A Deeside couple are facing a £2,500 bill after their BMW was damaged by an amorous peacock in a hotel car park.
Andrew and Robyn King were attending a family wedding at the Roman Camp Hotel in Callander, near Stirling, when the bird attacked their vehicle, scratching and denting paintwork on the doors, roof, and boot.
The Banchory couple are now in talks with the country hotel over compensation.
The hotel keeps peacocks as an attraction for visitors and the birds are free to roam the gardens.
Mr King said he left the wedding reception to check on his black BMW estate after another guest said a bird was attacking cars in the grounds.
He was stunned when he found himself face to face with a young male peacock that was on the roof of his vehicle and pecking at the paintwork.
‘A Mexican stand-off’
“I couldn’t believe it when I ended up in a Mexican stand-off with the bird, which was pretty large and had no fear,” he told The Sunday Post.
“Eventually I managed to shoo it off the roof but within seconds it would fly
back up and start again.
“I could see it must have been at it for hours because there was already significant damage to the doors. It was really going for it.”
Once he managed to shift the bird, he covered the car in blankets to prevent another attack.
The drilling engineer added: “I’d had a few drinks so I couldn’t move the car and as we were staying at the hotel overnight I didn’t want the peacock coming back and
causing further damage.”
Bird was trying to scare off rival
His wife, Robyn, said when they spoke to managers at the hotel, they were told the bird had likely seen its own reflection in the paintwork and, as it was mating season, it would have mistakenly thought it was a rival and was trying to see it off.
When the couple complained to hotel management they were told they would be reimbursed.
Mrs King said: “They said it would be covered by their insurance.
“But when we then got quotes of between £2,300 and £2,500 to fix the paintwork, we were told the insurance company had declined the claim because the policy didn’t cover damage caused by wild animals.”
Hotel owner Eric Brown said the company intends to reimburse the Kings for the damage, which happened in April, which has been confirmed in writing to the couple.
“We assumed our insurance would take care of it, but it turned out that this wasn’t the case,” Mr Brown said.
“The peacocks are an attraction for guests but we have now kept the bird responsibly fenced in.”
Has this happened before?
It is not the first time peacocks have caused significant damage to vehicles.
In 2015, peacocks in a Devon village caused thousands of pounds worth of damage after attacking cars by scratching and pecking at the paintwork.
And in April last year, the town of Corsham in Wiltshire was plagued by an amorous peacock that was attacking cars – thinking that its reflection was a love rival.
Meanwhile, in February, a peacock known as Toby damaged a BMW in Leicestershire after it picked a fight with its own reflection, causing hundreds of pounds of damage.
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