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Claming damages following fire
Hi
I am not expecting to get full legal advice here but at this stage i just want to know if it is worth persuing my claim.
My business has been badly affected by a fire that has started at a garage next door to me. The fire started when the garage's owner was welding a vehicle on a lift without protection or a fire watcher. The fire quickly spread through the building causing total distruction of my premisess and all its content resulting in a total loss. Not only, all my stock, equipment, furniture, etc has been completely destroyed, I have no premisses to trade from at the moment and anything I found suitable is 3 or 4 times the rent cost I have been paying and with less facilities and I simply don't have the cash to comit to a long term lease. And that is not all, my insurance came to an end last week and the renewal premium after the claim has rocketed and went up by more than 60% as a direct result of my claim. Overall, I am out of pocket big time because of no fault of my own. My question is: do I have a base for a personal claim from the garage owner who has personaly caused the fire?
By the way...he has admited that the fire has started as a result of his actions but insist it was an accident. I checked the rules for premises were welding takes place and aparently he should had have a fire watch (a person monitoring) and fire barriers around the area where the welding was taking place. He had none of it. His answer was that he never had it in the twenty odd years that he has been welding!
Any advice will be more than welcome.
Thank you!
I am not expecting to get full legal advice here but at this stage i just want to know if it is worth persuing my claim.
My business has been badly affected by a fire that has started at a garage next door to me. The fire started when the garage's owner was welding a vehicle on a lift without protection or a fire watcher. The fire quickly spread through the building causing total distruction of my premisess and all its content resulting in a total loss. Not only, all my stock, equipment, furniture, etc has been completely destroyed, I have no premisses to trade from at the moment and anything I found suitable is 3 or 4 times the rent cost I have been paying and with less facilities and I simply don't have the cash to comit to a long term lease. And that is not all, my insurance came to an end last week and the renewal premium after the claim has rocketed and went up by more than 60% as a direct result of my claim. Overall, I am out of pocket big time because of no fault of my own. My question is: do I have a base for a personal claim from the garage owner who has personaly caused the fire?
By the way...he has admited that the fire has started as a result of his actions but insist it was an accident. I checked the rules for premises were welding takes place and aparently he should had have a fire watch (a person monitoring) and fire barriers around the area where the welding was taking place. He had none of it. His answer was that he never had it in the twenty odd years that he has been welding!
Any advice will be more than welcome.
Thank you!
