House and trailer topple into West Berbice trench

An arrangement to have a house transported from Bush Lot to Lovely Lass ended in disaster on Saturday when the structure and the trailer carrying it both toppled into a trench.

The transporter and the owner of the house are now locked in a bitter dispute over who is to blame and the terms of the arrangement.

Dabi Ramphal yesterday told Stabroek News that he hired Shaik Ally to move his building which he bought just two weeks ago from Lot 19 Public Road, Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice to Lot 156 Lovely Lass, West Coast Berbice.

The house and trailer

Ramphal explained that on Saturday last, he accompanied the contractor and it was during their journey through the Dam that the trailer slipped and “burst down into the dam and into the trench”.

However, Ally said that if the driver and Ramphal had followed his directions then all the confusion would have been avoided.

The contractor stated that a lantern pole, situated close to the road, would have made it difficult for the trailer to pass and in anticipation of this, he had contacted an employee of the Guyana Power and Light to have the electricity disconnected in the area for just half an hour. He was told to return to GPL when they arrived at the location of the pole and this, the contractor noted, was related to Ramphal.

He said that when they reached the point where the road was too narrow to pass, he left Ramphal and the driver to go to GPL to make the disconnection arrangement. When he returned with the GPL supervisor to “brace the post a little in the corner”, Ally said he was horrified to see that the trailer and the house were already in the trench.

“So when I reach back, they already move and the house end up in the trench. The owner like he de hurry,” Ally stated.

The man explained that upon enquiry as to why they had decided to move, he was told that they were of the opinion that the vehicle could have passed the electricity pole. “I don’t know why the driver took instructions from him (Ramphal)… I ask them why they doing my work for me,” Ally related.

While Ramphal says that he was charged a total of $275,000 and had given an advance of $70,000, Ally told this newspaper that the two had agreed on a $250,000 fee and was given an advance of $30,000 of which $10,000 was paid to the trailer driver and the remainder was used to purchase gasoline.

Ramphal noted that if he went to the police, he is certain that he will get a hearing but will not get any justice, adding that if he takes the matter to court, it will continue for about 10 years, during which his building will rot.

Ramphal said that the contractor has not offered him any assistance and as a result, he has intentions to “hold the trailer which is under my building till he gives me my money”. However, Ally refuted these statements as he explained that he has since arranged to have the building transported free of charge after Ramphal “tek his time to loose it out”.

“I done tell him that but now that I hear he talking all this wickedness I might not go and help him anymore…,” Ally said. (Frances Abraham)