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Who is liable for accident damage on a building site?
My son works as a joiner on a building site. Today a forklift driver backed into his car and caused damage to tailgate, window and bumper. When the forklift driver told him what he'd done, my son asked who would sort out the damage to his vehicle. After some discussion between various site managers (as there is more than one company working on the site), he was told by the forklift driver's manager that his car should not have been parked there, it should have been parked in the car park. My son told me he doesn't park in car park because it is miles away and he would be losing money running back and to for tools all day. Surely, somebody is liable for the damage, whether it should have been parked there or not. Please advise what we need to do.
Asked on 6 April 2017 by Mary Turton
Answered by
Honest John
The owners of the forklift and the employers of the forklift driver are liable. It becomes a little more complicated on private ground, but ultimately they are liable. He needs to contact their company and request their public liability insurance details, as the forklift may not be registered or insured, though some are. Did he check to see if had a registration plate on it? If it did, it may be seen as being an integral part of the tractor unit and trailer if is attached to it for transportation. If so, then it will be on the vehicle fleet insurance. Should the company responsible not provide their details, he can either claim via his own insurance and let them sort it out or claim via the courts, but he would need to evidence his loss by having an independent expert witness/engineer inspect the vehicle.
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