An Essex couple have spent 10 months seeking compensation after 18 escaped water buffaloes stampeded through their garden, with eight of them taking a morning dip in their new swimming pool.
Andy and Lynette Smith, who are retired, say that their garden and pool were ruined after the animals, which weigh about 600kg each, got out of a rare breeds farm and on to their property, causing more than £25,000 worth of damage.
Eight of them ended up falling into the £70,000 pool, triggering a stampede that wrecked fencing and flower beds. The animals were rescued unharmed by the farmer.
The incident happened when an electric fence failed last July, allowing the herd to breach a wooden fence and hedge separating their field from the Smiths’ garden.
“When my wife went to make the morning tea, she glanced out of the kitchen window and saw eight buffaloes in the pool,” said Andy Smith. “She called 999 and was told the fire brigade don’t accept hoax calls. It took some persuading to get them to take us seriously. When they arrived, one of the buffaloes, spooked by their hi-vis jackets, headed straight at them.”
The farmer was summoned from next door and helped the animals out of the water.
Water buffaloes, also known as Asian buffaloes, can reach over 6ft in height and males have horns up to 5ft long. In the wild they spend much of their time submerged in the muddy waters of tropical forests.
The Smiths were mystified as to how the animals ended up in their pool until they examined recordings from a CCTV camera in their garden. The footage shows the buffaloes wandering into the garden early on the Sunday morning. One stepped on to the solid pool cover and fell through it, causing others to run across the lawn. During the next 15 minutes, seven more animals toppled into the pool, turning the water from clear to a dark murk.
“Buffaloes are top-heavy and the porcelain tiles round the pool were slippery so they lost their grip and once they were in they couldn’t get out again,” said Smith. “The previous afternoon, we had had hosted a pool party for our young grandchildren and their friends. If the invasion had happened hours earlier, it could have been very serious.”
The farm’s insurer, NFU Mutual, accepted liability, but failed to agree a settlement for nearly a year.
“It took 15 weeks for them to send an assessor round and nearly six months to offer a sum that falls over £8,000 short of the two quotes they themselves obtained,” said Smith. “We accept that they deal with claims far more serious than a damaged pool, but their failure to communicate has caused us countless sleepless nights.
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“This pool was our retirement luxury bought when I sold the business, which I’d spent years building up. It was earned by a lot of sweat and toil, but after the buffaloes’ swim it was leaking 75 gallons a day and was unusable.”
However, after being contacted by the Guardian, the insurer eventually agreed to cover the full £25,000 repair bill.
A spokesperson for NFU Mutual said: “We apologise for the delay paying this claim and in particular the initial wait for an inspector’s visit, which took too long and fell short of our usual standards. We have a duty to all of our members to ensure we validate the cost of claims and in this instance, we needed to gain further assurance around the costs involved in repairing the damage.”