Council worker 'smashed car window with lawnmower then tried to cover it up'
A council worker has been accused of smashing a car window with a lawnmower then trying to cover it up.
Jay Elton, 31, from Willerby, East Yorkshire, said his local council has refused to compensate him even though he claims he caught the worker on camera damaging his car.
He woke up on 6 September to find the window of his car shattered.
When he reviewed his doorbell’s CCTV footage, he said it was caused by a council worker cutting grass on a lawnmower in the area that morning.
Elton said, from the video footage, that it looked like something had got stuck in the gears of the lawnmower and was propelled at his car window, causing it to break.
He said the video showed the council worker returning with stones from his front garden and placing them around the car in an apparent attempt at a cover-up.
The father-of-two said: "It was really deceitful, he was trying to make it look like it was our fault in some way."
He said East Riding of Yorkshire Council denied liability and refused to compensate him for the damage, insisting the worker carried out necessary checks to ensure there were no hidden objects in the grass.
But Elton added: “I put an insurance claim in and found out yesterday that I will not be getting it because they claim he had checked the area before mowing the area. But I can see in my camera that he did not.
“I feel really sad as a council taxpayer that this is how we are treated.
“Accidents are accidents, we can all live with them, but this sly, sneaky behaviour is not acceptable and not for council taxpayers."
Elton said he must pay £550 to repair the car and has been forced to sell his five-year-old daughter’s pony to pay for a new window.
“I have had to walk my daughters to school in the rain because the car window is broken,” he said.
“It's been raining and the back of the car would get soaking wet because there is no window there.”
A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: "The incident is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the council and its insurers and therefore we are unable to comment at this time."