Is the premises liable for the damage to my OH’s car?

TK Lemon · 28-09-2019 06:33PM #1

We were driving though a certain town that we are not familiar with. We took a wrong turn and decided to turn around in a small industrial area.

There was a large supplementary car park at the back of it and the ramp going into it.
There was a clearly visible sign ‘Max 3tonnes per axle’.
He drove in with the intention of turning around to exit the industrial area. As he entered and went over the ramp, he heard a scraping and grinding noise, which caused the warning light on the dashboard indicating poor alignment of the wheels.

When he was exiting the supplementary car park, there was a usual sign that you’d see saying ‘we are not responsible for damage to vehicles, etc’. This was also partially obscured.

To be clear, this sign was NOT visible entering the area.

There is now also a liquid dripping out from the from near side underneath. Is this brake fluid or transmission fluid?

Thank you.

dobman88 · 28-09-2019 06:35PM

It's your own fault for driving over a ramp too high for the car to go over. Just unfortunate and nothing the company could have done about it

Dial Hard · 28-09-2019 06:36PM

You might get better advice in Legal Discussion but in a word, no, I should think.

Padre_Pio · 28-09-2019 06:36PM

Signs don't mean much.

The true test is whether the car park was actually liable for the damage, ie what caused it, were you trespassing at the time, did you contribute to the damage etc.

If the damage was your fault, then no they are not liable.

Seve OB · 28-09-2019 06:36PM

Compo culture at its finest. Make a mistake and look for someone else to pay for it

fineso.mom · 28-09-2019 06:37PM

If you had seen the sign going in would it have made any difference? Would your partner have driven differently ? I dont see how the sign being visible is relevant. Unless it was a sign saying " do not drive cars over the ramps " ?
Was there something unusual about the ramps? Was he driving fast?

Not being smart, genuine question.

biko · 28-09-2019 06:55PM

No advice on this site is professional, everything said is pure guesswork.

Isambard · 28-09-2019 07:00PM

something broke, possibly nothing to do with a ramp, I can't see how it can be.

vandriver · 28-09-2019 07:22PM

A warning light for wheel alignment?Is that a thing?

JeffKenna · 28-09-2019 07:25PM

Is your neck sore? Maybe you could get an easy 20 or 30k for whiplash as well?

ZX7R · 28-09-2019 07:27PM

vandriver wrote: »

A warning light for wheel alignment?Is that a thing?

Probably a 4x4 SUV
No they are not liable and could probably do you for tress pass

pippip · 28-09-2019 08:04PM

ZX7R wrote: »

Probably a 4x4 SUV
No they are not liable and could probably do you for tress pass

That's a bit of a stretch.

ZX7R · 28-09-2019 08:09PM

pippip wrote: »

That's a bit of a stretch.

Why from the op post sounds more like a loading Bay area they drove into rather than a car park
Plus if it was a car park probably for use of the customer only.
Worked in a place year's ago something similar happened except person called the garda, because they were not using the carpark for parking ,garde told them they were open to tress pass and damage to the property

kirving · 28-09-2019 08:46PM

Seve OB wrote: »

Compo culture at its finest. Make a mistake and look for someone else to pay for it

I'm sure you would be particularly annoyed if a ramp in an area easily accessible by the public damaged your car.

I have to drive over ramps every day at work (IDA owned industrial estate) at a 45° angle because my bog standard car cannot get over them without being damaged. Clearly an absolutely terrible design.

There's a reason why county councils are liable for damage caused to cars by poorly maintained roads. Drivers cannot reasonably be expected to see large potholes as speed.

jaxxx · 28-09-2019 08:49PM

Maria Bailey are you at it again?

iwillhtfu · 28-09-2019 08:53PM

Most likely you pulled into a truck yard they typically have either high ramps or sunken entry exits to the ramps. I smashed a sump on a van in one years ago which was an expensive lesson. You'd have no chance of claiming against a company for trespassing and then damaging your own car on a private premises. The fact you're even considering highlights the bigger issue that has developed over here with our compo culture and lack of accountability for our own stupidity/mistakes.

Lewis_Benson · 28-09-2019 08:54PM

TK Lemon wrote: »

We were driving though a certain town that we are not familiar with. We took a wrong turn and decided to turn around in a small industrial area.

Ok...

There was a large supplementary car park at the back of it and the ramp going into it.
There was a clearly visible sign ‘Max 3tonnes per axle’.

Right

He drove in with the intention of turning around to exit the industrial area. As he entered and went over the ramp, he heard a scraping and grinding noise, which caused the warning light on the dashboard indicating poor alignment of the wheels.

Who's "he"?
And the light is indicating a loss of traction, nothing to do with alignment.

When he was exiting the supplementary car park, there was a usual sign that you’d see saying ‘we are not responsible for damage to vehicles, etc’. This was also partially obscured.

Ok...

To be clear, this sign was NOT visible entering the area.

Right...

There is now also a liquid dripping out from the from near side underneath. Is this brake fluid or transmission fluid?

How could anyone on boards know what this is?

Thank you.

