Compo for dead cat set at K12,000

By GABRIEL LAHOC
A MAN from Nipa in Southern Highlands is claiming K12,000 compensation from a trucking company for causing the death of his cat on the highway.
Pulim villager Jeffery Kopeap claims that the cat was run over by a truck belonging to the Traisa trucking company in the early hours of Dec 30 last year.
In a letter to the company, he says he wants the money to be paid as soon as possible.
“I strongly demand Traisa company for K12,000 to compensate my cat. The life of human beings and animals are same, not different,” Kopeap wrote in his letter to the company.
In his letter he said: “If nothing is done, there will be another story. The Traisa company and their escort cars will never travel on this road.”
His letter was given to a Traisa employee driving an escort vehicle who was warned to relay the message to his bosses.
Drivers using the highway are concerned that the compensation culture is now getting out of hand with companies being forced to pay out cash they have not budgeted for.
The practice of going through the police to make such claims is no longer being followed.
The drivers said they were getting used to the attitude of the people along the highway especially in Southern Highlands where people claim for cash for such things as damaging roadside flower beds or for providing security when trucks make brief stops on the highway.