Hi

A large communal council bin hit my car when there were high winds last year. The insurance paid for the repair but I had to pay £100 excess and my no claims has been affected.

I believe the council are responsible as the street is on a hill and they used to have fixings in the road which secured the bins to the road but when the road was resurfaced the fixings were not put back so the only security on the bins were the foot brakes. The flat is in a city centre and the bins were regularly moved around and used to block the one way road by people having had a few drinks.

On the day of the incident the huge bin was stopped by two pedestrians before the bin rolled onto a busy main road.

The council's solicitors have advised that the council were not negligent and liability is denied as the bin men confirmed they applied the brakes after servicing and because there were inclement weather conditions which could have caused the incident and this is out of the councils control.

My insurance have said from the very beginning that it is unlikely a recovery will be made as councils are notorious for not paying up. I received a letter recently to say that esure are closing the claim as their inhouse solicitors have reviewed the claim and think the prospects of making a recovery are low.

The following is an extract from the Environmental Protection Act 1990 Section 34 which refers to Waste Management and the Duty of Care A code of Practice:

This is not something I would normally recommend, but in this instance, I would suggest a call to one of those NWNF companies. If they think you have a shot, they will pursue the council ferociously to get their cut, they are known for their aggressive litigation style, and councils are aware of that. ;-)

Thanks, do you think a NWNF firm would be interested in such a small claim? I'm trying to speak with one that would deal with a case like this but so far they're only interested in personal injury claims...

I'm based in Scotland - does anyone have any suggestions?

It doesn't have to be a specialist NWNF firm. If you do have a case many solicitors will act on a conditional fee arrangement.

Would this be preferable to going the small claims court route?

I don't know what a solicitor would charge but I'm only looking to get back the £100 excess I paid the insurance plus some form of compensation for my loss of no claims.