# violence on site-v long post..sorry!



## gasmansgirl (Mar 26, 2012)

Hi there-please bear with me on this as I feel the need to fill in the background to my actual query!
my partner is a plumber and heating engineer. He recently started up his own business and it's been going reasonably well now for about six months. He has started working at the hotel I work at as part of a refurbishment project-nice contract-40 odd bathrooms to do now with another 50 that will need doing in the future.

However, the tiler that has been brought in is the ex-maintenance man-an ex heating engineer (i say ex as he has neither updated his ACS or registered with GasSafe.) 
He offered my partner work when he first started out and after many problems with him not turning up, not ordering materials, disappearing for days on end my partner finished what he could for the customer and left the job. 
He never got paid for the work he had done and this guy responded to being asked for the money by losing his temper and threatening to come round our house with a baseball bat and advised my partner to get me and our daughters out of the house. At this we just wrote the money off as it was clear from talking to other staff where I work that this guy is out of control, an alcoholic and a footie hooligan who is on a ten match ban from England games. Not worth the hassle!



When he found out this guy was to be on site he raised his concerns with the Maintenance manager who is overseeing the refurb and contracting all the trades in. 
He said he had talked to the guy, he'd shown repentance, had said he'd apologise and sort OH's money out so the job could move forward with everyone happy. 
That was Monday. 
My partner went in on Thursday to drop off a part and found this guy in the bedroom. As he'd been told the above he thought there ws no harm in trying to sort it all out there and then. On mention of the money idiot guy jumped up, started poking his finger in OH's face saying he'd never get his money and maybe if OH had (and i kid you not) been nice to him on the phone maybe things would be different. OH pointed out that he had threatened both him and his family so why would he be nice. 
At this idiot guy has tried to grab OH round the throat, failed and grabbed his hoody hood and started pulling and scragging him around. OH has put his arms above his head and said "go on then you idiot" and he has let go.
He is still on site even though I feel very distressed working in the building with him there and it means my OH can't go in. 
The maintenance manager(MM) is clearly old time buds with him which is something he had been trying to hide. 
The MM did nothing on Thursday, has allowed him back in and today came and cornered me in one of the bathrooms and tried to convince me to drop any issues I have so the bathroom can be finished. 
He told me the guy was not on site but when I went down to the bathroom with a colleague Idiot Guy was in there. I was v upset to say the least!

The MM is saying we need to keep him as the only tilers he knows want £700 to tile a 7ftx6ft bathroom with 1.5ftx10" tiles and he only needs to pay idiot guy £300. 
Obviously the hotel owners want to pay as little as possible but I feel MM is lying to keep his friend on site.
The hotel are saying that as neither my partner nor idiot guy are employed by them their policies are powerless to deal with it. I feel that MM is equivalent to site manager and that he should have dealt with it in line with building H&S regs. Surely someone is responsible for the behaviour of contractors on site!!

What I'd like to know as I've been googling and have found limited info so far is this:

What should have happened immediately after the assault?
What should have happened before Idiot Guy was allowed back on site?
No-one has spoken to my OH about it-should they have?
What does the HSE say about this sort of thing?
Who is responsible if the hotel are not?
Any other info or experiences would be really helpful. Sorry for wittering but I am v shaken still. :sad:


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## dave_dj1 (Mar 16, 2010)

WOW! Is all I can say!


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## Chris G (May 17, 2006)

You need to government up. The police would be a start. Next would be a call to a health and safety dept if you have one in the UK. Ministry of labour? City Hall? Their must be more, call 'em all. You need to put the site under watch.

Clearly the hotel owners would like to scrape this under the rug.


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## gasmansgirl (Mar 26, 2012)

dave_dj1 said:


> WOW! Is all I can say!
> Would you mind taking a minute or two and re-write that whole paragraph so that a normal human being could at least try and grasp what the hell it is you are trying to say? Then maybe we can advise you or at least make an intelligent opinion.
> Whew!


Erm-sorry-typed it out into short paragraphs and it's posted as it is. Basically my partner has been attacked on site and nothing has been done.


