The case of the €1,700 jacket that shrank in the cleaners came before the Small Claims Section of Navan District Court on Friday. The case was taken to court by the jacket’s owner Padraic Rowley, Summerfield, Staffordstown, Dunboyne against Mohammed Hasan Hamed trading as Balarmine Dry Cleaners, Main Street, Castlefarm, Dunboyne.
Mr Rowley told the court that he had left the jacket to be cleaned on 8th May last, collected it on 15th, brought it home and hung it in his wardrobe. He took it out in November because he intended wearing it to a gala club celebration marking 50 years of its existence. He tried it on before going to the gala dinner and it was shrunk. He brought it back to the cleaners on 5 th November and showed it to the woman behind the counter. He also asked about a pair of trousers that he couldn’t find and she looked up on the computer system and said she didn’t have that. So she scrolled down on the list of his visits there. She traced his brown and tan jacket and he told her it had been damaged. She asked him to try on the jacket and he did this, then she printed out a duplicate docket and wrote on it “jacket shrunk, call customer”.
She offered to get the owner to contact him, he said. He waited a week but no call came and he called into the shop on 17th November. Mr Hamed was there but told him he should speak to the woman in the shop. Mr Rowley said he mentioned that Mr Hamed was the owner and he admitted he was. Mr Rowley said he was asked if he had the jacket with him but he hadn’t and an arrangement was made for him to come again to the shop on the following day. He looked up the computer system and said that “he had no record of my jacket”.
He called in again on the following day when two women there aid Mr Hamed was not there. He made further calls on 20th and 24th November. A woman photographed the jacket, attached a docket to it and sent it to the owner in his presence. Mr Rowley said he called on 26th and again the owner was not there. He emailed the owner and made an appointment but when he called in the owner was again absent.
JACKET WORN AT THREE WEDDINGS & FOUR DINNERS
He produced a bank statement showing that he had purchased the jacket for €1,700 in 2019. He said he had made every effort to contact the owner. Mr Hamed confirmed that Mr Rowley had left in the jacket and collected it but that after three months he was not responsible for the jacket but that Mr Rowley was. “When you collect it you are responsible for the jacket”. He said that when Mr Rowley called to the shop he was away on holiday. He said there was “no way the jacket was damaged”. He said that on one occasion he was waiting for Mr Rowley “but he never show up”.
Judge Gerry Jones said to Mr Rowley that he had got the jacket in May but did not go to wear it until November. Mr Rowley replied that it was probably the most expensive jacket he had ever bought and he had worn it on seven occasions – at three weddings and four dinners. He said he probably would not have taken his jacket out of the wardrobe but for the fact that he was going to the 50th team reunion and club celebration. He told the judge the total of his claim was €1,000 and he was granted a decree for €750.
