Vehicles to be freed from car park after two years

Vehicles trapped in a central London mechanical stacked car park are being released after more than two years.

An email, seen by BBC London, has been sent to vehicle owners by the management company for Rathbone Square, CBRE. It said three-hour slots would be available from Thursday until 23 May for collections to be facilitated.

Small business co-owners Mark Lucas and Steve Davies, whose then-new Vauxhall Vivaro van became trapped in the building complex near Oxford Street in December 2022, said the saga had left them more than £46,000 out of pocket.

CBRE declined to comment on what caused the car park malfunction and whether owners could claim for financial losses.

A resident in the Rathbone Square development told BBC London up to 40 vehicles might be trapped. CBRE did not respond when asked to confirm this number.

A stacked car park is a system in which cars are parked on top of each other, using mechanical platforms and lifts, in order to make best use of the available space.

The email sets out the “step-by-step guide to vehicle retrieval” and states the “car stacker will remain closed to all vehicles, to allow vehicle owners time to retrieve their vehicles”.

Mr Davies, co-owner of HCS Furniture in Buckinghamshire, said it had been a “long time coming” but he and his business partner were “very excited” to be collecting the van – however, he is unsure what condition its battery will be in.

“We’re going to get it low-loaded so that we can get it back to our place to make sure it’s OK, rather than risk driving it in whatever state it is in,” he said.

“The first thing we’re going to do is is take it down to the Vauxhall garage that we got it from so that they can service it and do a diagnostic test on the battery and to find out if it’s suffered at all.”

The additional cost of renting the low-loader lorry and servicing the van will need to be assessed before the business can put in a final claim, Mr Davies said.

Lauren Kennedy, a mechanic based in Finchley, said the owners could find their vehicles in varying conditions.

“They’re definitely going to have flat batteries, that’s for sure. But they’re also going to possibly have flat tyres, perished tyres, seized brakes.”

People with keyless systems may also struggle to get into their car if the batteries are flat.

Ms Kennedy, whose garage is staffed entirely by females, said the drivers will probably need recovery teams with them to get their vehicles out and transported home.

Derek Millard-Smith, a solicitor specialising in parking law, said as well as any direct monetary costs incurred, the owners may also be able to claim for the inconvenience caused and “loss of enjoyment” of their vehicles.

“It’s quantifying that time, which is the nature of any civil claim that you’d have to set out what you think your losses were,” he said.

“And it is for the other side to say that they weren’t that much if they didn’t want to pay that much out.”

Double Parking Systems, which did not install but maintains the automated system at Rathbone Square, confirmed to the BBC last week that the parking system had been operational since 15 March.

Mr Davies said the whole experience had been “dreadful”, in particular the poor communication they have had from CBRE.

“If they’d just communicated better and told us what was really happening, it wouldn’t have been so traumatic,” he said.

BBC London has contacted CBRE several times since early April but the firm would only confirm that the car park system was now fixed.