Smashed windscreen in Storage

[Cliffy]

 

Just got a nice Xmas present, went to check the MH which is in storage at Gold CASSOA site and the screen was smashed, big bullet in the centre but not all the way through. Staff at the storage said they have checked the videos for the last couple of days and can not see anything or anyone near the van. (It could have happened up to a week ago.There was a cobble by the side of the van which makes me think that it was the missile that had been thrown at it. Saying that it has been very windy over the last couple of days, could it have been something picked up by the wind that broke the screen?

 

I have arranged for it to be repaired through the insurance company at a cost of £60.

 

I have also informed the police and got a log number just in case there are any problems.

 

Do I need to do anything else?

 

Have I got any chance of getting any compensation from the storage company?

 

Photo attached for your reference.

 

[Guest pelmetman]

It ain't been that windy *-)...............and the hit looks to be smack in the middle of the screen :-|...............

 

No video evidence either of low flying cobbles :-S.................sounds like cobblers to me...........but at least a screen is easy to replace ;-)

[Brian Kirby]

For what would you need compensating? Your screen will be replaced at a cost to you of £60, which is presumably the excess on glass breakage. You get a nice new screen. Depending on what the storage contract says about damage while stored, you may be able to claim back your out-of-pocket £60. If you can, it will probably come from their insurers. But compensation?

 

The main issue would seem to me to be the source of the stone. If the whole site is surrounded by loose stones, and the locals have a habit of hefting them into the compound, you may wish to consided an alternative storage location. Speak to the site owners/managers. If it has never happened before, and it was simply a matter of a drunken yobbo and an odd stone within his reach, you are in some respects a bit fortunate in your misfortune. Had that brick landed on the roof of your van it would not have been visible, but the damage might have resulted in leakage - not discovered 'till much later. Had it hit the bonnet you would have been confornted by the choice between a knock out and fill repair, or a new bonnet. As it is, windscreens are relatively easy to replace, and the new one will be better than the old. Very annoying, to be sure, but in some ways, a lucky escape. It could have been worse.

[Cliffy]

Brian Kirby - 2013-12-28 5:54 PM

 

For what would you need compensating? Your screen will be replaced at a cost to you of £60, which is presumably the excess on glass breakage. You get a nice new screen. Depending on what the storage contract says about damage while stored, you may be able to claim back your out-of-pocket £60. If you can, it will probably come from their insurers. But compensation?

 

The main issue would seem to me to be the source of the stone. If the whole site is surrounded by loose stones, and the locals have a habit of hefting them into the compound, you may wish to consided an alternative storage location. Speak to the site owners/managers. If it has never happened before, and it was simply a matter of a drunken yobbo and an odd stone within his reach, you are in some respects a bit fortunate in your misfortune. Had that brick landed on the roof of your van it would not have been visible, but the damage might have resulted in leakage - not discovered 'till much later. Had it hit the bonnet you would have been confronted by the choice between a knock out and fill repair, or a new bonnet. As it is, windscreens are relatively easy to replace, and the new one will be better than the old. Very annoying, to be sure, but in some ways, a lucky escape. It could have been worse.

 

 

 

Brian

 

By compensation I did mean just the £60 or a reduced annual fee for next year. I thought the COSAA registration may have had some sort of guarantee scheme, I do realise that if it had been a body work repair it would have been much worse but I have not checked the roof so I will do that ASAP.

 

The storage is down a 1 km dead end single track private road across farm land and 400 mtrs away from any other road. I would not class the cobble as a stone it was a pitch marker as used in block paving. My van is one of about 150 on site which do not appear to have suffered any damage. There are no trees in front of the van for as far as the eye can see just other vans fields and hills. North East England is all terrace houses and industrial waste land as some would think.

 

The police have just phoned to say they are classifying it as criminal damage for their records in case any more issues are reported or witnesses come forward..

