Apologies need urgent advice/info

[Tinyhumansurvivalist]

Apologies, blatant post for traffic.

I am having my garden landscaped, been booked for months after receiving inheritance. They have had a mini digger and dumper to clear everything out of it. At somewhere around 0600 some lads have used a van to pinch the dumper. Neighbour caught them and filmed them whilst calling the police. Woke me up to tell me. My bedroom is on the front so didn't hear a thing and the gardener had said he would be here early so I am not sure I would have flinched at the noise had I heard anything.

They other guy that works with them has been out this morning and hinted they don't have insurance for hired equipment. Is there any way they can come after me for the money for it with it being in my garden? They have admitted they didn't correctly secure it etc but I don't have 25k for a dumper truck!

The insurance is down to the owner of the vehicle, in this case, the person/company from whom they hired the dumper.

Hi I handle claims for theft of plant/machinery. Your Gardner is fully responsible for the item and he insures this under his policy. It is his duty to ensure that the item is stored safely and securely. I have dealt with numerous thefts from a clients garden and never once have we pursued the client. You will not be held responsible for this. If you want peace of mind please phone your household insurers and they will confirm this

Unfortunately I think it's surprisingly common for things like this to be stolen. We had a village fete a few years ago and the mobile toilets were stolen. If you've got muscles and a tow truck and different views from the rest of us about theft, it's easy money I guess..........

Also agree with the others that it's absolutely not your fault and I wouldn't suggest that you'll check or anything similar.

Sounds a bit dodgy..If they are a reputable company, surely they will have insurance....ANYONE who hurts 'Plant' knows how steal-able it is...

If they didn't secure it, surely it's their responsibility.
Some dodgy landscapers/driveway people about. Could even be ''an inside job''.... ?

Hires not hurts...predictive.

@needasleep thank you!!! Looking through my insurance docs would seem to suggest the same but I panicked.

The police were meant to be here at 8 but have still not made an appearance so I'm guessing as you say it being so commonplace means they probably aren't that invested in doing much about it.

Don't panic, none of this is your fault. It definitely sucks that this happened, though.
I used to work with a company and hiring items was part of my job - sadly, many things were stolen all the time.. but the person who hired the equipment is responsible.
Hope you get your garden sorted soon OP!

No you are not liable. They will be able to claim on the insurance that they should have.

@oakleaffy definitely a reputable company, it was the guys laborouer who wasn't sure about the insurance and not spoken to the owner of the gardening company today. He's due out shortly as he's gone to collect my new patio slabs this morning.

Its my 40th at the weekend and I was really hoping that it would be finished so I could enjoy it but doesn't look like that will be the case now

We hire machinery at work, the cost of insurance is built into the hire charge.

@Polly111

Just a thought, if it was due to be picked up today are you sure it wasn’t the hire company that took it? (Might have wanted it early for another job).

Good point. @Tinyhumansurvivalist come and let us know the outcome. Would be great there was a simple solution.

@Tinyhumansurvivalist
Then they will be up to speed with insuring their hired equipment 👍
I had some roofers, and they hired a ''Tower'' that they said was eminently stealable, but said the risk wasn't mine.... They had it collected the second it had stopped being used.

@tinyhumansurvivalist unfortunately these types of theft are very common and police may not attend. Please don't worry you will not be held responsible for this and the Gardner and hire company will all have insurance for this. Won't it be strange if my next claim is for theft from clients garden I will be wondering if it is you. Enjoy your birthday 🎂

Owner of gardening firm has arrived with the blast stone for my patio...the insurance is part of the terms of hire so its covered thankfulky...

@needasleep haha yeah would be odd.and thanks.

Thanks everyone....you have calmed me down. Am now going to go back to my sick bed as it seems doubtful the police are going to bother coming out

We have had thefts near here from workmen's cars and also of things like diggers. Although it is true there are some occupiers' liabilities and loads of contracts deal with who insures and who is responsible for one person's goods on the land of another- we do it week in week out in commercial contracts and the position varies from one contract to another - it is unlikely you are liable.Had you promised to keep it safe and lock it up and did not you might be but it sounds very unlikely here.

If you have paid the workmen in advance for the work that is probably what you need to concentrate on - getting the work done or getting the machinery back. Someone is digging the road not too far from me and I was amazed they have left what looks like a totally brand new digger on the road over night given the number of thefts. It has been there for 2 days now (the fact there is a temporary traffic light and no men seen for 2 or 3 days is another story - i think it is gas or other cabling work).

Was it in a secure rear garden? Interesting that they even knew it was there to steal. 🤔

@isitorisntit

Was it in a secure rear garden? Interesting that they even knew it was there to steal. 🤔

Not really. Anyone could have seen it being delivered to OP's address.

i'd be rather concerned that they don't seem to have their own insurance, sorryto ask but is it an actual pukka company doing this or a couple of guys moonlighting ?

sorry cross post,

@isitorisntit they've been driving it up and down the alley all week to their truck so between that and the trail of muck and caterpillar tracks it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure it out.

The scary thing being the police believe they have been watching the house because they had a van big enough to drive the truck into. They knew no one would be up, i am normally up and about at 6 for work so would be around and have seen it

What I meant was that they must have been watching/planning as it's not something you just happen upon, is it? They knew it was there, that potentially it wasn't secure and how to steal/remove it. That's quite a lot of knowledge. Either they've been watching the place or they had some inside info.

I think they have been watching the house and have been round to check it out before now.

It has massively spooked me so have ordered security cameras and dp will be spending my birthday putting them up as week days it is just me and dd here.

Gardners have gone to get the patio slabs and their van has broken down....i am not living today

^loving not living

Good idea. We've got Blink cameras, easy to put up and run on 2x AA batteries. Happy birthday!

Oh god what a nightmare for you, glad it’s all worked out now. We had our front garden done this week and the builders just left all the fencing outside on the first night and I was so worried about it getting stolen and having to pay for it twice never mind a £25k digger!