I would like to share an experience I am going through which proves that one can be an innocent victim yet still pay a hefty price.

My car was parked outside a house in my road, which is in the process of being renovated and is up for sale, in Gharghur.

On 17 November, at approximately 7.15pm, there was a knock on my door. A man who is an estate agent told me he had opened a window of the house, under which my car was parked, that had fallen off and on to my windscreen, shattering it. He was very polite and gave me his details admitting liability.

The next morning I called the garage from where I had purchased the new car and which has carried out every regular service since. They advised me that they did not have a spare windscreen in stock and would have to order one from Germany, which would take 10 days to a fortnight to arrive.

Because my windscreen was so badly shattered, I was unable to drive my car and locked it in my garage until the replacement arrived. Meanwhile, I hired a small car because I needed to be mobile. My insurance company advised me that I would only be covered for the car hire for the days that my car was in the garage being repaired, so I assumed (a dangerous thing to do) that the owner of the house who caused the damage would pay for my hired car for the extra days.

The windscreen eventually arrived and my car was taken to the garage on Friday 4 December. Because of the holiday on the 8th I got it back on 9 December. The cost of repairs and the four days car hire that they would cover came to e700, which I paid and am trying to reclaim from the insurance company who are the agents for the person responsible for the damage. A week after they promised to pay, I am still awaiting a refund.

Even when this insurance does eventually pay me, I will still be out of pocket by nearly e300 for the balance of the car hire, which the insurance companies will not pay, and the owner of the house has so far avoided any form of commitment, still claiming that it will be covered by insurance. I have paid out over e1000 and have so far received nothing back for an accident in which I was completely the innocent victim.

So who is guilty here? I know that I am not. I am the innocent victim who has been put through a great deal of unnecessary stress and expense and is still, at the time of writing, awaiting repayment from the insurance company, which, while accepting partial liability, has not even acknowledged either of the two emails I have sent asking when I will be paid.

Simon Walker

(names of companies involved supplied)