 

 

[Guest pelmetman]

Cliffy - 2013-12-28 7:28 PM

 

The police have just phoned to say they are classifying it as criminal damage for their records in case any more issues are reported or witnesses come forward..

 

 

Not surprised as the evidence appears to be of criminal damage...... rather than wind blown cobbles *-)..............

 

As for this Gold star watchamercallit...... no doubt another unenforced industry led con trick badge to stick on the advert *-)................

 

I'd take our camper elsewhere unless they're happy to cough up for your out of pocket expenses :-|

[nowtelse2do]

Sorry about the damage cliffy but as been said, if no more damage then things aren't to bad. What seems a bit strange is that nobody has been having a walk around checking on things, I would have thought security would have noticed something like that.

 

Dave

[Cliffy]

nowtelse2do - 2013-12-28 7:41 PM

 

Sorry about the damage cliffy but as been said, if no more damage then things aren't to bad. What seems a bit strange is that nobody has been having a walk around checking on things, I would have thought security would have noticed something like that.

 

Dave

 

It is a family run business and I think that being Christmas they were not around the site that much, probably cabined up in their bungalow next to the compound entrance and who could blame them. They had another problem earlier in the week someone had parked their old caravan without the legs down and the wind blew round it in to the sparkly new one parked next to it . So someone is worse off than me.

[Guest pelmetman]

Cliffy - 2013-12-28 8:22 PM

 

nowtelse2do - 2013-12-28 7:41 PM

 

Sorry about the damage cliffy but as been said, if no more damage then things aren't to bad. What seems a bit strange is that nobody has been having a walk around checking on things, I would have thought security would have noticed something like that.

 

Dave

 

It is a family run business and I think that being Christmas they were not around the site that much, probably cabined up in their bungalow next to the compound entrance and who could blame them. They had another problem earlier in the week someone had parked their old caravan without the legs down and the wind blew round it in to the sparkly new one parked next to it . So someone is worse off than me.

 

Which to me sounds like they're not supervising the coming and goings on and off their "gold star" security site *-)................

 

If that's the case......... they barely rate a milk monitors badge in my book :-|

[Cliffy]

 

It is monitored by cameras and has two substantial vehicle gates but individuals could get in by walking across the fields and bridging the moat and embankments. I have no fear of having the van pinched but I do worry about it being broken in to. I did not expect vandalism.

[Mel B]

Hi Cliffy, sorry about your van's damaged, most annoying ... I know from experience! 8-)

 

First, go back to the storage company and tell them you expect them to pay for the £60 excess, you pay fees to ensure your van is 'safe' from vandalism etc and if they are genuinely doing what is required to meet the requirements of the scheme they should be patrolling, not just oggling at monitors! Keep calm though, if that doesn't get you anywhere ask for the details of the scheme so that you can contact them and take it up with them as they are supposed to be ensuring that the storage company meets the requirements of their scheme, so if their inaction means they haven't (which it sounds like as they SHOULD have been able to tell YOU about the damage, rather than you find it!), then you should have some comeback on them. It al hinges, of course, on what it actually says in the info you got regarding how 'secure' the site is and what you could reasonably expect to be included. Having a MH vandalised in secure storage compound means that something has gone wrong or not been done!

[Guest Had Enough]

This site will have the highest security standards with extremely secure gates, high fences and constant video surveillance. Gold Standard CASSOA sites have an impeccable record when it comes to caravan theft as it's virtually impossible. To suggest that the site was lax in not having 24 hour permanent patrols is utterly unreasonable. This would mean a team of at least four people to cover 24 hours a day and the days off and holidays for the team. The cost of storage would go up enormously and would make little difference, as a patrolling night watchman can see less than several well-placed video cameras, which probably cover the whole site.

 

And what would it achieve anyway? Theft is almost impossible, so do we think it reasonable to have permanent 24 hour patrols, 365 days a year, just in case there's the odd chance of a random act of vandalism, and if there is vandalism it would probably occur from outside the fence by hooligans throwing rocks over it. Perhaps the site should be made to have patrols outside as well? Where would it end!

