Insurance-type question (5 replies)

To try to save a my old dad a few quid, who was moving house on Friday, I hired a van. I live up a narrow lane and clipped a commercial wheelie bin that was parked at the entrance to the lane, making it two or three feet narrower than it should be.

Hoping it would only be a scuff that was easily polished out, I was horrified to find a crease across two panels. In my haste, I hadn't taken out any extra insurance so was hit with a £750 bill. Which was fair enough.

Coincidentally, the chap at the van hire company is also a local councillor, so I asked whether the takeaway in question was allowed to leave their bin there given that they have a gated yard just a couple of metres away. He said it depends on who owns the land (I don't think it's an adopted lane), and what their lease says.

Strangely, the next morning the whole bin area (for the lane's residents (the takeaway is technically in another street)) had been tidied-up and the takeaway's bin was inside the compound, which it hardly ever seems to be. I'm guessing, with it being a small town, where everyone knows each other, that the councillor had 'had a word'.

Do I have any chance of getting the takeaway to shoulder the blame and reimburse my £750 and if so where do I start?!