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Vehicle Damage Caused by Business Gate Hitting It
Bit of an odd one.
I park my car alongside a newly converted business residential property.
They have been leaving the 8ft x 10 ft heavy steel gate open un-secured.
We place a big cone between the gate opening and the side of my vehicle but they have removed it.
In the recent wind, the unsecured gate has swung the full length wide open and smashed into the side of my vehicle causing a big dent the whole length of the door, luckily not smashing the glass.
There was no-one in the property today so we left a note on the glass door for them to call us asap (no call!).
We also put a big stack of cones back in between the gate/car to buffer any more hits and tried to close the gate shut but there is no fixing, only a chain and padlock, which was locked on itself.
This has been going on an hour, so we rang the council to complain about the noise etc.
An official come out at the same time as a man who resides there returned home. When he returned, he tried to remove the cones we placed alongside our car.
We quickly went out to speak with him and leave them there and highlighted the damage, he said " its nothing to do with him " (even though he lives there and re-secured the gate).
The council man told them to secure the gate which he did but could not help us with the car.
The police said it was not a criminal matter either.
We cannot move the car to another space as it is very limited residential and that is our only place.
The car is also up for sale but this has now caused the value to drop considerably and we cannot afford to repair it or can we now sell it with this damage.
What can we do?
I park my car alongside a newly converted business residential property.
They have been leaving the 8ft x 10 ft heavy steel gate open un-secured.
We place a big cone between the gate opening and the side of my vehicle but they have removed it.
In the recent wind, the unsecured gate has swung the full length wide open and smashed into the side of my vehicle causing a big dent the whole length of the door, luckily not smashing the glass.
There was no-one in the property today so we left a note on the glass door for them to call us asap (no call!).
We also put a big stack of cones back in between the gate/car to buffer any more hits and tried to close the gate shut but there is no fixing, only a chain and padlock, which was locked on itself.
This has been going on an hour, so we rang the council to complain about the noise etc.
An official come out at the same time as a man who resides there returned home. When he returned, he tried to remove the cones we placed alongside our car.
We quickly went out to speak with him and leave them there and highlighted the damage, he said " its nothing to do with him " (even though he lives there and re-secured the gate).
The council man told them to secure the gate which he did but could not help us with the car.
The police said it was not a criminal matter either.
We cannot move the car to another space as it is very limited residential and that is our only place.
The car is also up for sale but this has now caused the value to drop considerably and we cannot afford to repair it or can we now sell it with this damage.
What can we do?
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Comments
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Two choice depending on what insurance you've got, they are clearly negligent in there actions.
1) claim on your insurance who will most likly in the end go after after them though there business insurance presuming they have any. This will count as not at fault as claim on your insurance.
2) Go a to a few local respected body repair shops ad get quotes for repair then write a letter before action to the business sent via recorded mail with a copy of the quotes and demand for the repairs to carried out. Otherwise you'll take them to small claims court risk here is that they just declare themselves insolvent to get out of the payment.0 -
It appears from the first post that the OP has an allocated space, and so has no choice where to park if he wants to keep the car within the confines of the estate.
If the business are aware that they have an unsecured gate that is swinging onto other peoples nproperty, they should take steps to fix it, and certainly pay for damage that it causes.
It should not be possible for the gate to open outwards anyway, you can't open a gate across the pavement or road (Highways Act 1980 - Section 153), it isn't hard for the gatepost to have a flat plate on the outside that stops the gate going outwards.I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science
)0 -
Whilst you may be right, there's nothing within the post to tell us that for sure - and it's not an impression I get from it. Quite the opposite - he chooses to park next to the gate because it's the only handy available space. Now he knows why.It appears from the first post that the OP has an allocated space, and so has no choice where to park if he wants to keep the car within the confines of the estate.0 -
Twice?
There is nowhere else to park, That is my one and only designated parking area.
If i had somewhere else to park ,dont you think I would? Im not stupid!!
Are you always so polite, helpful and bullying to people who ask for help?