 

Legally, the OP hasn't got a leg to stand on. To give an example: If you leave an expensive watch for repair and an arsonist torches the watchmaker's premises, the watchmaker will not be responsible for your loss, as long as he has has taken all reasonable precautions to safeguard your property. The law states that you still have a responsibility for your own goods, even if you leave them with a third party and this is why you should insure them.

 

But instead of some of the rather insulting comments made by those who haven't really thought this out, or who automatically apportion blame to the site owner, let's look at the evidence.

 

This site is at the end of a one kilometre dead-end road and 400 metres from any other road. It even has a moat that needs to be crossed! We are expected to believe that a vandal would go to all the trouble of breaking in to the site for the purpose of lobbing a stone through the window of one motorhome. None were broken into, nothing was stolen and it appears that the security cameras have recorded no evidence of a person or persons wandering around the site. And surely the very visible cameras would deter casual hooligans anyway?

 

Now let's look at the damage. The window appears to have been hit by a large object but there is no other damage to the bonnet or the rest of the bodywork. If a large stone hit the windscreen it would then bounce back and damage the bonnet, or at the least scratch the paintwork as it tumbled off the side of the 'van.

 

The question I would be asking is: Is this site in the flight path of any aircraft? Lumps of ice falling off planes is not uncommon and, if a lump of ice hit the windscreen it would shatter into small pieces, which would explain why there is no further damage to the bonnet or other body work.

 

But whatever the reason, this knee-jerk disparaging of the site is unreasonable and unthinking. Sites carrying this level of security (Gold CASSOA) are well run and of the highest security standards and, as the OP has himself said, he has no fear of his 'van ever being stolen.

 

As another has said, he's actually been quite lucky. If whatever caused the damage had landed on the roof he'd have been in for a big insurance claim and loss of NCB etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[George Collings]

Take a hard look at the impact point. A stone or lump of concrete.brick will have left some probably small trace. If there is absolutly nothing then it could well be due to a lump of ice falling from an aircraft. Laminated glass is designed to shatter after absorbing the energy from a human head hitting it at 30 mph. A fist size lump of ice doing perhaps a 100mph after falling from a great height would have far greater kinetic energy and have gone right through rather than just leave the dent shown.

 

My estimate of 100mph is based on the fact that a human in free fall gets up to about 125mph before aerodynamic drag balances the force of gravity.

[Guest Had Enough]

George Collings - 2013-12-28 10:51 PM

 

.A fist size lump of ice doing perhaps a 100mph after falling from a great height would have far greater kinetic energy and have gone right through rather than just leave the dent shown.

 

 

Not necessarily. If a lump of ice hit a windscreen full on (at ninety degrees) it may well go through it, although I'm not even convinced of that. A lot would depend on the size of the lump. It may only have been an inch or two wide.

 

But a lump of ice falling from a plane would have hit the screen at a very acute angle and then would have shattered. A windscreen is almost vertical so the angle of impact would be very acute.

[Will86]

Everyone assumes it was hit by an object while at the site. Why? Its quite possible an object nicked the screen when driving to the site and before it was parked. Then if it were windy or the vehicle began to settle after being parked, OR possible changes in air temperature, the body may have flexed thereby increasing the glass stresses finally causing a complete break.

[Cliffy]

 

I went back to the storage today a little bit calmer than yesterday to look at possible roof damage as suggested by Brian and others.

 

The roof itself was fine but I noticed what I had missed yesterday the front of the Luton had been heavily scrubbed exposing the Glass reinforcement below the gel coat, Investigating further near by the van I found a heavy duty coil spring which was identical to one I found in the scuttle yesterday. Looking further a field and using my tracking skills I found another six or so springs just over the embankment but inside the moat. I now suspect that toe rags unknown (scrappers) have come on to the site found something big which they fancied and man handled it through the site to the area outside the camera view to disassembled it into smaller lighter bits of probably aluminium to carry across the fields to the road,. In the process they dropped the assembly on my van as they tried to get through to the perimeter dyke.

