Car Park Liabilty

[duchess]

Yesterday I came back to my car in Portarlington Railway Station only to find out that some vandals had turned it literally up side down over the weekend.
As there is no CCTV there will probably never anyone held responsible for this.

Has somebody experienced something similar? What can I do to get the damages paid? Is Irish Rail somehow responsible for their car parks, evenso they claim that they aren't?

Thanks for any help.

[Mark Gleeson]

Sorry to hear about this

One of the principle problems raised at public meetings is that of car parking and security. I'm told that the latest trend is to steal air bags from the car. At one of the meetings in Newbridge a middle aged gentleman held the floor for some minutes describing his misfortune when his car disappeared from the cark park that very evening

Unfortunately Irish Rail are not liable for any damage or loss on there property its in the published terms and conditions of travel. Short of a train crashing through the fence and into your car you have no claim

CCTV is of course a possible solution and IE seem like they will invest in it but the only solution is to have a man on site on patrol but IE refuse to employ someone unless they charge for parking which clearly is not on

Irish Rail promised a lot at meetings but has so far not delivered

If you want to complain (if only to vent some anger) you could write to one of these two gentlemen they know all about cars getting vandalised in IE car parks along the Kildare line

Steve Murphy, Manager Southern and Western or
Myles McHugh, Service Planning Manager Southern and Western
Iarnrod Eireann
Heuston Station
Dublin 8

Appearently there is a new office for complaints but despite promises of details we have no info on its address (we do know it has staff)

We welcome all reports of problems the more we know about the more likely IE will do something

[Derek Wheeler]

Sorry to hear about that. Sallins is another "hotspot" for vandals. Thats why I park in the village.

Mark has covered most of the issues surrounding security in car parks. But I'll add the following.

Owners of a car park, that is free of charge, are exempt from claims for damages. However I do believe that if you pay for parking, (on street excepted) the onus is on the car park operator/owner to provide protection/supervision of your car and will be liable for damages caused by vandalism regardless of what disclaimers are advertised. Perhaps our resident legal guru can confirm or lambast.

Obviously, this is not the case in Portarlington and it brings us back to the public debate we had with IE reps about putting "car park attendants" in place at known problem areas. The impression I got, was that they don't really care. However, if they go down the route of "pay parking", what I said above,would surely change their attitudes.

Personally, I favour the car park attendant concept, as it not only provides a visible presence, it also helps "manage the car park.

[Thomas J Stamp]

I have an aversion to threads like these

Perhaps our resident legal guru can confirm or lambast.

Actually, neither, as i'm on holidays and cant look it up.

So, here is the senario:

Is there any negligence on the part of IE in the running of an unmanned car park if someones car gets broken into. As Derek says, different idea if it was manned and you'd paid. To use an allusion: If your car gets broken into on Merrion Square do you have the Right to sue Dublin City Council for Damages? Nope.

But, and this is where is it interesting..... if you are in a pub and your car gets damaged in the car park while you are a customer, or if you are in the Tesco car park, you do have a cause of action, but proving causation and remotness and probability can be a big problem. In all liklihood you're not onto a winner and that would explain why it is the policy of IE not to man their car parks.

[Mark Gleeson]

Here be the T&C's from Irish Rail they wash all hands of your property, even looks like they will deny liability if a locomotive comes through hedge and goes over your car

[Thomas J Stamp]

The purpose of clauses like 19.2 there in the attachment is to simply scare genuine claimants away. Phrases such as we are not liabile even for the negligence of ourselves should be banned as being in effect an unfair consumer contract clause as it is implying that IE will NOT be found negligent it dosnt imply they deny they are negligent. Anyway, its baloney, all such clauses are. I have never seen a case being defeated by one and I never will.

[sean]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Appearently there is a new office for complaints but despite promises of details we have no info on its address (we do know it has staff)

Irish Rail's complaints office:

[duchess]

Just to let you know, costs of repair would sum up to euro2300, therefore insurance would write the car off. Cant afford a new car, so I drive around with no mirrow and scraped side; look like a bad example of woman driver now.
GardaÃ* couldnt lift fingerprints, beside to massive handprints on the car and as there was no CCTV noone can be blamed. Except me for being stuipid and parking my car in the station day in day out and giving irish rail euro2200 every year.

Thanks for all the comments, guess it means they are not liable and it is no case of negligence, did I get this right?

Antje