Cars parked at Owners Risk?...

King of Groove

King of Groove

Suspended / Banned
Messages
6,956
Name
King
Edit My Images
Yes
I recently left my car in the car park at work (bus garage).

Unfortunately I got a screw in one of my tyres. It had actually pierced the wall of the tyre and meant I had a flat tyre at home.

Quite a few of us at work have suffered exactly the same fault.

It cost me £67.31 to get a new tyre fitted and I honestly feel the employer should pay.

I saw one of our very senior managers and he said the company's attitude you park your car in the car park at your own risk.

What is the law on this? Do they have to display signs saying you park at your own risk? What are my rights in this case?

I welcome any advice on this.

Many thanks.
 
Paul_W said:
why not just get the bus too work ??
Click to expand...

:lol:

There is some thought that "at your own risk" signs are unlawful as they attempt to restrict responsibility :shrug:
I'm guessing that a side-effect of complaining might be the management removing permission to use the carpark.
 
Why should your employer pay? How on earth can they be responsible for ensuring there is no broken glass or loose screws around. This is endemic of the blame culture we live in. Things happen, and its no-ones fault. I am sure you would be the 1st to moan if the employer closed the car park because if my staff had that attitude I would.
 
Can I have the name of your company, please? I had a screw in the sidewall of a tyre about 20 years ago - it must have been in your work's car park! Even back then, my tyre cost a touch over a hundred quid!

On a slightly more serious note, you'll need to prove that the screw got into your tyre in the car park - even several other vehicles suffering the same trouble could well have picked up the screws elsewhere. Maybe a building site on an approach road?
 
It really is at your own risk. How can your employer be responsible?
 
I think you would have a pretty tough time proving the screw was picked up in the works car park...
 
Could have been worse , like a bus going over a oily patch and sliding into your car causing worse damage ...oh and your insurance company leaving you to deal with it on your own because your parked inside private property. Live with it, a hazard of motoring.
 
viv1969 said:
It really is at your own risk. How can your employer be responsible?
Click to expand...
It usually depends on whether the damage is outside of the employers responsibility. Years ago a work colleagues car had a pallet fall on it from the other side of the fence to the car park. The company reimbursed him. At own risk usually means at risk of theft or damage caused by other users. Our union usually ensures that the company send someone out to remove weeds and remove any foriegn objects from the car parks. They also took measures to increase security after a flat bed truck drove in one morning, loaded someones car onto the back and drove off with it.
Obviously not every employer is able to provide such facilities.
 
Its just a hazard of motoring, I wish I could buy a tyre for that price its just cost me best part of £400 for a pair for my Mondeo :gag:
 
Could you not just sweep the car park? Maybe have a rota system to do it? Or look into getting a cleaning company to do it - perhaps the company would pay for that to be done a couple of times a year? It wouldn't pay for your tyre now, but would probably lower the chance of it happening again.
 
Graham_P_Clarke said:
Its just a hazard of motoring, I wish I could buy a tyre for that price its just cost me best part of £400 for a pair for my Mondeo :gag:
Click to expand...

Your being robbed. I got four fitted for my boxster from e tyres for less than that.
 
King of Groove said:
It cost me £67.31 to get a new tyre fitted and I honestly feel the employer should pay.
Click to expand...

Why ? was the screw in the car park because of company negligence ? You say you noticed the flat tyre at home so how do you know it was in the car park ? Can you prove categorically that it was a screw belonging to the company and it was definitely in the car park ? I'm not being awkward but if you came to me with that demand I would rightly be asking you those questions.

If I got home and noticed I had a flat tyre and I had earlier been visiting you and my car was in your drive would you pay for my tyre no questions asked? Of course you wouldn't.

I have to agree with Cambsno on this one. Blame Culture is going to ruin just about every aspect of our lives (Thank you for another c**p import Mr America) We are now expected to live in a world where accidents and incidents just don't happen :shrug: it has to be someones fault :cuckoo:
 
No way should the employer pay.

Maybe they should charge you x amount per day of free parking you've enjoyed??
 
why would a bus company car park be littered with screws?

I could understand screwfix car park or a building / construction site , maybe even the screw factory,
 
RichardtheSane said:
I think you would have a pretty tough time proving the screw was picked up in the works car park...
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but not if someone else had seen her! :)
 
Take a brush and sweep the car park... sweep any sharp objects into the general area that the managers park in - sorted.
 
