A collapsed retaining wall caused conflict between an insurance company and a landlord at Factory Road in Pembroke yesterday.

BF&M said it was not sure at this stage in its investigation what caused the wall to fall or whether landlord John Simmons' insurance policy would cover the damages.

Mr. Simmons said the biggest problem was that the wall was completely blocking the door to an apartment that his friend needed to rent next month.

"He needs a place to rent now. He don't want no obstruction. I need to get this cleared," Mr. Simmons said.

Mr. Simmons contacted The Royal Gazette yesterday and said that during the passing over of subtropical storm Nicole last weekend, his retaining wall had fallen down. He said his wife had called BF&M insurance on Monday, but by Wednesday no one from the company had showed.

Mr. Simmons said he was off the Island in Jamaica when the wall fell down and had to return early to sort it out.

But when The Royal Gazette went to Mr. Simmons' house on Factory Road near Marsh Folly Road, a representative from BF&M was already there.

Initially, the BF&M employee ? who would not give his name but Mr. Simmons said was "White" ? said BF&M "cover windstorm damage. If the damage is proved to be windstorm it's covered, but there are many perils, for example rain, which are excluded from cover".

But "Mr. White" later wanted this quote removed and tried to rip a page out of The Royal Gazette reporter's notebook. He went on to say that "there are many named perils... If (the wall falling down) is proved to be caused by one of these perils, it's covered. For example, fire, lightening and windstorm".

Although "Mr. White" said it was still in the investigative stage, it was possible that the wall fell down due to a collection of rainwater behind the wall. This meant that the damage would not be covered by windstorm insurance.

"We have to take a look at the type of construction, who owns the wall and what caused the damage for every claim," he said.

He said he could see that there was no lightning damage nor "evidence of windstorm damage. We look into the construction of things to and try to come to a probable cause of the collapse, then refer back to the policy".

"We are still in the investigation stage. We don't know anything about the property... This is the first site visit," he said.

However, Mr. Simmons said that he was sure the wall was his because this was the second time a wall had collapsed on the property he received from his mother.

The first collapse was at the back of the house, he said, and Government first tried to prove it was not their wall before eventually rebuilding it.

"Government came and they redo the property to make sure that the wall was mine," Mr. Simmons said.