On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:19:46 +0100, "shazzbat"
wrote:


"Jake" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:10:08 +0100, Janet Tweedy
wrote:

Someone I know has a part time gardener who 'says' he can pruned her
wisteria and rambling roses.

As it's high up, she asked if he was insured, which he said he was.
However in the event of an accident (he'll be using her ladder and
tools) would he be able to claim on her insurance or indeed how do you
make sure he is insured (just in case)

Janet

As for his insurance, if he's a "professional" type he should have
public liability insurance as well as personal insurance (public
liability covering an accident which results in damage to the customer
or the customer's property). Ask to see his certificate. Simples.

But complication - if he is using the customer's ladder, the customer
could be liable if he falls off it. If he's a proper gardening
contractor type he should have his own ladders and should use them.

So ask to see his insurance certificate and tell him to use his own
ladder.

Another thing. If he's going to take away and dispose of the prunings,
ask to see his waste carrier registration certificate. If he doesn't
have one and fly-tips the prunings, then the customer, not he, will
be prosecuted if the source is discovered by the authorities.


Wrong.

Both "could" be prosecuted in accordance with the control of pollution act
19??, but in practice, the householder could easily claim ignorance[1], or
that he/she was told by the gardener that he was licenced etc. In the hugely
unlikely event of him being caught in the act of fly tipping the unlicensed
carrier could be fined{2}and have his vehicle confiscated.

Steve
(former registered waste carrier.)

[1] Yes, I know ignorance is no defence in law, but in the real world can
you see the waste regulation authority taking an elderly lady to court
because someone tipped her cuttings? Me neither.
( Don't tell me it's happened unless you provide a link).

[2] The fine was £2000 last I heard, almost certainly much more now.

Granted Steve, you are right but the dumper is very rarely caught and
here in South Wales (where the authorities routinely "enforce" and
"ignorance" is absolubtely no defence) they look for the extra rubbish
that the "innocent" person has asked the dumper to get rid of at the
same time. I can remember one case of a council chap finding a carrier
bag in the middle of some prunings and almost gleefully producing an
addressed envelope. I don't know the details but he told me later that
the culprit had admitted having their hedge lopped by someone and had
forked out over £1,000 as a result. The majority of cases don't get to
court as the penalties increase (potentially unlimited in the higher
courts) so people pay up.

I was personally involved in a case of dumping on private ground where
the lady who had paid someone to remove her waste was given the option
of paying my client's costs for the proper removal and disposal of the
dumped waste or being taken to court. She took the former option but
still paid well over £1,500 at the end of the process.

Can't speak for the world but the officers I know around here say
these days it's rarely pensioners - they're now so alert to all the
dangers of doorstep trading. The usual "culprits" are in their 30s/40s
and should know better.

And in the real world, when wheelie bins are micro-chipped and
pensioners and disabled people are issued with penalty notices by
councils for putting their rubbish out too early (because the person
who helped them couldn't come round later), do you really think that
the jobsworths will care one hoot about how old someone is? If they
can get a successful prosecution they'll go for it. They advertise it
as a "zero tolerance approach to crime" and so get public support.

Cheers
Jake

http://www.rivendell.org.uk coming soon