retractable bollards on carpark entrance

driver92

Hi, I am looking for some advice please...i was entering the underground carpark of a nearby shopping centre. It is accessed via a mini roundabout, and I have went here hundreds of times.

Recently they have installed a set of 3 retractable bollards across the entrance, about 15 ft inside the entrance, just before drivers reach a speed hump. The are not clearly identifiable, though I have noticed now there are signs on the pillars around the car park, however I am not sure they were there before my incident.

These bollards are only supposed to be up to lock/restrict access to the car park during closed times, and as far as I'm aware they are supposed to operate as one unit, not independently of each other.

As I turned into the carpark, I could see other cars already parked inside, and unfortunately my car impacted with the middle bollard, the other two bollards were not raised, and has caused extensive damage to my car. I was not aware of the bollard or I would not have driven into it, and think my car driving on the plate may have triggered it off. I would appreciate some constructive advice here, and where do I stand legally?...

neilmcl

Driving without due care and attention perhaps. Should have seen the bollard if it was raised.

driver92

As I mentioned I am not sure if bollard was raised, security staff who arrived remained tight-lipped, and since then the bollard has not been raised, certainly during shopping hours...that's what makes me think it may have been defective, they've only been installed a matter of weeks.

gordikin

So you drove into a bollard that wasn't there?

skiddlydiddly

If you aren't sure it was raised then what did you hit?

Still, there should have been some kind of warning about it being there.I doubt it would have been triggered from you driving on a plate as thats downright dangerous.More likely its for when the car park is closed.
I've seen someone do something similar when driving into a holiday park, it was to enforce a 1 way system, but as one car dorve through the right way it lowered and then someone tried to nip through the wrong way, it came up and they hit it.Maybe it was a similar thing for yo?

Stigy

How identifyable would you like the bollards to be? We're in a nanny state as it is, with McDonald's warning that their coffee might just be hot and the same with their apple pies!

driver92

The bollards in question are in the ground, operated on a hydraulic/ electrical system of some sort, and are flush with the ground when not in operation, my understanding is that they are raised to lock access to the area only at night when no-one is about, and are supposed to operate together, not independently of each other.

Stephen_Leak

There have been numerous instances if these [CENSORED] things coming up under cars. They should, if installed according to the guidelines, either have a detector (so that's straight out on grounds of cost), or be timed to allow a certain degree of "tailgating" (either by accident or design).

Raise hell, threaten them with a claim in the County Court (remarkably easy to do), etc.

skiddlydiddly

It does sound like they could be liable to me.Stuff like that would have to be extremely visible, painted yellow and black with warning signs.If we have to have slip hazard signs on a wet floor then the same applies here.

mikey72

cctv or log of the bollards raising and lowering on the day.
They wouldn't give it you unless you take them to court though, and it would be hard to prove anything otherwise.

driver92

As mentioned before, they are not to control traffic, like those used for buses etc, they are to restrict access to the area when not in use at night..as my car was being taken away, they already had an engineer ready to look at the system..and as far as I'm aware they haven't been raised since.