Lynton said:
why would a bus company car park be littered with screws?

I could understand screwfix car park or a building / construction site , maybe even the screw factory,
Click to expand...

Maybe they have their workshop there?
 
odd jim said:
Maybe they have their workshop there?
Click to expand...

Possibly, I assumed not many screws of a size and stength to go through a tyrewall though on a bus?

Are buses screwed together? I thought riveted, welded and bolted in the main, but hey, I don't build or maintain buses... :shrug:
 
How has it managed to pierce the wall? The wall shouldn't come in contact with the ground unless the tyre is seriously under inflated. Errant screw stuck in the side of a kerb you're parked next to?

Regardless, these things happen, it's part of owning a vehicle. Trying to lay the blame elsewhere is low and is what's going wrong with modern society. At the end of the day, you chose to use your works car park, they didn't force you to use it, claiming an rogue screw is now their fault and they should pay out is pointless. Maybe they'll remove parking privileges which I'm sure most of the staff will be up in arms about. Or maybe they'll give everyone a nice pay cut to pay for a maintenance team to keep the car park tidy, again, I don't imagine this will please you.

If it really is a concern for you, replace the tyre and park elsewhere, I doubt your employer will complain.
 
Lynton said:
Possibly, I assumed not many screws of a size and stength to go through a tyrewall though on a bus?

Are buses screwed together? I thought riveted, welded and bolted in the main, but hey, I don't build or maintain buses... :shrug:
Click to expand...

Seats, interiors, seen the screws in those things? Mind you, thankfully it's been years since I've been on one of these "buses".
 
Just stopped writing to the highways agency as I had a flat tyre last year so I must have picked it up on the highway.

To the OP as others have said how do you KNOW the screw came from the car park.

Lets be honest unless you have a blow out most of us find we have a tyre problem when the car has been parked for a while so the most likely places we notice it are places where our cars are parked for some time.
 
King of Groove said:
I recently left my car in the car park at work (bus garage).

Unfortunately I got a screw in one of my tyres. It had actually pierced the wall of the tyre and meant I had a flat tyre at home.

Quite a few of us at work have suffered exactly the same fault.

It cost me £67.31 to get a new tyre fitted and I honestly feel the employer should pay.

I saw one of our very senior managers and he said the company's attitude you park your car in the car park at your own risk.

What is the law on this? Do they have to display signs saying you park at your own risk? What are my rights in this case?

I welcome any advice on this.

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Please tell me your joking!!!!

If not... Are you for real!!!!!
 
To clarify the situation our garage is typical of most bus garages.

There is an area, by the fuel bays which is buses only. On a slightly lower level is a small car park which is only suitable for cars.

The rest of the site is used by both buses and cars.At night time the rest of the site might be occupied by buses and small repairs could be undertaken on them. As buses depart cars will occupy those spaces and so on..

I'm not sure why American, blame culture have come in to this thread. I'm just the latest in a long list of drivers, at work, who have suffered the same fate. Some drivers have had it happen more than once.

Yes it is very difficult to prove but it's one heck of set of amazing coincidences!! I recognise they probably won't pay but if it helps to change practices it might stop it happening to others.

I have even suggested they use some sort of tray to collect screws etc that could fall on the ground so avoiding any problems. But apparently is an added cost.
 
Last edited:
Must say I seem to be getting more punctures in recent years from random bits of metal.
First thought is more bits and pieces left on unswept roads but I do wonder if modern grippy tyre compounds are more inclined to let them start to work in.

Unless there is documented evidence of screws being noticed on the car park and not being removed it could have come from anywhere.
If the screw stays in the tyre, deflation is quite slow to the extent that a 'get you home' measure can be to insert a screw in a leak if you can spot it.
 
King of Groove said:
To clarify the situation our garage is typical of most bus garages.

There is an area, by the fuel bays which is buses only. On a slightly lower level is a small car park which is only suitable for cars.

The rest of the site is used by both buses and cars.At night time the rest of the site might be occupied by buses and small repairs could be undertaken on them. As buses depart cars will occupy those spaces and so on..
Click to expand...

I still can't see how that makes it your companies fault that you got a flat tyre :shrug:
 
King of Groove said:
To clarify the situation our garage is typical of most bus garages.

There is an area, by the fuel bays which is buses only. On a slightly lower level is a small car park which is only suitable for cars.

The rest of the site is used by both buses and cars.At night time the rest of the site might be occupied by buses and small repairs could be undertaken on them. As buses depart cars will occupy those spaces and so on..

