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Below are a selection of stories from
THE LOSS ADJUSTER magazine that have featured Carmichaels:
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| £1M
Subsidence Payout To Concentrate Minds? |
 Loss
adjusters hope that the £1m which Westminster
had to pay up to Ecclesiastical Insurance for the
underpinning costs of a luxury block will concentrate
the minds of local authority claims managers and
their insurers.
Despite repeated complaints from Maida Vale residents,
the local authority had refused to have the tree
removed in line with its tree preservation policy.
Subsidence expert Keith Curling, a partner with
Carmichaels, says, "Far too often when we ask
for co-operation from local authorities they just
ignore us which, as in this case just makes matters
worse. Mostly we are not asking for the tree to
be cut down but to be cut back. If this case concentrates
minds and makes both local authorities and their
insurers take this matter more seriously then some
good has come out of the case.
Loss adjuster Graham High of Subsyst says, I hope
this case makes local authorities start dealing
with these problems at a lower and less expensive
level. Too often their response is slow and legalistic
which in the end just adds to the damage and the
legal costs. I hope this case will bring these cases
higher up their agenda".
But Giles Hollingsworth, based in Essex says, "Sometimes
I do have sympathy for councils since there are
limits on what they can spend and they do have a
responsibility for preserving trees. However some
do not take this subject at all seriously..."
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| Hot Fog Revolution |
Following a fire in a plastic manufacturing company
in East London, corrosive smoke affected an adjacent
plant hire company. Carmichaels called in damage
control experts Restorex, to institute emergency
procedures to reduce secondary damage.
Restorex pointed out that the effects of plastic
burning creates chloride which can form into hydrochloric
acid. This causes rust to form. The photograph
shows a Restorex operator using a "revolutionary
chemical hot fog" which fills the entire
premises and condenses on metallic surfaces, leaving
a protective film which lasts for three weeks.
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| When
The Cheats' Claim Is No Claim |
The latest trend in insurance fraud is for a claimant
who has committed arson or fabricated a loss to
tell the police and the fire brigade that they were
not insured even though they are making a claim.
This immediately reduces the chances of an investigation,
already low, to almost zero.
In some parts of the country as many as 20 per
cent of burglaries involve claimants falsely telling
the police they have no insurance.
John Wagstaffe, head of the anti-fraud unit at the
ABl, says, “We are at present doing pilot
exercises with three police forces to try and stop
both those who make up burglaries and notify the
police for insurance purposes and those who tell
the police or fire brigade they are not insured
to reduce the chances and quality of investigation.
By increasing the co-operation between the emergency
services and insurance companies, we hope to eradicate
these frauds. The police feel that their burglary
figures are being artificially inflated and are
pleased to be involved.”
Typical of this trend was the case which A Carmichaels
Loss Adjuster, a partner with Carmichaels, recently
investigated on behalf of Wellington Personal Insurance.
“It was a fire in a large garage in which,
it was alleged, £100,000 of goods were being
stored. The fire brigade had been very prompt and
put the fire out before it could do its worst and
the police, when told there was no insurance, rather
lost interest: after all, with no loss of life and
little physical damage this was hardly a priority.
“Warning bells started to ring when I found
it difficult to work out how so much of value
could have been in the garage while a car was
also in there. The landlord had also told me that
the garage user was behind on her rent and had
told the police the premises were not insured.
In fact, the cover had recently been substantially
increased.”
After discussions with Wellington Claims manager
Andrew Redmayne it was agreed that the emergency
services and the insurance company's forensic
experts be asked to take a closer look.
Last month the tenant was found guilty of arson
and is waiting to be sentenced. |
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