Legal advice for damage caused to my van

[R8N XX]

So fellow T6 friends.
I am looking for a bit of advice here.

Around 6 weeks ago my neighbours window cleaner was doin his job cleaning their windows. He stepped down from his ladder and the ladder promptly fell over into my van on my drive. There were plenty of witnesses to this incident. The WC knocked my door spoke to my son and son called me. Spoke with WC. Not the toilet I must add. And he said sorry and said he would pay next week. No show so I call him got a mouthful and he said he would pay next week. No show. So he sent me a message saying he will transfers funds £650 cost of damage to my account on the 1st nov. Guess what. No cash. He now ignores my calls and messages. Plod say it’s a civil matter and suggest small claims court. Happy with that but I need an address for the claim. I have a reg number of the van he drives but no address. Any advice on next steps. Thanks guys.

 

[mlh677]

That's not on.

If you have his full name or the name of his business, it could be worth entering either as search criteria at the Companies House link below. Hopefully that will give you a local address to check out.

Find and update company information - GOV.UK

Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

 

[EAN]

Request information about a vehicle or its registered keeper from DVLA

Request details about a vehicle's registered keeper: bulk data, anonymised data, mileage data requests, other information requests

www.gov.uk

Form V888, to request registered keepers details.

Have no idea how forthcoming they will be.

 

[Pete C]

As you have his phone number, you could message him saying you are starting the small claims process.
Does your neighbour have any more info ?

Tiverton isn’t that big - I would be tempted to drive around looking for his vehicle.

Pete

 

[DaveD]

Yes, as above. The more you can find out about him the better, he's likely to be local and probably uses social media, finding his home address will help in pursuing a claim through the small claims court. I'm guessing that his van wasn't sign written, but I expect he advertises in local publications such as free newspapers. I assume you've used Google to research his phone number and name.
His reaction might suggest that he doesn't have public liability insurance.
Every window cleaner I've ever known can be found in a pub by 4 O'clock....

 

[Chris Sherwood]

Wait until he comes back to clean your neighbours windows and talk to him face to face. If that doesn’t work follow him home / put a tracker on his van / car.

 

[Pete C]

I’ve just put “Tiverton Window Cleaner” into Google and several come up, all with mobile numbers …..

Pete

 

[DXX]

Next time he’s up the ladder, give a ‘kin good shake just to make sure it’s secure.
If he’s smart he’ll make the bank transfer from the top of the ladder on his phone.

 

[R8N XX]

He lives in Taunton

 

[Jason Kew]

I might be wrong.. the cleaner is employed by your neighbour, their house insurance may cover the damage, or his public liability insurance will…

 

[dubber36]

If he's a one man band, he'll be a sole trader, so companies house won't be of any help. It's unlikely he'll have public liability insurance as it's not a legal requirement. My guess is, he hasn't got the money, is embarrassed to tell you that, so is hoping you'll go away.

It's as wrong as hell, but if I were you, I'd just suck it up and move on. You'll see him again one day and never know, he might just come good when he's saved up.