My neighbours love to set off fireworks, but it scares my two cats.
They do it every Bonfire Night and, if previous years are anything to go by, they will set them off on New Year’s Eve, too.
My cats will be terrified all evening and try desperately to get out of the house and run away.
I’ve told the neighbours my cats don’t like it, but they don’t seem to care.
Is there anything I can do about this?
T. R., by email.
Ordeal: A reader’s cats are being left terrified by their neighbours frequent firework displays
Dean Dunham replies: Unfortunately, the law is of little help when it comes to neighbours setting off fireworks in their garden.
In fact, a law known as the Fireworks Regulations 2004 specifically allows private individuals to set off fireworks at home so long as they do so before 11pm.
This restriction is loosened to midnight on Bonfire Night and 1am on New Year’s Day. So, if your neighbours are sticking to those times, they’re not breaking the law.
However, if they are letting them off after these hours, or behaving recklessly (pointing the fireworks towards your property, for instance, or acting in a way that puts your safety in danger), you can report them to your council’s environmental health department or even the police.
The latter can issue fines of up to £5,000 or imprisonment for misuse.
If you take this route, though, you will need to have evidence, which will typically mean photographs or videos that clearly show the reckless act. If time is the issue, you will need to prove when the fireworks were let off.
My key advice when it comes to issues with neighbours is to avoid a fallout at all costs. Even though your initial chat has not worked, I would urge you to try again and see if a compromise can be reached.
Finally, some people may tell you to report this to the local authority as a ‘statutory nuisance’.
Such a complaint will rarely go anywhere, as local authorities tend to act on these complaints only when the ‘nuisance’ has been ongoing, rather than for one or two nights, as here.
Insurer won’t help with lost passport
We booked a holiday to Iceland. On the day we were due to fly, my husband, who has dementia, couldn’t remember where he left his passport.
We had to cancel the trip and we still haven’t found the passport. We had travel insurance on which I declared he had dementia, but the insurer refused to pay the claim even though I got a letter from my husband’s doctor.
The insurer says it will only pay if his passport was stolen. Is this fair?
I. S., Scotland.
Dean Dunham replies: Most policies cover cancellation if you are unable to travel due to illness, injury or loss of documents through theft, but they will typically not cover you where you have ‘lost’ or ‘mislaid’ something.
So, on the face of it, the insurer here does not appear to have done anything wrong.
But you should check the terms and conditions or ask the insurer to send you the cancellation section so you can be sure that ‘lost’ documents are not covered.
That said, there is potentially an argument you can run here. Because you declared your husband’s dementia and the insurer accepted the policy, they had a duty to consider how his condition might affect his ability to travel.
It therefore follows that if they intended to exclude cover for incidents linked to his dementia, as is clearly the case here, they should have made that explicit in writing when they accepted your application.
This then potentially becomes a ‘key term’ of the contract under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) 2015. The law states that key terms must be made prominent before you sign a contract, and if this doesn’t happen they cannot be enforced.
I suggest you formally appeal the decision, pointing out that your husband’s dementia, a declared medical condition, directly contributed to the loss, and that the insurer’s reasoning amounts to disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 and a breach under the CRA.
If it still refuses, escalate your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which has a history of siding with consumers in similar cases. This is a novel argument that may not work, but is worth a try.
SAVE MONEY, MAKE MONEY
Sipp cashback
Sipp cashback
£200 when you deposit or transfer £15,000
4.53% cash Isa
4.53% cash Isa
Trading 212: 0.68% fixed 12-month bonus
£20 off motoring
£20 off motoring
This is Money Motoring Club voucher
Free shares bundle
Free shares bundle
Get free UK shares worth up to £200
4.45% Isa with bonus
4.45% Isa with bonus
Now with no penalty for withdrawals
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence. Terms and conditions apply on all offers.
