New blockpaving damaged by a lorry

[nishan8178]

hi

[Carberry]

Driveway shouldn't withstand 20T? lorry. Standard spec will cope with 3.5T. You clearly stated that they were not to go on the driveway and they did, so they are at fault and their insurance should cover it.

Probably is poor workmanship but that shouldn't affect anything.

[lutonlagerlout]

what are they trading under now?
it was caesar construction last year?

the delivery firm are at fault though,domestic drives are only rated for 3.5 tonnes ,unless otherwise specified

TBh you would be best to get a quote from jimmy to redo the damage

they did some drives in my road 2 years ago and although bog standard they have stood up fairly well

LLL

[nishan8178]

Thanks for your replies so far; please keep them coming.

They are now trading as Spartan paving (ironically, the article about them reads.........workers were kept as slaves in Spartan-like conditions)

They have also gone by A to B paving, AB paving, Abbey paving etc.

I have done to the best of my ability to stop them - alerted 101 (in case they are breaking the conditions on the term as this chap is meant to be in prison), Trading standards and my local newspaper.
They are trading from an address 24, Guildford Street, Luton which has no connection to them (belongs to a book keeping firm)

How do I get hold of Jimmy - I am based in Stanmore, northwest London.

Regs

[lutonlagerlout]

I dont know but most reputable firms dont like going over travellers work
the guildford street address is a just an office

problem is he was charging £50 a metre round here when decent firms are charging £75-90

so he got loads and moved on

however for me the onus is on the lorry driver
school boy error driving onto a domestic drive without permission

LLL

[Kuts]

They are all over Leeds aswell, must have done over 150 drives on my estate.

Make sure you email a copy of the ticket to the insurance company if it does say stay away from the drive.

[tarmal & Co]

Why did you get a company with slaves to do your driveway in the first place, you should be ashamed of yourself . Plenty of reputable companies out there.Thought you were getting a good deal.

[Carberry]

I dont know but most reputable firms dont like going over travellers work
the guildford street address is a just an office

problem is he was charging £50 a metre round here when decent firms are charging £75-90

so he got loads and moved on

however for me the onus is on the lorry driver
school boy error driving onto a domestic drive without permission

LLL

Yeah because they like threatening you and starting fights over it. About 6 years ago I fixed a load of work in a street that they had f*cked up and they threatened to set me and my van on fire :laugh:
Found it more amusing than anything at the time, I was just back from Brazil and in the best shape of my life, I could have taken them whilst blindfolded but I can see how it can be intimidating.

[lutonlagerlout]

Stuart I know people who have been put out of business by the travellers
vans can only get burnt out so many times before the insurance stop paying
nishan can i ask do you live in a tight road?
and was there polythene put on the drive for the driver to tip on?
cant work out why he would have backed onto a drive?
unusual
cheers LLL

[nishan8178]

Why did you get a company with slaves to do your driveway in the first place, you should be ashamed of yourself . Plenty of reputable companies out there.Thought you were getting a good deal.

The amount I paid was about £75/ m2 - paid £2350 for a 30m2 drive; I am not somebody who takes a short cut.

I was easily fooled by the fact they had done a lot of driveways around my area and surely, not everyone can be a fool. Only started googling him once they finished work and left as we had problems appearing earlier with the edge of the driveway (which they turned up and fixed).

[nishan8178]

Stuart I know people who have been put out of business by the travellers
vans can only get burnt out so many times before the insurance stop paying
nishan can i ask do you live in a tight road?
and was there polythene put on the drive for the driver to tip on?
cant work out why he would have backed onto a drive?
unusual
cheers LLL

Hi LLL,
I did leave the polythene for the lorry to tip topsoil there. However, the topsoil company said on their website that their lorries carry crane etc and that driver's decision is final. I have made a pdf copy of their website which I will send onto the insurance co. My wife was home at the time and went to move her car and by the time she returned, the driver had driven on!

the topsoil company is called London Topsoil (they also trade under London Lawn Turf something like that). They have literally washed their hands off and diverted the blame onto the suppliers who were carrying out the delivery.

May be I should stick to the likes of Anglian - had windows done from them and no hassle like this! I must say it is really hard to find decent tradesmen even for decent money these days!

[Kuts]

Did he start off at about £4k then come down to this price?
They must be brilliant salesmen to trick customers like they are doing.

[nishan8178]

Did he start off at about £4k then come down to this price?
They must be brilliant salesmen to trick customers like they are doing.

Hi,
No; I don't usually haggle on price as long as it seems reasonable and this one was.
We didn't agree on the same day; he left the brochure with us when he was doing the drive in our cul-de-sac. We went and saw that and the work looked fine. We also went to see couple of other driveways in the next street while they were doing and the owners seemed very pleased.
So we agreed couple of weeks later.
Only thing I didn't do was to google him at the time; from now on I will - a lesson learnt albeit at a cost!!!

Regs

[sy76uk]

As others have stated above, 3.5 tons is the most a domestic drive should have driving on it so you should be ok as far as your insurance is concerned but your driveway shouldn't have been damaged to the extent that it has been.

I know this because I've had heavy lorries drive over my work without doing any damage whatsoever.

The first question I ask a customer when I go to quote for a driveway is "have you got any plans to do any work on the rear of your property?" If the answer is yes then I always advise them to start at the back and work forward to prevent any damage to the new driveway. Any reputable installer would do the same.

[lutonlagerlout]

not sticking up for little jimmy and his ilk but the rating for a standard domestic driveway is 3.5tonnes

if a 20tonne lorry drives on it then its game over

we have had this with skips before where the client wanted the skip near the house and the skip lorry did similar to their drive

I am still interested in is your road wide or tight

I cannot imagine why the driver would have felt the need to back on the drive unless it is very tight

LLL