where no alternative compensation is available.”
Long wait likely
So our best bet remains to pursue our buildings insurance claim. I’ve sent off two repair estimates now but we’ve been warned we’re in a long queue because of recent storm damage. And inevitably our insurance premium will rocket.
It’s hard to quantify the emotional effects of the smash – shock, stress, money, time and, yes, shame. We don’t look like ideal neighbours. One section of wall could topple at any time. And this is a street teeming with school-run mums and children.
Since the wall was demolished, several boxes and planters have been stolen from my steps. And don’t get me started on “bin-gate”, when your waste bins are under rubble. In the dead of night, I sneak small amounts of dry rubbish into the main street bins. No doubt I’ll be arrested.
It is illegal to obstruct pavements, so even when we finally get builders on site to fix the wall, it’s our responsibility (under health and safety legislation) to make sure no one inadvertently steps into the traffic or is at risk of any other harm. “It’s the responsibility of the contractor to assess and mitigate for any potential risk involved,” Jon Ward, founder of building maintenance and refurbishment company Marylebone Interiors, explains. “Sometimes the method in which the work is undertaken is just as important as the work itself. This can have a cost implication, but the owner/client has a duty of care under health and safety legislation to the contractor and wider public to ensure the work can be done safely.”
So if you pass by our bomb site, please be patient. We’re trying to be responsible citizens – but it does feel a bit like no one is looking after us. And that we’re being punished for someone else’s crime.