Couple row with council after branch crashes though roof
- Published
The oak collapsed into the outbuilding in the summer
A row has broken out between a couple and a local authority after an overhanging branch plunged through the roof of their outbuilding.
Homeowners Alan and Angela Muggleton want Caerphilly council - which owns the tree - to repair the structure.
But on Saturday the couple, of Pengam, Caerphilly, received a letter from the authority saying it was not liable and would not be covering the cost.
Mum-of-two Mrs Muggleton said it would cost £5,000 to fix the outbuilding.
The 69-year-old said the oak tree was in full leaf when the bough snapped off.
"We had the letter on Saturday morning from the council in which they admitted it was their tree," she said.
"I was incensed. To me it was black and white. My building, their tree.
"I rang their insurance department today and read the letter his colleague had written and he said, 'we can't be liable because we have not been negligent'."
Angela Muggleton, pictured with husband Alan, said they would have been killed had they been inside the outbuilding
"Normally we are back and forth getting the mowers out, because it was on Sunday morning," she said.
"Had we been in there we would have been killed."
Mrs Muggleton said they could not afford to repair the building, which was damaged in August.
"The guy told me to go through home insurance," she said.
"Our premiums will go up with a big claim like that. We've had quotes for nearly £5,000."
The council says it is not liable for the damage
On top of that, she said £2,000 of damage had been caused to tools, machinery and furniture stored inside.
The letter, signed by a council insurance officer, accepted the oak was on local authority property but said "the failure of the tree was not foreseeable".
The council said it was "continuing to liaise with the property owner".
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