Cadent Gas refusing to cover costs after an ‘incident’ of their fault (England)
Cadent Gas have been doing work on the street where I live for the past 2 weeks. A few days ago they were using a big truck with an extractor(?!) to get all the dirt (from the hole they had dug) in the truck.
Whilst doing that the truck’s side door opened accidentally and everything fell out of the truck onto my car (parked in a disabled bay, in front of a cafe, which I live above). I went down took photos straight away, cafe also has cctv of the whole thing. I watched it and it was like an apocalypse type of thing to watch - customers from cafe below running away from the cloud of dirt that engulfed the surroundings..
The staff was apologetic and told me to call CS and ask for them to cover the costs for the car wash (£63 with a blue light discount) And my flat windows are also affected so that would need cleaning too.
Have a hospital appointment in 2 days and I cannot leave my car like this. I have a child and an elderly relative. My car is in a state that I don’t think the photos convey how bad it is.
Because it’s also gone on the inside the car wash I had to book was expensive (for me) and i would have never paid so much (as I would do everything myself usually if I could, especially the inside), but since I need someone to do it professionally and I’m pressed for time AND needed a place that gives receipts I had to book that one. I went by the ground staff telling me if I could get a receipts for it all the company will reimburse. Also the guy from CS ,who logged my complaint ,told me that’s what usually happens. He even suggested I wait for them to call me because sometimes they take the cars to sort them out themselves and bring it back etc. So I was reassured and tried to not stress over it but now I do and I’m livid.
—Got a voicemail early morning today stating she is the one dealing with my issue and she had spoken to her supervisor who said they will not offer compensation of any sort due to the fact it’s emergency works. If I am not happy I could call their CS number back but she’s sorry.
Have to note - there were no signs put to warn about this happening. I.e to remove the X amount of cars from X amount of spaces starting with the disabled bay, during a specified timeframe and date given. Usually when work is done emergency or not they have (companies, council etc) have ALWAYS put this type of signs and I have always removed my car if advised so. The staff who worked that day apologised and said that has almost never happened and if they knew they would have put up a sign.
(I’ve AuDHD and for me stress is amplified to a degree that I cannot explain, and when something is not fair? Yeah. Then too. The stress, the money that I can’t really afford to spare for this but HAVE TO)
Do I have any right to fight this or?
Posted Aug 3, 2026, 10:52 AM UTC