[cheeseandonion]

TLDR; police smashed my door down - how can I claim for the cost of a replacement?

I was renovating my flat (so was staying at my parents at the time) and one morning I went back to the flat, to find that the front door had been smashed in, but also 'repaired' (2 piece of plywood screwed onto either side of the door where the deadbolt had been smashed out.

From what I could see nothing was out of place or missing (bear in mind the place looks like a building site at this point)

I was stumped, I had no idea what had happened. Literally no ideas.

A few days later I missed a call but received a voicemail from a police officer saying that they had attended my property and >that his name was PC X (the way he said he name I could hardly tell what it was). After calling the number of the station he >left and tried a few variations of what I thought he said he name was, I finally manage to speak to the officer a week later.

He said that they were attending the flat above mine for an unrelated reason but saw lots of flies on my bay window (maybe 50 flies - The officer emailed me a picture of the window with the flies on). He said that he thought that someone might be dead inside, so made the decision to gain entry. He said that they found nothing and got my number from a builders merchants receipt that was at the flat. He also joked that he was discussing with his colleagues if there was a body under the fresh concrete, but decided it was too small an area (it was tiny about - 60cm x 30cm).

Anyway, the door was not repairable so I had to get a new one fitted at the cost of £1000.

The £1000 is money that I found difficult to afford.

My question is, I don't feel it's fair that I'm stuck with £1000 bill when I've done nothing wrong. Is there a way to claim the money back from the police?

I'm also wondering if it is normal to gain entry for that reason (even if noone had called anything in) and not to leave anything at the property to say what's gone on there.

I'm not pleased at all with the handling of the situation. It seems odd to allow a homeowner to come back to their house only to find it in that state, without having to leave even a note or a card, or anything.

#gbr #muchy ;p