good deed !!

[iluvmud]

Went to a xmas fair at a kiddies farm today rubbish weather but little one enjoyed it very busy so a taxi driver decided to turn around on a field to escape the que oh what a very silly thing to do

Ended up getting stuck the farmer wanted 60 quid to tow him off so he refused and called AA ! they turn up 2 hours later and say they cant do ought as they dont have enought rope and wont take van on grass !!
So after 2 and a half hours in the rain were leaving and offer to tow him off for a price as he doesnt have another choice and 2 mins later he is off back onto hard surface (note before i didnt charge as much as the farmer !!)

If only he came and asked me when it happened would have saved him 3 hours !
Landrovers eh what would the world be like without them

[thermidorthelobster]

Is it still a good deed if you charge money for it?  :lol:

[Disco Matt]

Is it still a good deed if you charge money for it?  :lol:

Be fair, he did charge less than the farmer!  :lol:

[Silvery Thing]

That was a nice early Christmas present for him.... well done :D

[iluvmud]

Well i would have done it for nought normally as i have many times before  :? but he had a bit of a attitude and didnt excatcly ask nicely !!
And i still saved him the mad price the farmer was gona charge him !!!!

(his own fault for not been patient and waiting like everyone else too)

[davidlandy]

its a service!

[thermidorthelobster]

Well i would have done it for nought normally as i have many times before  :? but he had a bit of a attitude and didnt excatcly ask nicely !!

Fairy nuff then - if he was getting a bit sparky then I'd say it's fair game!

[barnhill4x4]

Couple of weeks ago I was in a country pub for a meal. As we were leaving I could hear a car wheelspinning very erraticly. It was a vectra that had tried to cross a small grass verge and with the weather he got well and truly stuck. He then proceeded to floor it and made a right mess of the grass, his car and about 6 other cars were covered in mud.
  As one of his mates saw me start the RR he came over and asked politly would I assist? I obliged and drove over to the car, reversed up, attached a strop to my tow bar and looked for the towing eye on the other car. He had an irmscher body kit on the car and there was a flap over the towing eye, I asked the driver (who had not go out of the car) if he had a tool to remove te flap. He replied "I'll do it, I dont want some heavy handed numpty to scratch the f'in paint". He then crouched down with his back to me and started to remove the flap, when he stood up he was amazed to find that the nice chap that had stopped to assist (me) had packed up his strop and was driving off!
  Probably still there now!!

[Wireless]

I just hope iluvmud charged £59.99  :D

Taxi drivers think they are driving gods (we'll gloss over richard hammond in a Bowler), I wouldn't have offered to help, but IF they ask politely, indicate any damage caused by the tow is their responsibility, and pay enough up front to cover wear n tear and fuel, then I might say yes.

barnhill4x4, I'd have done exactly the same after being referred to as a numpty, but then they would have had to be subject to the above conditions.  Any money they paid up front would have been chucked on the ground in the nearest muddy bit!

However, if there's women and kids involved, or a risk of loss of life, then my services are usually offered free, doesn't happen very often.

[Disco Matt]

True - I recall hearing that some 4x4 owners in the USA keep pre-written declarations for anyone they are about to recover to sign. The effect of these being that any damage will not provoke a compensation claim. I've yet to hear of anyone being sued here after a recovery, but with the number of ambulance chasing lawyers we now seem to have I do wonder if it might be a good idea for us to have something similar.

[narked]

Could be a good idea that Matt, especially as we're now getting into the icey/snowy part of the year. Could be worth typing something up and keeping a ruck of 'em in the glovebox ready, and also add in that any damage to your own vehicle as a result of getting them unstuck is down to them too ;)

[Boggert]

Fair play in charging. He would have charged you to move you anywhere... :lol:

[Disco Matt]

Could be a good idea that Matt, especially as we're now getting into the icey/snowy part of the year. Could be worth typing something up and keeping a ruck of 'em in the glovebox ready, and also add in that any damage to your own vehicle as a result of getting them unstuck is down to them too ;)

Snag is, I know nothing about the legal wording that would be needed (and don't have any tame experts who won't charge me to have a look). I suspect it would need to be a little more than "I, the undersigned, hereby agree not to hold *Insert name here* liable for any damage incurred during recovery of my vehicle"

[Silvery Thing]

.... I suspect it would need to be a little more than "I, the undersigned, hereby agree not to hold *Insert name here* liable for any damage incurred during recovery of my vehicle"

I suggest that the above wording, or something quite similar, would certainly be enough, especially if it carries the signature of the person you are recovering :)

[narked]

Would certainly carry more weight than no signed agreement at all!

[crazymac]

Last winter I came across a white van stuck in the road, unable to start, being the nice chap I am I stopped to offer assitance, this equated to a tow to the local garage as he told me his battery was FUBAR.

What I didn't realise was he was a butcher, and had phoned the shop while I was towing him, and one of his staff turned up with a large bag of meat for me (Sirloin steaks, joints, chops the works) which he handed as a thank you :shock:

I was well impressed as the tow wasn't even a half mile, and it was on my way home as well!!

there are some greatful/nice people out there 8)

[Disco Matt]

.... I suspect it would need to be a little more than "I, the undersigned, hereby agree not to hold *Insert name here* liable for any damage incurred during recovery of my vehicle"

I suggest that the above wording, or something quite similar, would certainly be enough, especially if it carries the signature of the person you are recovering :)

Fair enough - might try to find someone tame to run it past. It just seems that legal documents always need more flowery writing, hence my concern!

