Company sued as ‘guard didn’t stop stray dogs’

Petitioner demands Rs276,100 after dogs tear up car cover, ruin paint job.

LAHORE:

A man has sued a security company for Rs276,100 because, he says, a guard didn’t stop stray dogs from ripping his car cover and ruining the paint job.

A consumer court issued notice to the director (administration) and the guard of Security 2007 for September 28 to defend themselves against the petitioner’s charge of negligence and providing faulty services.

Sheikh Shahzad Ahmad, a resident of B Block Johar Town, said in his petition that he had engaged Security 2007 in July 2011 to provide a guard for a gate that serves as an entrance and exit to a group of 35 houses in B Block. He said that the guard, Ahmad Sajjad, was meant to serve a 12-hour shift at night and his job was to prevent any unwanted entry and to protect the property of residents.

Ahmad said that one night, he saw stray dogs entering the residential area through the gate and noticed that the guard didn’t stop them. He said he then told the guard to stop the dogs from coming in.

On the night of July 28, he said, the dogs returned and damaged his car, a 2006 model Suzuki Baleno. The dogs tore up the new car cover and put scratches on the body “from bumper to bumper” and on the windows. He held the guard responsible and demanded a total of Rs276,100 from the respondents, including Rs75,000 for the windows and paint job, Rs100,000 for the depreciation in value of the car, Rs1,100 for a new cover, and Rs100,000 for “the mental agony and torture”.

Muhammad Waqas, director of operations for Security 2007 (Pvt) Limited, told The Express Tribune that the company had sought to resolve the matter with the complainant out of court but he had declined to meet with them.

Waqas said that Ahmad had actually instructed the guard to shoot any dog that touched his car. “Our guards are meant to protect people, not kill stray dogs, cats and rats,” he said. “If a cat is about to touch someone’s car, is the guard supposed to leave his post at the gate and start chasing the cat? The accusations are a joke.”

He said that the other residents parked their cars inside their homes on their own properties and not on the street, and Ahmad should do the same.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2011.