 

I am thinking stolen item could be a trampoline or something similar. Does any one recognise the type of spring from any other piece of kit. I will be asking the site manager on Tuesday when I am up there getting the new screen fitted if their kids have lost anything.

 

 

[Pampam]

I know this sounds daft but on the telly the other night they showed a trampoline hurtling down the street in the gale force winds we've just had .... You don't think it could be something like that smacking into your van then being carried away by the wind ? Pp I lost a window cover off mine it had blown to the perimeter fence :(

[George Collings]

It the light of the latest postings it seems very likely that the damage was caused by a free range trampoline.

 

I wonder if it showed up on air traffic control radar.

 

 

[Guest Had Enough]

George Collings - 2013-12-30 11:49 AM

 

It the light of the latest postings it seems very likely that the damage was caused by a free range trampoline.

 

I wonder if it showed up on air traffic control radar.

 

 

But why is there no damage to the bonnet where any object that hit the screen could be expected to drop? And could a small spring measuring about five inches long have caused this kind of damage?

 

The truth is we'll probably never know for sure what caused it. What is also very odd is that the site will have video surveillance so I would expect there to be evidence of a gang of youths carrying a trampoline or something similar off the site!

 

Teeside airport may be very close and I'd still like to know if planes fly over the site.

[George Collings]

I doubt it was just a spring. I was thinking in term of the whole trampoline cartwheeling through the air shedding springs as it went.. Ours has a tubular steel frame and is 2m across. Dropped from a hight it would easily be capable of inflicting the damage shown. Considering the recent gales I doubt it stopped to give insurance details and may have made it as far as Holland.

 

It appears to me that the overcab is made up from an upper and lower moulding with the upper overlapping the lower. The two are probably bonded together with the same resin used in the mouldings.

 

The damage is to where the overlap occurs and where the total thickness is effectivly doubled. The area is lightly stressed. If it were mine Iwould sand down just enough to get a thin coat of filer on sand down and refinish with plastic primer filler and top coat. The biggest trouble will be colour matching as white comes in scores of shades. Its the one area where an experienced professional earns his keep.

 

 

 

 

[Alan D]

I used to keep my mh also in a Cassoa Gold storage, although mine was inside under cover. I withdrew it when the cost got to £550 p/a.

The security was exceptional and to my mind, totally secure.

However there was an incident where a vintage rolls royce owner got his foot stuck on the accelerator and smashed into a very expensive power boat and trailer demolishing both at a cost of tens of thousands. I do not know the outcome but I heard the boat owner was very upset.

So, even inside accidents can happen.

Alan

[Billggski]

Have you discounted a frozen turd falling from a passing plane?

The remnant of a meteorite?

A kamikaze pigeon?

 

More likely than flying trampolines methinks.

[Bulletguy]

From OP's info i think he's just going to have to cough up the £60 excess, have the screen fitted and forget about it. If vandalism is still suspected then maybe look for another storage site? But without solid evidential proof i can't see how he could claim against the site owner.

 

It could be worse. I once had two windscreens go in one week! The insurance were very good about it but the irony was they both got broke by the same way, stone flirted up from a vehicle, driving the same road and almost at the same place!

[laimeduck]

In your photo, "general damage" there is what looks like a brick on the ground to the left of the passenger door. That would seem a more likely missile which would cause the damage we see?

 

 

[Will86]

Someone thought it was Nov 5th and made a Catherine Wheel withy springs attached.

[George Collings]

I take it that those who find the flying trampoline idea hard to believe have never had the terror of being outdoors in force 10+ . I have seen flat roofs going airborne and been blown off my feet on occasions.