[3laner]

any mud club lawyers/budding lawyers lurking around to draw us up an agreement!!!?

[andrew2986]

Recovered a transit off a roundabout in grays the other day, he kept asking lots of people to help but they all said no. even had his own tow rope already attatched to his van, traffic was building up behind him everyone getting irate.
I agree that in todays climate that it would make sense to have some kind of waiver to be signed, but I do think its a shame though.....

Andy

[madgaz]

What I didn't realise was he was a butcher, and had phoned the shop while I was towing him, and one of his staff turned up with a large bag of meat for me (Sirloin steaks, joints, chops the works) which he handed as a thank you :shock:

Now that's something you don't hear every day 8)

As for charging the Taxi driver...
...if he had asked politely at first (had it beem me in that possition) I would have gladly obliged as I'm sure you would have.
But for him to think better and waste 3 hours and then ask I would have charge too :lol:

[Disco Matt]

I agree that in todays climate that it would make sense to have some kind of waiver to be signed, but I do think its a shame though.....

Andy

I agree completely. Sad to say, this is now a nation primed by a million "no win, no fee" adverts to sue for anything, so we need to cover ourselves!

[karlo]

I agree that in todays climate that it would make sense to have some kind of waiver to be signed, but I do think its a shame though.....

Andy

I agree completely. Sad to say, this is now a nation primed by a million "no win, no fee" adverts to sue for anything, so we need to cover ourselves!

Yet another American tradition.  :roll:

[hrox]

i must admit.   i usually stop to help out most.  but this is making me think a bit.   still if its a nice young woman whos happy to contribute some numbers to my little black book im sure there wont be a problem!!!

[thermidorthelobster]

I think there's an element of extrapolation going on here.  We DON'T have a "sue everything" society - which is exactly why several of the companies offering no-win, no-fee ambulance chasing lawyers went out of business.

In fact I've heard we're less litigious than other Western European countries.  So I'm not going to go assuming everybody's out to sue me until it actually starts happening.

[crazymac]

The "no win no fee"people, did it by getting you to sign up to a loan, that was repaid from your settlement if the other parties lawyers didn't get it to pay, but that was made illegal a few years ago, which chased a lot of the ambulance chasers out of the running.

now, the no win no fee guys have to actually cover the cost themselves until the case is settled, then they get their fees paid by the other side, if they don't win, tough!! that has served to make them consider their cases more carefully.

We are still way behind the USA in this, but even they are kicking back against it these days. Having said that, has anyone been on a cruise out of Miami?? we did a few years ago, and when we returned there was HUGE billboards on the way out of the harbour area declaring

"FALLEN OVER ON YOUR CRUISE? CALL 1 800 SUE THE CRUISELINE"

we're not that bad yet!

[JumboBeef]

What I didn't realise was he was a butcher, and had phoned the shop while I was towing him, and one of his staff turned up with a large bag of meat for me (Sirloin steaks, joints, chops the works) which he handed as a thank you :shock:

I was working away on business with some others a few years ago, and we all decided to enter a pub quiz just for fun, and the first prize was a whole load of meat, steaks, chops etc.

Guess what, we won!....................but we then had to give the prize away..........we were all working away from home..............

[JumboBeef]

Hi Karlo,

Would you mind reading this thread?

Thanks.

[Niel]

The "no win no fee"people, did it by getting you to sign up to a loan, that was repaid from your settlement if the other parties lawyers didn't get it to pay, but that was made illegal a few years ago, which chased a lot of the ambulance chasers out of the running.

now, the no win no fee guys have to actually cover the cost themselves until the case is settled, then they get their fees paid by the other side, if they don't win, tough!! that has served to make them consider their cases more carefully.

We are still way behind the USA in this, but (snip)
we're not that bad yet!

As one using such a service at the moment, and undergoing physio etc at the other parties insurers expense as part of their cost mitigation strategy, all I can say is it works in your favour if your not a fault!

Niel

[crazymac]

You are of course right, which I said albeit in a less direct way.

I do think that there is a service for these ambulance chasers, that being when there is actual loss of earnings or additional care costs etc, the problem with some of these law suits is that this is not the case!

Take a friend of mine that rents out a coastal cottage to tourists. The cottage has a log fire, and normally he ensures an ample supply of wood for the duration of the stay, however on one occasion the renters had gone through all the wood and phoned him to ask about more, he told them no problem he'd come down a do it, to which the renter asked where the wood was? and could he get it himself? My mate saw no problem in this so told them.

Two weeks later he had a soliciters letter in the post suing him because
"my client """COULD""" have hurt himself on the axe that was in the wood shed"

When this was taken to his own soliciter he was advised to settle out of court by refunding TWICE the amount of the rent paid for the week!!!!

Thats not right!!

as I say though, where there is genuine injuries that will cause problems regarding mobility, care and work then they are entitled to make a claim.

[karlo]

Hi Karlo,

Would you mind reading this thread?

Thanks.

And?