A drive fit for a Cali

[Amarillo]

How does @Amarillo look, sitting proud on its swanky new driveway?

It looks lonely. I think it needs a Blackberry Ocean sitting next to it - but there's bugger all chance of that happening. Maybe a small four or five seat car in 18 months' time.

 

[Amarillo]

Final chapter in this sorry saga.

I was in the Small Claims' Court today, being pursued by SGN for £423.17 for a broken gas service pipe, severed by a mechanical digger being used by our first contractor. I claimed that the gas service pipe was fractured because it had been buried at too shallow a depth, 300mm when it should have been buried at a minimum depth of 375mm.

The chair disagreed and said the primary cause was the negligence of my contractor. I now have 21 days to pay £513.17, including £90 in court fees.

 

[B J G]

If the chair says that it was caused by the contractors negligence then he should be liable for the costs. He must have 3rd party liability insurance by law.

 

[Amarillo]

If the chair says that it was caused by the contractors negligence then he should be liable for the costs. He must have 3rd party liability insurance by law.

As householder I am liable for damage to services on my property.

I could take action against my contractor but his address does not exist and his phone is unobtainable.

My fault for accepting the cheapest quote and not using a reputable builder.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[B J G]

As householder I am liable for damage to services on my property.

I could take action against my contractor but his address does not exist and his phone is unobtainable.

My fault for accepting the cheapest quote and not using a reputable builder.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

At least by the Services Industries charging levels your bill is relatively low.

Not much consolation to you but a salutary lesson to many.

 

[Keith Smith]

If the chair says that it was caused by the contractors negligence then he should be liable for the costs. He must have 3rd party liability insurance by law.

Unless things have changed recently tradesmen do not need to hold public liability cover, most do but many still don't bother. I've just been to a house where the plumber has caused the ceiling to collapse and he has no cover. In all my years working in people's houses I was only ever asked once if I had cover and he took my word and didn't ask to see the certificate.

Ideally there should be a register of tradespeople where their insurance details are recorded and even if they go bust or, as in Tom's case, do a runner the householder could still make a claim.

 

[Amarillo]

At least by the Services Industries charging levels your bill is relatively low.

Not much consolation to you but a salutary lesson to many.

What annoys me, and why I defended the claim, is that the gas service pipe entered my property from the highway at 300mm, when it should have been at least 450mm minimum depth, and fractured at 200mm depth under my property when it should have been at 375mm minimum depth. Installation was in May 2011 so recent, and it should have been laid in accordance with the Health and Safety Executive expectations.

SGN successfully argued that HSE expectations are non statutory whereas it is a law that if a householder damages a service pipe through negligence it is their liability. It was not a defence that damaging a negligently laid service pipe was not negligent. In other words, I was bound by the HSE guidance about not using a mechanical digger near a service pipe, but SGN were not bound by HSE guidance on laying gas service pipes.

 

[Amarillo]

Unless things have changed recently tradesmen do not need to hold public liability cover, most do but many still don't bother. I've just been to a house where the plumber has caused the ceiling to collapse and he has no cover. In all my years working in people's houses I was only ever asked once if I had cover and he took my word and didn't ask to see the certificate.

Ideally there should be a register of tradespeople where their insurance details are recorded and even if they go bust or, as in Tom's case, do a runner the householder could still make a claim.

Near me after the uninsured builder knocked out the load bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room on this £700,000 home.

 

[B J G]

What annoys me, and why I defended the claim, is that the gas service pipe entered my property from the highway at 300mm, when it should have been at least 450mm minimum depth, and fractured at 200mm depth under my property when it should have been at 375mm minimum depth. Installation was in May 2011 so recent, and it should have been laid in accordance with the Health and Safety Executive expectations.

SGN successfully argued that HSE expectations are non statutory whereas it is a law that if a householder damages a service pipe through negligence it is their liability. It was not a defence that damaging a negligently laid service pipe was not negligent. In other words, I was bound by the HSE guidance about not using a mechanical digger near a service pipe, but SGN were not bound by HSE guidance on laying gas service pipes.

Perhaps it would be worth contacting the HSE about this even for a bit of consolation.
They don't like having their guidelines ignored. Especially in a potentially dangerous situation like yours.

 

[Bellcrew]

At least by the Services Industries charging levels your bill is relatively low.

Not much consolation to you but a salutary lesson to many.

And at least you used the small claims route to try and fight the gas co. Going to law in the county court or higher is for very rich/brave people only.

 

[Amarillo]

And at least you used the small claims route to try and fight the gas co. Going to law in the county court or higher is for very rich/brave people only.

Because of the high caseload at Bromley County Court, the matter was heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand. It was quite an experience defending myself and putting my case against the claimant in such a large, grand and nearly empty courtroom.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[MarkVw2017]

Being self employed, its the first thing i pay for. I have 10 mill public liability and £500k professional indemnity. The minimum any half decent and professional business person should have! Its not even that expensive in terms of overall business overheads. Lovely drive by the way!! Shame about the pipe but we live and learn!

