Damage to car on employees car park

Diamond_lover

Hi all,
I'm after a bit of advice please.
Got to work this morning pulled into a parking space and heard a crunch from the front end of my car! Got out and found a pipe sticking approx 1ft out of the ground. This pipe is something to do with water drainage I think so has a purpose! However I did not see it as it was not in my line of site. It's situated on the outer edge of the tarmaced car park. I spoke to my GM who just shrugged his shoulders and said nothing we can do, no one parks there because of it... A few people have knocked their cars on it including the GM... I'm really annoyed, my car isn't even a year old and would have have thought the least my employer could have done was to offer to get it repaired! It's not hugely damaged, but would need a re spray as the paint has cracked!
Where do I Stand? Is it that I park there at my own risk or do I have a case where by they know this pipe is there and has caused damage before and they have done nothing to stop it happening to others? They could put something in front of it tall enough for people to see! But I feel it will fall on deaf ears. :mad:

SailorSam

I wouldn't think you'd have much chance of getting any compensation. Most carparks have some sort of 'you park at your own risk' sign. If others have crashed into it before you, haven't you heard talk of it around the office,

BigBopper

In order for them to be responsible you will have to prove they were negligent.

facade

Being informed of a problem that causes damage or injury to people or their property when using the car park normally on several past occasions, yet doing nothing about it, is negligent, or even failing in their duty of care towards their employees.

Now if the "Park at your own risk" sign spelled out possible risks, e.g. hidden obstructions, they might be able to wheedle out of it.

Suggesting that you should know by osmosis, why "no-one parks there" isn't on.

However, getting compensation (Where there is blame, there is a claim) may prove difficult, especially as you need to work for them, and don't want to suddenly find you get the midnight shift....

Diamond_lover

Thanks for your replies.. I've tried looking for signs that state you park at your own risk and I can't see any. My gripe is that our customers use this car park too, wonder how they would react if it were one of the customers vehicles that were damaged! Or indeed any of the regional managers!
im just annoyed more than anything that it's caused problems for other people and nothing has been done about it! If it had then I wouldn't have damaged my car!

Diamond_lover

Hi, in response to your question, no, no one has said anything! We are a small office so I would have heard and avoided it...

Joe_Horner

The flip side to the "they knew but did nothing" is that it was a (presumably) stationary, 12 inch high, obstruction on a piece of tarmac that you hit with the front end of your car.

The fact that the direction you were going "wasn't in your line of sight" really isn't down to them, and the fact that other people have also made a stupid mistake with a large stationary obstruction speaks more of low driving standards than any negligence by them.

Then again, it seems that where there's a claim you can always find blame......

facade

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The flip side to the "they knew but did nothing" is that it was a (presumably) stationary, 12 inch high, obstruction on a piece of tarmac that you hit with the front end of your car.

The fact that the direction you were going "wasn't in your line of sight" really isn't down to them, and the fact that other people have also made a stupid mistake with a large stationary obstruction speaks more of low driving standards than any negligence by them.

Then again, it seems that where there's a claim you can always find blame......

My place of work has staircases. They have rails to prevent me walking off the sides of them. To point out that if I walk off the side it is my fault, as it is obvious what would happen, and I can see the drop doesn't mean that they can save money not fitting them.

In this case, common sense would suggest that a marked out space with a 12" pipe sticking up in it is careless at least, when all they needed to do was mark it as not for use, a few cross hatches, circle round the obstruction etc.

Why do councils pay out for trip hazards when people can see the uneven pavement, and pothole damage when the driver could have seen the pothole and simply driven round it if they didn't have to?

skintpaul

Any elf n safety log? If they knew about t, and did nothing to reduce risk of injury, or at least warn people about it, may have some recourse..?

bigjl

There is also the point that if you make a drama out of a crisis you may soon find yourself looking for another employer.

I wonder how many others reversed into that pipe rather than drove into it?

If it was in the middle of a marked parking space I could see your point.

But to be honest you should really have been able to see it if you were looking where you were going.

Joe_Horner

facade wrote: »

Why do councils pay out for trip hazards when people can see the uneven pavement, and pothole damage when the driver could have seen the pothole and simply driven round it if they didn't have to?

Because, as I hinted at the end of my last, people are very adept at finding blame in order to create a claim from their own stupidity rather than admitting to, an learning from, their mistakes.

Slightly o/t but I was on the M6 towards Preston last week and the Highways Agency had gone to considerable expense to erect signs warning that there was no street lighting. Honestly, if you're too blind or stupid to see that it's dark outside without a big yellow sign to tell you then you have no business being on a motorway.

But that seems to be the world we live in