Neighbours

Yes MOnica, you would. As I said you could see it from the ground, plus a piece of the broken board was hanging off as well.

Would anyone have noticed the gap under the eaves if the mortar had not been on the ground?

Well I guess MOnica that would like very odd - no lump of mortar anywhere but a big gap under the tile that you could see from the ground. Presumably to tie in with the storm story.

I wonder why your neighbour didn't remove the lump of mortar from your garden. I think if I did any damage to a neighbour's house while i was using their garden for access, I would make absolutely sure thaat if damage was caused,all the evidence was removed.

I hasten to say I would not act like that, but they would not make very good criminals.

Thank you geekesse and danielasha - I think we will limit ourselves to simply politeness now. However I think we will mention the roofer is sure it was ladder damage.

I would never have thought this neighbour would go along with a lie, but that’s life I guess.

I think first of all it's really worth finding out what the weather was like in those days. If the neighbor's lie has been confirmed, then make a decision - to communicate further with him, taking into account the lie, or to limit yourself simply to politeness when meeting.

I’d be inclined to tell the neighbour across the road that although there may have been a storm, ‘someone else’ saw the next door neighbour using a ladder, and that your roofer confirmed it was ladder damage.

It’s probably the case that the next door neighbours asked the people across the road to say it was storm damage. The latter obviously value the next door neighbour’s friendship more than yours.

Thanks ladies for your thoughts. We don’t particularly get on with next door but she is very pally with the neighbour we do get on with.
When we looked again, saw that they had only painted side of porch on our side, nothing else, and it all needs doing. They are very clumsy with the ladder ie at Xmas putting lights up.
The roofer asked could it be our window cleaner? We knew it wasn’t as not due till next month.
We wouldn’t say anything to next door - no point, can’t prove it. Just disappointed with our other neighbour.
Our roofer commented he’s never known storm damage to damage underneath tile, but not the actual tile.
Think we will just keep it to “Hello” and a bit distant with our neighbour.

Get in touch with the Met Office for a past weather report & observations from your nearest weather station. You may have to pay fir an in depth report but the Operations Centre should be able to look back on their computers for some detail from Observations dept, without charge. You too can do similar if you know or can work out how. Met Office Library & Archive are also helpful folk.

have you checked the weather for the days in question?

So either your repair man is wrong, or your neighbour lied.
If they have lied then it’s a lesson learned that you can’t trust them, unless you want to recoup the money you have spent I would just leave it.
But they might not be lying.
Would a long ladder which reached your roof be used to do a small porch? Unlikely unless you live in a Bungalow.
So if you are very very sure, have a row with your next door neighbour and thrash it out, or just put it down to experience and move on.