Damage to Virgin internet cable and claim by Virgin for compensation

[MP2023]

Hi all, We are small building contractor. One of our guys on site cut the Virgin internet cable by mistake and we received a letter from Virgin, claiming we need to pay £3,600 for fixing the cable. The cost for the fix by engineer was £256, with £26 for materials. But on top of this, they claim over £2K for "contractor costs" and £1,100 for "uplift costs".

The service did not affect many people as most of the building is vacant and it was restored within 5-6 hours. The time it took to fix it was 2 hours.

Is this high claim legal?

Many thanks

Meir

[Buffer6]

It is difficult to determine whether the high claim from Virgin is legal without knowing more about the specific circumstances. Generally speaking, a company can charge for damages caused by another party, but it is important to consider the amount of damage caused and the cost of repairs. In this case, it appears that the damage was limited and the cost of repairs was relatively low. It may be worth exploring whether Virgin's claim for "contractor costs" and "uplift costs" are reasonable in light of the amount of damage caused and the time it took to repair it. If you feel that their claim is excessive, you may want to consider seeking legal advice on how best to proceed.

[goslow]

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@MP2023 wrote:

Hi all, We are small building contractor. One of our guys on site cut the Virgin internet cable by mistake and we received a letter from Virgin, claiming we need to pay £3,600 for fixing the cable. The cost for the fix by engineer was £256, with £26 for materials. But on top of this, they claim over £2K for "contractor costs" and £1,100 for "uplift costs".

The service did not affect many people as most of the building is vacant and it was restored within 5-6 hours. The time it took to fix it was 2 hours.

Is this high claim legal?

Many thanks

Meir

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VM would have to justify what, exactly, the £2k and £1.1k costs were for.

That's what you pay public liability insurance for. Let the insurance companies duke it out.

[MP2023]

Thanks for your reply.

It is hard to determine these as they provided no explanation or a breakdown.

I wanted to know if we can challenge these costs as they seems high compared to the damage or disturbance caused.