Crash in council owened car park

Sta1234

Hi looking for some advice. This morning I parked in a council owned multi storey car park. It was one those that has a circular rising ramp. On approaching the last bend two pedestriansappeared out of nowhere walking down the ramp, I swerved to avoid them crashingmy near side into the wall. My brand newcar has sustained significant damage of a crushed wheel arch, many deepscratches, buckled wheel, dented alloys and several dents. At the bottom entrance, throughout the rampand at top of ramp it clearly states “no pedestrian access, no walking, noaccess to pedestrians”.

I contacted the council to report what happened, and was putthrough to the Insurance Dept. They saidthey were not liable for my accident as they do not control where pedestrianswalk. There is no CCTV however they have a security guard who “walks round fora bit then goes elsewhere”. I explained that I made a split second decision to avoidmowing these people down, they advised me I should have braked just as youwould on a public highway. I explained thatI have taken photos as the wall I hit clearly has been damaged many timesbefore, I was told these marks were caused by boy racers, there is no CCTV andadvised me to contact the insurance company.
I contacted my insurance company who were less thanhelpful. They said I should have brakedand the chances of me finding the pedestrians to admit they were in the wrongis zero. I explained that these people came out of nowhere and I do not havesuper powers that allow me to see round corners. I was told it was my fault and I could make a fault claim.

I certainly wasn’t speeding as the ramp was to narrow and Iknow I wasn’t too close to the wall or my wing mirror would have hit and it remainsundamaged. I know in hindsight I shouldhave braked but my priority was avoiding hitting the pedestrians and when youhave to react it is a split second decision and I obviously made the wrong one. I feel it should be the councils responsibility,as I know other similar car parks I have used have CCTV and if pedestrians arefound wandering on these ramps the security guard shouts at them over a tannoy. I feel so angry that I’m left picking up thebill because these inconsiderate pedestrians disobeyed the signs as they couldn’tbothered to use the stairs or lift. I knowI can go through insurance company but I have 10 years no claims, never had orbeen in accident before and the fact I’ve had to save a long long time to purchasethis car for £15,000 and claiming through insurance will bump it next year.

Just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience or ifthere is anyone else could contact, any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

AdrianC

Your fault entirely. You were driving too fast to be able to stop in the distance you could see to be clear.

What if, instead of a pedestrian, it'd been a stationary car? Or a metaphorical sack of anvils, fallen out of the back of somebody else's car?

Quentin

You will still have 3 years ncd at renewal assuming no more claims.

forgotmyname

What has the wall being damaged already got to do with your incident?

Exactly why are the council responsible? Did they tell the people to go down the ramp and jump out in front of you?
Only one person responsible and im afraid thats you. You say you were not speeding, But you were going too fast to stop in a safe distance that you could see.

Shouting at the pedestrians over a tannoy wont make them get off the ramp.

Think about an advanced course. Defensive driving etc. It will teach you that unexpected things happen.

colino

Speak to your MP. Clearly there are too many cases of uncontrolled council walls presenting themselves at speed in front of bewildered drivers. Ask too if you can get a man with a red flag to walk in front of you, the roads are bad enough, but now car parks are scary too.

londonTiger

Waiting for someone to say council has liability and should pay OP in damages.

londonTiger

If OP was driving at 5mph as the car park sign with inevitably say. There would be no reason to swerve, just a bit of gentle pressure on the brakes and car will come to an abrupt stop.

Aretnap

Your chances of claiming from either the council or the pedestrians (even assuming you could find them, and they had the money to pay) in these circumstances are somewhere between nil and zero. It's what you pay your insurance premium for so claim on your insurance, and in the future expect the unexpected and drive more slowly when you can't see round corners.

Avoriaz

Please don't feed the troll.

The OP is so obviously just a wind up story.

Sta1234

Initially I did not contact the council to demand they pay for the damage, I wanted to report that I had a near miss as people were placing themselves at risk by using the ramp, they put me through to Insurance Claims who started talking about money. The significance of the wall was that it was clear many cars have hit that part of the wall previously, with or without pedestrians being on the ramp, so there is an obvious problem with this particular part of the car park. I know its my fault as I made the incorrect decision and I expect to have to pay for it, just wanted council aware as I wouldn't want it happening to anyone else as the outcome could be very different. The ramp is very narrow, there is not room for both a car and pedestrians, hence the many sign posted warnings. When I said I hold the council responsible I meant saftey wise they clearly need to re-assess the health and safety of this very old car park. At the end of the day no one got hurt and thats the main thing. Thank you for the advice re defensive driving I shall look into it.

forgotmyname

The scratches on the wall just show that some people just cannot drive.

Anyone know the Multi-storey carpark in Sutton Coldfield town centre? The entrance is a nice sweep and fairly wide yet it didnt stop some old fart in a fiesta crashing into the wall a few years back.

A mates wife clipped the post going into her works underground carpark. Then in a fluster/panic went forwards and backwards several times until she had damaged every single panel on that side of the car.

A small incident into a fairly large insurance claim.