[Dick]

Just before Christmas I was working and leant my ladder against next door to where I was working and the lady drove into the drive, parked the car and went inside. I only left my ladder for about 2/3 seconds to pick something up that may have caused an accident and turned round to see my ladder falling due to a gust of wind, and guess where it landed, yes, right across the cars bonnet.
It made a severe dent in the wing and scratched the bonnet. As it made a hellava noise she soon came out to investigate. It wasn't even her car but her partners.
I had to pay for the damage, luckily I knew a motor assessor who managed to get it done quickly and at a good price.
Her partner was happy with everything. It cost me £250 just before Christmas as that is that excess on my PL policy and he agreed to pay the extra £35 as there were some scratches on the front already.
When I'm next in the area I'll try to get them as a new customer so I can recoup some of the cost, but it'll take a few years at £10 a clean!
Luckily I was dealing with a reasonable chap who realised it was a genuine accident and wasn't out to make some money from the situation.
Make sure you take extra care, have sufficient funds to meet this sort of misfortune and have PL cover just in case a bigger claim arises.
However, I think I can put it against expenses for taxation purposes as it's a legitmate cost to the business, am I correct?

Cheers

[AuRavelling79]

Yup! Business expense.

[Paul Coleman]

Just before Christmas I was working and leant my ladder against next door to where I was working and the lady drove into the drive, parked the car and went inside. I only left my ladder for about 2/3 seconds to pick something up that may have caused an accident and turned round to see my ladder falling due to a gust of wind, and guess where it landed, yes, right across the cars bonnet.
It made a severe dent in the wing and scratched the bonnet. As it made a hellava noise she soon came out to investigate. It wasn't even her car but her partners.
I had to pay for the damage, luckily I knew a motor assessor who managed to get it done quickly and at a good price.
Her partner was happy with everything. It cost me £250 just before Christmas as that is that excess on my PL policy and he agreed to pay the extra £35 as there were some scratches on the front already.
When I'm next in the area I'll try to get them as a new customer so I can recoup some of the cost, but it'll take a few years at £10 a clean!
Luckily I was dealing with a reasonable chap who realised it was a genuine accident and wasn't out to make some money from the situation.
Make sure you take extra care, have sufficient funds to meet this sort of misfortune and have PL cover just in case a bigger claim arises.
However, I think I can put it against expenses for taxation purposes as it's a legitmate cost to the business, am I correct?

Cheers

I reckon that excess should be OK to offset against tax.  I had a £100 excess for repairs on my own van a couple of years back and my accountant put that through without a problem.

[JM123]

About 3 years ago I had a brother of a friend working for me - he wasn't a good working but I was doing it as a favour - anyway, I told him - be really careful with the ladders because my excess is £500 and I don't want to be forking out money.  Well on his 2nd day he had the ladders up to 1st floor height (15ft or so) - he left them against a sill and went to get his bucket - ladders fell over on top of a BRAND NEW RANGE ROVER!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!  Total cost of damage - over 4.5K - that was his last day with me.

[Paul Coleman]

About 3 years ago I had a brother of a friend working for me - he wasn't a good working but I was doing it as a favour - anyway, I told him - be really careful with the ladders because my excess is £500 and I don't want to be forking out money.  Well on his 2nd day he had the ladders up to 1st floor height (15ft or so) - he left them against a sill and went to get his bucket - ladders fell over on top of a BRAND NEW RANGE ROVER!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!  Total cost of damage - over 4.5K - that was his last day with me.

Was the ladder alright?

[idealrob]

And people cant afford WFP, only a joke!!!!! i heard of some dole boys doing some window cleaning on Europes biggest housing estate, ladder fell on a brand new jaguar, about £3k of damage they just run and left everything behind. Needless to say the legal window cleaners got a lot more work and more money


idealrob