I'm not sure why American, blame culture have come in to this thread. I'm just the latest in a long list of drivers, at work, who have suffered the same fate. Some drivers have had it happen more than once.

Yes it is very difficult to prove but it's one heck of amazing coincidences!!

I have even suggested they use some sort of tray to collect screws etc that could fall on the ground so avoiding any problems. But apparently is an added cost.
Click to expand...

But you still park there??? :cuckoo:
 
Scott, no need for the cuckoo smiley. That might be the only facility possible for Clive to park
 
King of Groove said:
Yes it is very difficult to prove but it's one heck of set of amazing coincidences!! I recognise they probably won't pay but if it helps to change practices it might stop it happening to others.
Click to expand...

Could it be that maybe the some part of the route to work is shared by a number you?

I used to use an industrial estate as a bit of a cut-through to get to work but I started picking up punctures for fun!

If several people at my place used the same route it's more than likely that they would have picked up punctures too.

As other's have said, there's no way you can pin this on your employer as there's no way you could prove the screw belongs to the bus company and that's just for starters.

Put it down to one of the "joys of motoring" and move on. Yes it is inconvenient, yes it is expensive and yes, the screw may have come from the company car park but what's the alternative? Parking on the public highway/public car park where you're more likely to get your car damaged/broken into?
 
Complaining about getting a screw in your tyre in your employer's car park could be a quick route to being told you cannot park there anymore.
 
if there is no reason that screw are used in a car park, I can see no reason for the company to be blamed for that

if anything could the employees be to blame for dropping the screws on the way to the carpark on the way home out of their pockets

Unless of course there is a disgruntled employee seeking revenge, as a side wall is a strange place to find a screw, since they dont come into contact with the floor the screws laying on

Maybe a sweep and a large magnet to pick up stray screws could be called upon
 
As I say, be grateful your employer actually provides car parking.

It's their land and you have no rights to it. They have given you permission to park there, which they are not obliged to do.

In no way are they legally obliged to pay.
 
There have been worse things that have been asked. I don't think this is quite an outrage ;)
 
Jeeeeez!
A lot of you lot ^ seem to have got out of bed the wrong side!!!


@simon "Why should your employer pay? How on earth can they be responsible for ensuring there is no broken glass or loose screws around."

er...because they have whats called "duty of care"!!!

i really don't want to get myself embroiled in this argument but really???? :razz:
 
i hate those disclaimer signs!!!

i had my car towed to a dealership (without myself being present) due to brake failure.... the dealershipleft my vehicle unlocked for an entire weekend, and about £6500 sound system went walkies without me knowing...

they then realised their mistake and broke a tiny window in the back door and made out that some thieves had broken into the motor and stolen the stuff..... my motor (if had been locked correctly) was deadlocked so no soundsystem could have been removed through a 6 inch wide window, especially due to the fact there was no damage on the motor at all....

the dealership blamed the breakdown people and they blamed the dealership, so i ended up mega out of pocket, unable to claim due to the rediculous sign they have wonky on the wall!! very unfair!!
 
Carlo said:
Jeeeeez!
A lot of you lot ^ seem to have got out of bed the wrong side!!!


@simon "Why should your employer pay? How on earth can they be responsible for ensuring there is no broken glass or loose screws around."

er...because they have whats called "duty of care"!!!

i really don't want to get myself embroiled in this argument but really???? :razz:
Click to expand...

Too late... you're in now ;)

Yes, the employer will always have a duty of care but the first stumbling block would be being 100% that the screw that caused the damaged was in the works car park.

Unless you had the condition of each tyre verified before each journey to work and that no roads on the way to work contained any screws then you have no grounds to make a complaint against the owner of the car park, all you would be doing is making an accusation againt the car park owners with no evidence that it was their screw.

In the event that it could be proved that the owner of the car park was negligent in anyway which resulted in damage or injury then I think the "owners risk" part goes out of the window.

How about this for a couple of scenarios:

1) Another employee moonlights as a carpenter and as he opens his boot/doors a few screws fall out.

2) Another employee has had a disagreement with the OP and is deliberately placing the screws to damage the tyres.

How would it be fair in either of those two circumstances to claim against the car park owner?
 
Carlo said:
er...because they have whats called "duty of care"!!!
Click to expand...

Pass me some Sellotape for my sides are splitting. Let me guess , you work in the public sector ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top