Whilst at work today the weather was very windy with odd showers.Thought nothing of it.Car parked in usual place at the garage whilst i was working.Roadtested a bus but as i came back into the garage i noticed this:

I was really shocked at what i saw.

I took photos for a claim to my employers on there insurance as it has badly damaged the wing.

I,m upset about this as the wind has blown the drum (empty thank god) off the pile straight over onto my wing,its never happened before.I won,t be parking there anymore thats for sure.

I just hope i have joy claiming for this.I have heard that we park our cars on the premises at our own risk but there is no signage to say this.Surely they must be responsible for the security of things here?

Just as i,m trying to get the Octy uptogether this summer and now this happens.Certainly looks like a new wing needed as there are 2 deep dents and semi circle scratches.

I,ll keep you informed of the outcome.

Sorry to hear of the damage, whilst the owner of a car park might not be responsible for other people damaging your car eg opening a door into yours or bumping your car, they must have duty of care to protect people. What if you had been walking by and this fell on you? Would they just say that they are not responsible? No. They must surely pay up. But I'm someone on here will give the correct legal standing on this. Good luck with getting it resolved.

Usually parking at your own risk means other people bumping into you or your car being stolen or broken into you, any damage caused by items owned by the owner of the car park should be covered by their insurance.

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I would imagine they will pay up. As an employer they are responsible for safety in the work place. I'm sure the little elf and safety chap would have a field day!

Absolutely gutted for you mate. Good luck with the claim.

FP

At your own risk doesn't get them out of their public safety liabilities.

They have insurance and if they won't play your car insurance will be able to make them see sense.

Thanks guys for your kind words.

I will be seeing them tommorow about this. We do have health & safety constantly drummed into us so this area should be safe car or no car here.

I will keep you informed.

Well suprise,suprise the Engineering director has replied to me stating that I park there at my own risk but if I was hit by a bus that would have been a different matter.

So now I'm going to have to get in touch with our health & safety dept and try that approach.

The fight continues they're not going to get away with this.

To start with that will be a near miss as far as the H&S department are concerned. It would have made a bigger dent in a person.

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Thanks guys for your kind words.

I will be seeing them tommorow about this. We do have health & safety constantly drummed into us so this area should be safe car or no car here.

I will keep you informed.

your employers insurance will claim force majeure, ill guess that will percolate downward to you too

Just place a couple drums next to the bosses car. See how he likes the risk

Joking aside. The whole parking at your own risk. Does this need to be formally clarified ie via signage if that is the case?

Depends what you mean by parking - doesn't look like a car park from the pics that stormchaser has posted.

Stormchaser also states that car usually parked there so employer would need to prove that it was inappropriate area and he had been advised of this/

Not really a H&S issue IMO but definitely a liability one,

Depends what you mean by parking - doesn't look like a car park from the pics that stormchaser has posted.

Stormchaser also states that car usually parked there so employer would need to prove that it was inappropriate area and he had been advised of this/

Not really a H&S issue IMO but definitely a liability one,

Ignoring the damage to the car it is very much a health and safety issue, if you can drive there you must be able to walk there. What if the drum fell on someone rather than the car. The damage to the car is evidence of the force involved.

Either the drums should not have stacked like that or no one should have been able to get there.

Cheers guys for the replies.

There is no signs anywhere to say that you park at your own risk.Behind my car there is room for another 2 cars.This is where we all park and the buses are on the other side which is divided by a yellow line on the ground(not visible in pics).The drums by my car are placed on uneven ground which is just dirt next to the boatyards fence and most of them lean forward,so placing more on top will topple eventually.

The trouble with saturday just gone is that it was a very windy day with the wind crossing from that direction which blew it off the pile onto my car.My boss the engineering diirector isn,t based here he is at our head office 25 miles away.Lucky for him he parks his BMW 535 in a secure under building car park.

My employer must be liable somehow for this and i will notify Health & Safety about these drums and the way they are stacked.My colleague did say that if someone was walking past and that happened it could have been a serious injury albeit they are empty but besides the point.That is also a walk way too.I,m thinking of putting this to my insurance company now and see if they can claim from my employer and in the meantime i will being going for an estimate.Its just wing damage and nothing else.

On a side note here i noticed on Elsawin that the whole of the inner side of the front wing is bonded on with no bolts you don,t actually remove that panel (1) in the diagram.All the main bolts are down the rear side and behind the side of the front bumper.There is a part number for this bonding agent which must be applied in 5 big spots along an inner panel and on the A pillar within 30 mins of fitting the wing and then held and aligned.It states you have to heat the area up to 100 degrees and then cut the old bonding off with cutting wire to get the old wing off and then level it on the panel to about 1mm thick before applying new sealant for the new wing.

Thats a bit of a task just for a wing :(

We have those 205 litre drums at work for engine oil & gear oil & we dont stack them one on top of the other when empty as they very easily slide off with a bit of wind or if they are knocked,it could of easily been a person walking past that when it fell off,sounds like your employer needs to move them out of people's way & store them in a area away from people & cars.You would think they would just pay for the damage to your car to be fixed & move the drums so it doesnt happen again.

Im sure my wing (item 3) is just bolted on along the top & some down the front & rear of the wing.

Not sure that I can suggest anything for sure that will help, but the employer does have a duty of care to employees under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 - storing the drums 2 high could be viewed as a breach of a section of that, imagine the damage done to your car being done to a person.

Also, as you descirbed these as empty, therefore waste this may help:-

http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/ppg26.pdf

Sections 1,4,5,7 and 8 are interesting - in particular 8 whereby the company has a duty of care to ensure that it's waste is kept under control at all times, be it in their own yard, or on transferring to a licensed waste carrier.

Looking at your picture, I would suggest that the waste isn't stored in a manner that ensures it is 'under control' (clearly as the wind has blown this drum over onto your car), I see no sign of the secondary containment (or bunding as it's also called) metioned in section 5 , and then subtly referenced in 8 (empty drums should be stored in the same manner as full ones). 5a also gives details on where these drums should be situated....and where they shouldn't be (section 8 also tells you empties should be stored with the same considerations) - your first picture shows a surface water drain which may or may not be directly linked to controlled waters.

Sadly though, the fact that I would raise a number of findings on an H&S or Environmental Compliance audit of that yard may not do anything for your attempt to get your employer to pay for the damage to your car...

Good luck with your claim!

Even if they had signs all over the place saying you park at your own risk, it wouldn't get them out of this one.

They didn't take reasonable care when stacking the empty barrels and it would be obvious that with wind or similar they could come off.

If need's be use your motor insurance legal cover or just get a small claims filing in yourself.

Unless there was guidance NOT to park in this or other locations, then they should foot the bill.

Assume you have union and legal insurance cover?

Unless there was guidance NOT to park in this or other locations, then they should foot the bill.

Assume you have union and legal insurance cover?

Yes iam in the RMT at work so i will discuss with my rep and see what can be done.I do also have legal cover too.

Thanks everyone for your help i will keep you posted of the outcome.

unions pfff demise of this country!!

Unless there was guidance NOT to park in this or other locations, then they should foot the bill.

Assume you have union and legal insurance cover?

 

 

Even if there was, that flying barrel, could have seriously injured a person, so the people responsible for them have not taken the care required (legal duty) so are still going to be liable to some degree.

 

If you parked your car there, even though there was a don't park here, you'd probably split the liability and so on depending on who was more at fault.

 

Just because somebody says at your own risk, doesn't get them out of taking the care required of them.

 

 

IANAL.

Hi stormchaser, any luck in resolving this, it really pi$$ed me iff when i heard about this and your employers response...