You're welcome.

corks finest · 28-09-2019 09:45PM

Seve OB wrote:

Compo culture at its finest. Make a mistake and look for someone else to pay for it

Yep unfortunately that's modern Ireland

pippip · 28-09-2019 10:53PM

corks finest wrote: »

Yep unfortunately that's modern Ireland

I agree we have a very bad compo culture, mainly in part to unrealistic payouts.

But I don't feel the op is coming across that way. If they're honest I feel they entered what appeared to be an industrial carpark and a ramp damaged the car. I don't feel the 'we are not responsible' sign means anything, that's mostly break ins etc but yeh driver should have judged it better.

Having said that if i drove through a public access carpark and damaged my car on something irresponsible by the owers I'd seek legal advice, but I don't feel this is the case here.

Isambard · 29-09-2019 08:43AM

looking where you were going would avoid that of course.

CiniO · 29-09-2019 09:06AM

I'd really like to see how that "wheels out of alignment" dashlight looks like.
I'm also curious how wheel can get unaligned on the ramp?

kirving · 29-09-2019 09:19AM

Isambard wrote: »

looking where you were going would avoid that of course.

In contrast to compo culture, here's an example of boards.ie culture, where the OP is always wrong.

It's very easy to sit back and be smart about it. There are load of ramps built that clearly are unfit for purpose and damage cars - regardless of speed.

There is almost no way for the driver to anticipate them.

The trespassing talk is all waffle. To be guilty of trespass, the act must be likely to cause fear in another person. Spinning your car around in an empty, open car park is absolutely not trespassing.

DaveyDave · 29-09-2019 01:28PM

Where was this exactly?

I was pulling into a car park at Cars and Coffee in Bray and absolutely slammed a small curb. It was the entrance to the car park and it wasn't immediately obvious that it wasn't flush with the road like most car park entrances would be.

Felt rough hitting it but no damage.

I could understand not expecting something to be bad, plenty of roads where you're driving along over speed bumps then suddenly one of them knocks your fillings out.

Guy:Incognito · 29-09-2019 02:00PM

Kevin Irving wrote: »

There is almost no way for the driver to anticipate them. .

What about looking out the big glass thing in front of you while you drive?

mikeecho · 29-09-2019 02:18PM

CiniO wrote: »

I'd really like to see how that "wheels out of alignment" dashlight looks like.
I'm also curious how wheel can get unaligned on the ramp?

Might have been a big ramp

That would definitely put the allignment off a little.
Wouldn't be surprised to see some fluid leaking from the car or driver either.

kirving · 29-09-2019 06:40PM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

What about looking out the big glass thing in front of you while you drive?

You can tell the height of a ramp to within centimetres, at night? You can't, but that's not a funny response.

There are numerous ramps I know of, that I've posted, that my car cannot get over at all, without bottoming out.

There were about 15 ramps built near me that a Dublin Bus couldn't get over, and had to be rebuilt.

wonski · 29-09-2019 06:46PM

How ramp damaged the car?

At least two times it was said here that the ramp damaged the car.

The reality is the car has been damaged while going over the ramp.

Please stop blaming the ramp.

ba_barabus · 29-09-2019 08:09PM

wonski wrote: »

How ramp damaged the car?

At least two times it was said here that the ramp damaged the car.

The reality is the car has been damaged while going over the ramp.

Please stop blaming the ramp.

If I owned the business I'd be looking to sue for damage to my ramp due to reckless driving.

In all seriousness however there was a case a number of years back taken by a driver who was injured by a badly designed ramp. I think it was Fingal CC who were successfully sued as it wasn't built to regulation.

lawred2 · 29-09-2019 08:10PM

TK Lemon wrote: »

We were driving though a certain town that we are not familiar with. We took a wrong turn and decided to turn around in a small industrial area.

There was a large supplementary car park at the back of it and the ramp going into it.
There was a clearly visible sign ‘Max 3tonnes per axle’.
He drove in with the intention of turning around to exit the industrial area. As he entered and went over the ramp, he heard a scraping and grinding noise, which caused the warning light on the dashboard indicating poor alignment of the wheels.

When he was exiting the supplementary car park, there was a usual sign that you’d see saying ‘we are not responsible for damage to vehicles, etc’. This was also partially obscured.

To be clear, this sign was NOT visible entering the area.

There is now also a liquid dripping out from the from near side underneath. Is this brake fluid or transmission fluid?

Thank you.

Lol it's 100% the driver's responsibility

Large bottle small glass · 29-09-2019 09:21PM

ba_barabus wrote: »

If I owned the business I'd be looking to sue for damage to my ramp due to reckless driving.

In all seriousness however there was a case a number of years back taken by a driver who was injured by a badly designed ramp. I think it was Fingal CC who were successfully sued as it wasn't built to regulation.

You can't just build any spec ramp you feel like.

Schedule 2 of SI 32 of 1988 is the relevant regulations.

They are applicable to public roads, but the owner of a private ramp would be well advised to have regard to them or similar.

wonski · 29-09-2019 10:17PM

Was it on a public road?

I doubt it.

Dont get started with it is a public road if you can get there, because you can get to my back garden, but that doesn't make me liable if one scratches their car or go over a concrete or brick barrier, which is a house in my case.

Is the premises liable for the damage to my OH’s car?

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