After a child made a ‘massive dent’ in another person’s car, the mum’s reaction infuriated the driver, who asked others for advice on what they should do and sparked a debate on blame

A child who was ‘being silly’ caused costly damage to another vehicle - but the mum refused to accept blame.

Accidents do happen and children often cause them unintentionally when they get over excited and make daft mistakes. Some of those, though, can be costly and potentially embarrassing for parents or carers if damage is done to someone else’s property.

One person found themselves in this predicament when they were allegedly on the receiving end of a child’s ‘enthusiasm’ while on school property. They were inside their vehicle in a school car park and alongside them was another car - both positioned correctly within markers and not too close to each other.

The driver of one of the cars claimed they noticed a child in the back of the other goofing around, but things got a bit out of hand when they opened the car door. They took to mumsnet to share their story: "The kid in the back of the next car was jumping around a bit and being a bit silly, but then swung their car door out and took a massive dent out of the side of my car," they wrote.

Expecting an apology from the mother of the child, they were shocked when they got anything but and she apparently refused to accept the blame: "The mum of the kid said it was just an accident, and I should claim on my insurance - she wouldn’t give me her insurance details as she said it wouldn’t be covered because her car was stationary and it wasn’t the drivers fault (I suspect she might be right),” they went on.

Explaining that they have a "nice car", the owner of the damaged vehicle said two panels had been affected and it was going to cost a lot to repair. They asked other users of the site if the mum should pay out of her own pocket for the damage caused, despite her insistence that she wasn’t at fault.

Most advised the driver to contact their insurance company immediately: "Phone your insurance company give them her registration and let them sort it out," one said. Another added: "She's being absolutely ridiculous. Her son opened the car door into your car. Her fault! Even accidents can still be someone's 'fault' even if they didn't mean to do something. You need her insurance details." A third agreed: "She should absolutely pay to fix the damage. It's up to her if it goes through her insurance or not. If she won't accept this, I would call your insurance and explain what happened and give her reg number. Let them sort it out."

However the driver said they were concerned their premium would increase, even though they weren’t at fault, and they would end up being penalised financially when it came to future renewals. One user of the site commented: "It's not your fault so it shouldn't affect your insurance. Your insurance company will take it up with hers."

Source:
courtesy of MIRROR

by Beth Hardie

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