Council’s dossier 170 pages long... to fight gran’s £226 claim for a broken windscreen!
WHEN a council worker accidentally smashed a window on her car, great-grandmother Rita Thomas assumed it would be a simple matter to resolve.
But when she asked for £226 to replace the rear windscreen, a barrister drew up a dossier running to an astonishing 170 pages to reject her claim.
Yesterday relatives of the 89-year- old widow condemned Bristol City Council for ‘intimidating’ her and wasting taxpayers’ money.
Mrs Thomas said the window of her Volkswagen Up! was shattered by a stone which flicked up as a council worker mowed grass outside her home.
The charity shop volunteer claimed he apologised and gave her a number for the authority’s insurance team.
Yet her family said the council, which has been told to cut spending by £100million, denied all responsibility. So, with their help, Mrs Thomas filed a county court claim for the £226.80 bill for a new windscreen.
But the council instructed a law firm and a barrister drew up the huge document to explain why it was denying blame for the incident last August.
Mrs Thomas’s son-in-law Richard Parsons, 63, said: ‘It seems a little over the top, particularly as the council have not denied that their worker caused the damage.
‘A 170-page ring-binder contained the statement of the employee, one from his supervisor, the operating instructions for the lawnmower and the council’s health and safety policy. When Rita received it, she was very upset. She is not in good health, she has a heart condition, and has been extremely intimidated. I am absolutely horrified the council is spending what could be a huge amount of money.
‘I have taken informal advice from a solicitor who thinks the council is spending thousands. She could have claimed through her insurance but would have had to pay the excess for damage which was not her fault. It is a total waste of taxpayers’ money.’
Mr Parsons, a property consultant, of Stoke Bishop, Bristol, said he has spent a ‘great deal’ of time on the case which is also costing £60 in fees. Mrs Thomas, who lives in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, has four children, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A council spokesman said: ‘ We don’t believe we are liable because we have not been negligent. Officers carried out all the correct inspections and their equipment was in full working order.
‘We don’t believe we should pay when we’ve done nothing wrong. To do so would cost far more than defending the small number of claims which go to court.’
The case will be heard at Bristol County Court this week.
‘She was upset and has been intimidated’