My neighbour is accusing me of damaging her sons bike, where do I stand on this?

You were quite entitled to move the bike as it was causing an obstruction. Ignore her she won't take legal action against you she also has no prove that you damaged the bike. If she continues to abuse you contact the Police.

At the most you would be liable for the cost to repair the paint on the bike but, not the cost to replace the bike. The bike was not damaged beyond repair and still functions as it did prior to being damaged therefore, you are not responsible for replacing the bike. It is kind of like someone suing you for the replacement of a car after scratching the paint.

Steph....This is quite simple, as there is no way you could have caused the scratch you simple say that the scratch was already on the bike. The fact that there is only 1 "witness" means that it is your word against theirs so canceling each other out. Simple stick to the story that the scratch was on the bike already and it could not have been caused by yourself. Taking legal action would cost them money and if it is not proven that you caused the scratch then they will have to pay your legal costs as well, but remember, if it gets that far, to ask you lawyer to demand costs.

let them take you to court

because scratches on a bike doesn't equal $500

they can only be made whole and if the bike is old they can only get like $100 at the most for a paint job also if it was in your property you can move it out of your way

example if the bike is only worth $200 they can only sue for that but it would have to be completly damaged and no longer usuable

bikes get scratched all the time my nephews bike is 10months old and has numerous scratches on it because of wear and tear

you also could say you tripped over causing you to miss a day or so of work and counter sue

Firstly i'd say £500 is too much if the highly unlikely she does manage to charge you demand to see the receipt of the bike, buy a new one and keep the one 'you damaged'.

Also they just sound like snobs trying to get money from you and I'd just deny it.

Also i'm not 100% sure on UK mainland law but here off the coast there is a law saying if someone leaves something on your property the police cannot get involved if you refuse to give it back or damage it (until you take it off your property)

As a Housing Officer, who often comes up against problems like this, I would say if she has been shouting and abusing you, report it to the police. They won't do anything, but you must insist they give you an incident number. Then in the very unlikely event that she takes you to court, you can prove that she was harrassing you. This will look very bad for her, especially as she has no proof whatsoever. Of course you must not give her any money at all, as this will look like an admission of guilt. When she sobers up hopefully she'll realise what an idiot she looks.

The legal position is that you took reasonable action to deal with a nuisance. The little brat was lucky you didn't put the bike on a skip. Tell her you've taken legal advice and that you would not be liable even if you had damaged the bike.

That will be 500 guineas please.

Tell them to prove it

they'd need to prove you actually did what they are claiming you did

Anyway it is a scratch, and the bike is still working so she can't possibly claim a new bike

anyway it is her own fault for not taking better care of the bike

tell her to claim her insurance, if she is so bothered, her insurance company will tell her to get lost

Let her take legal action, she wont have a leg to stand on, if her sons bike is worth £500 I'd eat my hat!

Ignore it. The claim is unreasonable, and the worst you could get hit for in court would be the cost of repair (probably $20), plus court costs. Given that there is no significant evidence, it would likely be thrown out of court, anyway (leaving her to pay the costs), so she is unlikely to ever file.