Multi story door damage to roof

Raven35

Advise appreciated regarding my sons car incident whilst driving into a multi story car park. 
Incident happened as my son drove his car round a tight right hand turn into a multi story car park and realised that the shutter door was closing on his car. He immediately stopped but by this time the door was pressing down into his roof. Staff were watching on CCTV and attended and called for back up from security staff and the door was lifted up off the car.
The shopping centre have passed the incident details to their insurance who after requesting several repair quotes and agreeing that they were reasonable now say the security company operating the door are sub employed by the centre and the claim should be against them instead, although they cannot get a response from them neither can my son.
Details-
Operator claims the car park shuts at 8pm and door began to close at 8.05pm despite app and website stating it closes at 9pm(and still says that)
Lanes were both open to entrance to car park at the time of the incident 
Car park closed signs were not displayed in the lanes(these are portable swing signs on metal frames)
Barriers were not In situe as carpark was undergoing transition to camera recognition system from traditional chip and barrier system (ie they had been taken off) thus allowing free access into the car park
No alarm system was in place to warn the door was closing 
Door closure was operated from a security hub with CCTV access  only, not physically manned and supervised at the door 
No sensors were in place to auto stop on contact with an object which allowed the door to continue descending onto the car (this could easily have been a pedestrian)

The incident occurred on the 23/10/2021 and was reported immediately 

Thanks in advance 

Grumpy_chap

Raven35 said:

Advise appreciated regarding my sons car incident whilst driving into a multi story car park. 
Incident happened as my son drove his car round a tight right hand turn into a multi story car park and realised that the shutter door was closing on his car. He immediately stopped but by this time the door was pressing down into his roof. Staff were watching on CCTV and attended and called for back up from security staff and the door was lifted up off the car.
The shopping centre have passed the incident details to their insurance who after requesting several repair quotes and agreeing that they were reasonable now say the security company operating the door are sub employed by the centre and the claim should be against them instead, although they cannot get a response from them neither can my son.
Details-
Operator claims the car park shuts at 8pm and door began to close at 8.05pm despite app and website stating it closes at 9pm(and still says that)
Lanes were both open to entrance to car park at the time of the incident 
Car park closed signs were not displayed in the lanes(these are portable swing signs on metal frames)
Barriers were not In situe as carpark was undergoing transition to camera recognition system from traditional chip and barrier system (ie they had been taken off) thus allowing free access into the car park
No alarm system was in place to warn the door was closing 
Door closure was operated from a security hub with CCTV access  only, not physically manned and supervised at the door 
No sensors were in place to auto stop on contact with an object which allowed the door to continue descending onto the car (this could easily have been a pedestrian)

The incident occurred on the 23/10/2021 and was reported immediately 

Thanks in advance 

Who would / did your son pay for the parking time?  That is who he has privity to claim off.  That party may be able to pass the claim on to another business.

Was the acceptance of responsibility in any form that is verifiable?

Has your son notified the vehicle insurers?

It is not credible that the shopping centre company are unable to contact the sub-contract security company.

Raven35

So he would have paid the multi story car park owned by the shopping centre but this did not happen as they informed him that it was closed and he left shortly after giving his details following the incident.

I phoned the centre myself and spoke to the operator of the door who informed me that the details would be passed to the centre manager the following day(Sunday) and he gave me his name and admitted operating the door closure.

The insurer of the centre have at no point admitted liability but have tried to imply that my son was to  blame for the incident for not paying attention to the door despite it not being in view of the driver until rounding the corner and entering the car park. 

My son has disputed this in writing blaming the points listed in original thread.

There is cctv footage of the closure which shows the door closing for approx 11 seconds and my son applying his brakes to stop the car within 4 seconds as soon as the door was in view, the door was in no way visible before this point.

user1977

I would think it's the company which operates the car park which is liable (which isn't necessarily the same as the landlord of the shopping centre). Presumably there's signage stating who that is?

MEM62

Raven35 said:

Lanes were both open to entrance to car park at the time of the incident 
Car park closed signs were not displayed in the lanes(these are portable swing signs on metal frames)
Barriers were not In situe as carpark was undergoing transition to camera recognition system from traditional chip and barrier system (ie they had been taken off) thus allowing free access into the car park
No alarm system was in place to warn the door was closing 
Door closure was operated from a security hub with CCTV access  only, not physically manned and supervised at the door 
No sensors were in place to auto stop on contact with an object which allowed the door to continue descending onto the car (this could easily have been a pedestrian)

The incident occurred on the 23/10/2021 and was reported immediately 

Thanks in advance 

Raven35 said:

The insurer of the centre have at no point admitted liability but have tried to imply that my son was to  blame for the incident for not paying attention to the door despite it not being in view of the driver until rounding the corner and entering the car park. 

You provide a detailed list of safety measure that you believe that the shopping center or car park operator should have had in place.  I am not sure that any risk assessment would insist on such comprehensive provisions.

In essence your son drove into a closing shutter and the liability, in my opinion, is his.  You say that the turn was tight and that he could not see the closing door.  In this case would it be reasonable to say that he proceeded to drive into an area that he could not see to be clear?  Of course I cannot see the entrance or the door but, just based on the information that you have provided, I cannot see that the blame lies elsewhere.    
  

Herzlos

Raven35 said:

There is cctv footage of the closure which shows the door closing for approx 11 seconds and my son applying his brakes to stop the car within 4 seconds as soon as the door was in view, the door was in no way visible before this point.

So if he drove around a blind corner fast enough to not be able to stop on time for the shutters, what would have happened if it was already closed?

I still think the building management is negligent for not making it clear the car park was closed before closing the barrier, or at least checking nothing was coming up the ramp. But your son needs to be more careful in future too.

Grey_Critic

So what do your son's insurers say about it? That is why you have insurance. Look at it the other way around if they were claiming for repairs to their door you would pass it to them.

You already have an admission of responsibility so let them sort out who is going to pay.