We’ve just spent a week in a static caravan on a very nice site in Cornwall. Anyway – one evening I put a candle (in a candle dish) on the mantelpiece of the fire surround and settled down to watch a film. Some time in and we heard a cracking sound. I paused the DVD and had a listen. Nothing more. Some time later there was an almighty crack as a glass shelf above the candle split into two and crashed to the floor taking the candle with it. So we’ve got a broken shelf and candle wax on the carpet. The latter wasn’t qa problem. The former was.

The shelf was about 200mm (maybe more) above the candle but it’s obvious that the glass suffered thermal stress and broke. TBH, I only knew the shelf existed when it fell out in two pieces! We sent a text to the owner explaining the situation and offered to credit her account with £20 to cover the cost of a replacement. This was done. She said thanks for letting her know and she would let us know if the replacement shelf cost more. In other words she’d expect us to stump up more cash.

Now in my opinion, the glass should have been safety glass and a caution label “NO CANDLES TO BE PLACED ON MANTEL” should have been affixed to the mantelpiece. Given that there was a bag of tealights in one of the kitchen drawers, naked flames in general are not prohibited by the owner. I think we have acted fairly and I’m not prepared to pay out any more money for a 100×600 piece of glass.

Your objective opinions please as I am obviously biased.

replaced the glass before leaving from a local glazer.

You sound very conscientious to me. I went around to the place I rent out once to take delivery of a new washing machine. The tenant knew I was coming but said it was OK, she was away for 2 weeks for Christmas. She had left a ton of those plug in scent things going, and even worse had left the tree lights on. Wanted to kick her out but the agency said that was unreasonable. This is the same lady btw that told me that space for the washing machine was some odd size, which sounded weird, so I went around with a tape measure, you don’t really want to get that wrong. Turns out she measured it with her hand, which “I know is 5cm across”.

You broke it, pay up.

Shouldn’t the owner be reimbursing you some money for the failure of the electric lighting systems during your rental, forcing you to use the candles?

P.S notes don’t work on numpties. One of the windows at my flat is hard to get closed again, so had a big padlock on and a note saying DO NOT OPEN PLEASE. Did no good, feckers opened it as “the note wasn’t clear about what would happen” then demanded a workman to fix it. I would have let them freeze and get wet if it wouldn’t have caused damage to the property. It was also “unreasonable” to charge them for the repair.

It should have been toughened glass if it was a shelf.

I thought toughened glass was pretty resistant to heat too, but I may be wrong.

Perhaps they should just label up everything with warning stickers?

You cocked up and you’ve paid to fit it. That’s the end of it surely? The landlady’s not stressing about it, but now you’re looking to absolve yourself of the blame because there was no warning label? REALLY? Come on!

Surely common sense should apply? Otherwise there’d need to be stickers all over the caravan!

– No candles on mantelpiece
– No candles under this curtain
– No candles under that curtain
– Don’t put your head in the oven

etc.

but now you’re looking to absolve yourself of the blame

No he’s not. He’s looking for absolve himself of any further costs over and above the £20 he’s already paid by hoping we’ll all agree with him and he can tell the owner to stick it when they demand another £20.

I don’t think warning stickers do much good. Remember that bloke off here who didn’t read the warning that came with his new grips that said always fit bar plugs, he fell off and ended up with a large bruise and a massive swollen tummy.

What would you have done?

I would never have lit a candle, I have seen the after effects of so many fires involving candles.

They are banned from my house.

If the Daily Mail did caravans, they’d have put a sticker on the mantelpiece 😉

TGA – I like your style.

IMO, the owners shouldn’t have put such an obvious deathtrap up for let.
It’s bloody lethal.

“See Lisa, because of daddy there’s a sign there now”

i would have replaced without telling them tbh

£20 why sweat it?

You can spit roast a baby robin with a cocktail stick and a tea light.

hth.

Glad it wasn’t taken the wrong way. Too late to add a 🙂 by the time I thought about it.

tonyd – Member

– Don’t put your head in the oven

etc.

🙂

wwaswas – Member

You can spit roast a baby robin with a cocktail stick and a tea light.

As long as both you and your friend have tiny knobs.

Now in my opinion, the glass should have been safety glass and a caution label “NO CANDLES TO BE PLACED ON MANTEL” should have been affixed to the mantelpiece. Given that there was a bag of tealights in one of the kitchen drawers, naked flames in general are not prohibited by the owner.

This is a wind-up surely?

Just accept that you had a common sense failure… putting a naked flame underneath a shelf is a daft thing to do under any circumstances.

It’s your fault. Pay up, quit whining and just be thankful you didn’t burn the place down.

mmm roast robin.

Imagine if there had been a notice. “I went on holiday to a static caravan which had all sorts of silly notices. Do I look like the sort of person that would light a candle in a mantle. ”

mmm roast robin.

best served with plum sauce according to Northwind 😉

There’s clearly two strands to this thread developing…. 😆

This is a wind-up surely?

Just accept that you had a common sense failure… putting a naked flame underneath a shelf is a daft thing to do under any circumstances.

It’s your fault. Pay up, quit whining and just be thankful you didn’t burn the place down.

+1

we all do stupid stuff and sometimes it ends up costing money.

Why did you light a candle under a shelf?

To be fair, potentially the shelf could cost a little more than £20 but not much more. Now and again when we have toughened glass made, they have a minimum order charge as it has to get sent away.
Think it’s around the £25 mark where we go.

If she comes back saying £40, tell her to do one. But pay up you should.

£20 is getting off lightly, even if the glass does only cost that. The land lady will now have to spend time sourcing and then fitting it. Tell me is your hourly rate peanuts that you expect others to be the same? Does she also have to make a special trip to the place to sort it out?

Northwind – Member

wwaswas – Member

You can spit roast a baby robin with a cocktail stick and a tea light.

As long as both you and your friend have tiny knobs.
Of butter I presume? 😯

Binners – that takes me back lad!

Warms the cockles does that.

To everyone – thank you for your observations.

The root of the problem was my not seeing the glass shelf before placing the candle on the mantel. It was only a 1 candle power candle after all…