Nasty or patronising comments are not needed thank you!
There has never been any issues until now when the people went out and left it unattended without securing the gate closed in their absence.
I did not know they were not there as i dont watch them coming and going every hour but returned home to find this yesterday and immediately tried to secure the gate.
This was yesterday, Saturday,I day with very high winds, when I left my car behind and went out. My car has broken down which is why it was left at home and not being used yesterday or it would have been with me. Im a 69 year old woman and only have my daughter to help me.
Mankysteve and facade thank you for answering my question. I will get onto it tomorrow as soon as body shops open. I appreciate your assistance. I have very limited mobility so to move the vehicle to the car park a mile away means i would not be able to walk back and fore. I moved here before the business opened and was allocated this one and only space then, not through my choice.0 -
If they've been made aware of the problem i'd be surprised if you didn't have a claim for damages against them for their negligence.0
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If you get no joy with the business, a complaint to the council highways authority about the gate opening outwards across the pavement/road should see them issued with a notice to stop it happening (unless they get permission from the highways authority).
You will then have to claim off your insurance, you should tell your insurance anyway, ( so that they can increase your premium to reflect the extra risk you are taking by parking by an unsecured gate )I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science)0 -
Twice?
There is nowhere else to park, That is my one and only designated parking area.
If i had somewhere else to park ,dont you think I would? Im not stupid!!
Are you always so polite, helpful and bullying to people who ask for help?
Nasty or patronising comments are not needed thank you!
There has never been any issues until now when the people went out and left it unattended without securing the gate closed in their absence.
I did not know they were not there as i dont watch them coming and going every hour but returned home to find this yesterday and immediately tried to secure the gate.
This was yesterday, Saturday,I day with very high winds, when I left my car behind and went out. My car has broken down which is why it was left at home and not being used yesterday or it would have been with me. Im a 69 year old woman and only have my daughter to help me.
Mankysteve and facade thank you for answering my question. I will get onto it tomorrow as soon as body shops open. I appreciate your assistance. I have very limited mobility so to move the vehicle to the car park a mile away means i would not be able to walk back and fore. I moved here before the business opened and was allocated this one and only space then, not through my choice.
Apologies for the misunderstanding - but this is EXACTLY why it's important to give full, clear details in the original post.
My comments stand, though, that if you knew the gate was being left unsecured, putting something as flimsy and easily moved as a cone in the way was never going to give adequate protection.0 -
I'm sorry to say I don't think your going to have any comeback on this. From past experience you aren't going to be able to prove employee negligence, gates can and do open and an employee didn't hit your car with the gate, the wind did.0
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My reading of the OP is that it is not opening outward on to the road especially as the OP has a designated parking spot. Why would the business owner be trying to remove cones on a public road? It would be good to have a diagram of the area in question.If you get no joy with the business, a complaint to the council highways authority about the gate opening outwards across the pavement/road should see them issued with a notice to stop it happening (unless they get permission from the highways authority).
You will then have to claim off your insurance, you should tell your insurance anyway, ( so that they can increase your premium to reflect the extra risk you are taking by parking by an unsecured gate )This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
I'm sorry to say I don't think your going to have any comeback on this. From past experience you aren't going to be able to prove employee negligence, gates can and do open and an employee didn't hit your car with the gate, the wind did.
Isn't this like if the wind blows my tiles on your car it is God's fault, and you can ask Him for your costs but if the wind blows my tiles that I knew were loose onto your car then it is mine, and then I have to pay?
They know the gate can swing too far already.My reading of the OP is that it is not opening outward on to the road especially as the OP has a designated parking spot. Why would the business owner be trying to remove cones on a public road? It would be good to have a diagram of the area in question.
True, but in answer to both quotes, they know that the gate is swinging too far. Even if they own the land in front of it, they can easily put one of those tip over grabber clamps on the ground at the limit of their land that will catch and hold the gate fully open.
If they don't own the land in front, then they can't let the gate swing over it without permission from the landowner surely?I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science)0
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