I've got fully comp and this includes 'legal cover'. Since the Pug is worth about tuppence ha'penny this may be a bit of overkill but it only added about £3 to insuring the thing.
On Monday I arrived at work and the easiest (easy)spot for me to get into was next to a badly parked Jeep that was straddling two spots slightly. The car park at work is huge for historical reasons but everyone clusters in the corner nearest the main gate because we're all lazy buggers. My car, being small, slotted straight into the middle of the the slot next to Mr. Can'tbearsedtoparkproperly.
When he finished his shift he found that some bastard had parked beside him in spite of his attempt to make sure he took up 2 slots to prevent anyone from scratching his mobile extension. So he wandered around the car a bit and then let the front tyre down. Petty, but then so was my parking deliberately *very* well. Then he wandered round the car a few more times and had a go at the locks. I'd forgotten to make sure the boot was locked so he entered my little hatchback that way and stole my camera. Then he got into his car and drove away.
His first mistake was to let my tyre down while a witness was running to a meeting and checking her watch. His second mistake was doing this in front of a variety of CCTV cameras.
The camera is worth at least twice what the car is worth.
The police watched the CCTV footage and a PNC check told us that Mr. Simon Daysch was the cuplrit. The police wanted to arrest him on Tuesday evening but failed for whatever reason So he came to work on Wednesday. By that time I'd managed to find out that he works for 'Smart Business Solutions' and moves trailers around for a distribution company that operate on our site. With that information our security were able to warn me when he came back with his tractor unit so he was detained until the police could arrive. Informing the police and getting them to arrest him short circuited their system as it were so the lines of communication broke a bit.
They managed to make their stats look good and avoid complicated things like trials by getting him to accept a conviction of criminal damage and a fine. They avoided the theft charge by seizing the camera from his home and returning it to me (after 3 days of a lot of work by me to get it back).
What they didn't do is ask me anything about my costs or try to get them back. Due to the slope, the tyre that was let down suffered wall damage from the rim resting on it and had to be replaced.
I'm hoping that I can give Direct line a call and advise them with the crime number and they'll go recover the costs using the legal cover. Is this right?
Warwick