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## Chris Johnson (Apr 19, 2007)

Well here the MM who you say is acting as site supervisor would have some responsibility and from what I gather the Hotel is acting as their own GC which makes them liable as well and they should be bringing the police in, immediately after the first incident so as they acted responsibly and not be liable during the lawsuit.

Ask the MM how much kickback he is getting from this Idiot Guy


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## BattleRidge (Feb 9, 2008)

Wow you have a good partner, mine woulda cleaned his clock.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

BattleRidge said:


> Wow you have a good partner, mine woulda cleaned his clock.


Yeah, I was wondering too. Don't Brits throw hands when assaulted?


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

A police report at the very least should be filed to document all this. They might also be able to provide you with guidance in how to proceed.

I would also talk to a lawyer. (Preferably one who concentrates on construction law) 

Be very careful with these types. Usually the loudmouths are all talk, but he seems to have progressed beyond that.

Call the police for sure though.


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## DavidC (Feb 16, 2008)

I do believe this is the first time I ever heard (or read) footie hooligan. It was worth the whole read.

Other than that, if someone tried for my throat I wouldn't be so forgiving. Your OH may have played it better than I would have, but at the very least make a formal complaint with the police. Make it a matter of record.

Good Luck
Dave


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## gasmansgirl (Mar 26, 2012)

Many thanks all-didn't realise on posting this was an American website! Oops. Yes we are going to call the police to log incident and I am lodging an official grievance at work as I don't feel I should have to work around him either. Cleaning his clock was seriously considered at the time but y'know-if we did that to everyone who p*ssed us off we'd have a long queue (as we are British!)
V glad you enjoyed footie hooligan DavidC. You deserve it after my horribly long post. Pip pip old boy, I'm off for a cup of tea.


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## dakzaag (Jan 6, 2009)

Dare I ask what a Hootie Fooligan would logically be?:laughing:


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## dave_dj1 (Mar 16, 2010)

dakzaag said:


> Dare I ask what a Hootie Fooligan would logically be?:laughing:


A boy from the hood :laughing:


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## DavidC (Feb 16, 2008)

gasmansgirl said:


> Many thanks all-didn't realise on posting this was an American website! Oops.


Well, welcome anyway. Brits are people too and are welcomed here.

Good Luck
Dave


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## Bozer (Mar 3, 2012)

dakzaag said:


> Dare I ask what a Hootie Fooligan would logically be?:laughing:


In American terms, a drunk jackass.


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## Bozer (Mar 3, 2012)

Bozer said:


> In American terms, a drunk jackass.


Oh, sorry, I mean a junk drackass.


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## gasmansgirl (Mar 26, 2012)

A footie hooligan is yes a drunk jackass-no not a boy from the street. A man who uses his devotion to a soccer team (see how i did that for you guys! see, i know!) to excuse getting drunk and tearing through the opposing sides town, smashing up pubs and getting into fights with rival fans, using up massive police resources and generally p*ssing everyone else off. In the 70's and 80's a huge problem in the UK, usually affiliated with a racist organisation such as the National Front. 
Thanks for advice. All sorted now, police informed, not taking action as he's been thrown off site which is what I wanted. Unholy union of maintenance manager and tiler ended. Ha!


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## DavidC (Feb 16, 2008)

Glad you got it all sorted. But I hope this doesn't mean we've seen the last of you here. Your posting style is a welcome break and appreciated.

Good Luck (in a transatlantic manner)
Dave


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## Chris G (May 17, 2006)

Yes, we must not let this one get away.


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## gasmansgirl (Mar 26, 2012)

Hehe thanks! Will be back next time I have contracting related prob. It was UK legislation and stuff I needed but have had great time lurking around this site. Contracting in the US and Canada clearly v different to the UK. Very interesting, fantastic builds. I love American houses-wish we had the space over here


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## gasmansgirl (Mar 26, 2012)

Willie T said:


> Yeah, I was wondering too. Don't Brits throw hands when assaulted?


Yes usually with great enthusiasm, but this is a huge contract for a business as small as ours and could be the beginning of great things for us. Not worth losing it over a tosspot like that.


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