 

[Taff7996]

The exactly same thing happened to us,
I had my driveway block paved not long ago, yes it did look very nice at first but i am now getting groves in it where i drive my van over it and a dip where the van is parked I need to get it replaced, so I'm looking for recommendations, what has everyone got and how does it fair with the weight of the van

 

[John.s]

The exactly same thing happened to us,
I had my driveway block paved not long ago, yes it did look very nice at first but i am now getting groves in it where i drive my van over it and a dip where the van is parked I need to get it replaced, so I'm looking for recommendations, what has everyone got and how does it fair with the weight of the van

This is a sign that the sub base was not compacted enough. You could lift the bricks around the dips and refill with sharp sand to level it off.

 

[Velma's Dad]

It won't be a problem with the blocks (pavoirs), it means the spec and/or laying of the base was poor. Needs to be properly laid and compacted base. Then can easily stand up to weight of a Cali.

 

[Velma's Dad]

John beat me to it!

 

[Joker 1299]

The exactly same thing happened to us,
I had my driveway block paved not long ago, yes it did look very nice at first but i am now getting groves in it where i drive my van over it and a dip where the van is parked I need to get it replaced, so I'm looking for recommendations, what has everyone got and how does it fair with the weight of the van

We considered a resin drive, like the ones here
https://www.resindrives.co.uk/why-us/
Expensive but durable and, porous so no need for planning permission if replacing a lawn, for example.

 

[Amarillo]

The exactly same thing happened to us,
I had my driveway block paved not long ago, yes it did look very nice at first but i am now getting groves in it where i drive my van over it and a dip where the van is parked I need to get it replaced, so I'm looking for recommendations, what has everyone got and how does it fair with the weight of the van

You need a good quality foundation: 2 x 75mm of mot type 1, each layer well compacted or, even better, 3 x 50mm of mot type 1.

Good video here:

 

[B J G]

We considered a resin drive, like the ones here
https://www.resindrives.co.uk/why-us/
Expensive but durable and, porous so no need for planning permission if replacing a lawn, for example.

A neighbour had this type of drive done, hardcore then a concrete slab before resin topping. They also had drainage to the house gutter drainage installed to take the rain water away.

 

[Taff7996]

Foundations where only rubble, i did queried this at time but was told, wrongly, that it was sufficient.
Need to get it all lifted and good foundations
Builder that did the work didn't reply to any on my phone calls or registered letters, got Trading standards involved and he just closed down his business and moved.

 

[Amarillo]

Foundations where only rubble, i did queried this at time but was told, wrongly, that it was sufficient.
Need to get it all lifted and good foundations
Builder that did the work didn't reply to any on my phone calls or registered letters, got Trading standards involved and he just closed down his business and moved.

I had to send the first builders away after they tried to use rubble as a foundation. I then had to pay for the rubble to be dug out and disposed before the correct foundation could be laid. Galling! I had a very detailed specification list, which included the correct foundation - for some reason they thought I wouldn’t notice if they dumped rubble instead.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[Keith Smith]

The big advantage with block paving is that it's very easy, and cheap, to repair slumped areas, that is once you get the first pavior out. It's always a good plan to keep a few spare blocks that way it doesn't matter if you damage the first block trying to get it out. Then simply remove a decent area of blocks, scrape off as much sand as possible, fill the hollow with mot, tamp that down with a tarmac tamper before levelling with sharp sand and refitting the blocks. An hours job and it's as good as new.

 

[Velma's Dad]

We considered a resin drive, like the ones here
https://www.resindrives.co.uk/why-us/
Expensive but durable and, porous so no need for planning permission if replacing a lawn, for example.

That looks a nice way to achieve a classic 'shingle' driveway without the stuff ending up all over the flowerbeds or rolling down a slope. Although in their website photos it looks maybe a little bit too 'groomed' for some tastes.

Having a porous surface can be quite important whatever you choose. As our side driveway slopes downhill towards the house, I wanted to ensure no run-off in that direction so (as well as an intercept drain) we used permeable pavoirs. So far they've been very successful.

 

[Bramco]

We considered a resin drive, like the ones here
https://www.resindrives.co.uk/why-us/
Expensive but durable and, porous so no need for planning permission if replacing a lawn, for example.

Round here they are ripping these out and replacing them - if there is any iron in the gravel that is embedded then it rusts and starts to bubble the whole thing. A builder in our village is a local rep for one of the national companies and has had some nightmares with it.

We have dark grey gravel on wackerplated roadstone. So a few inches of roadstone, then a weed membrance then a couple of inches of the gravel - works a treat. No grooves, although you do get shallow dips where the tyres normally land. These can easily be reworked every 6 months or so with a rake although they are quite useful when backing in - you know when you've landed in the right place.

Every once in a while we rake the whole lot - a bit does run off onto the pavement but again it's no hassle to brush the few bits back onto the drive every once in a while.

The darker marks are just where it's wet.

 

[Amarillo]

We considered a resin drive, like the ones here
https://www.resindrives.co.uk/why-us/

One of the drives in that photo gallery was the scene of a murder and suicide:

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/murder-and-suicide-nightmare-at-a-dream-home-1-2451425