Families campaigning to make Multi-Storey Car Parks (MSCP) safer hope a call for evidence by the Government’s Building Safety Regulator, relating to protection from falling, collision and impact around buildings, will bring a change in the law a step closer – as reported in Parking Review.
Former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, made the call in July last year following the re-introduction of The Multi-Storey Car Parks (Safety) Bill, known as Gabe’s Law, named after the 15-year-old son of Johnny Santer, who died after falling from Liverpool’s Hanover Street Q-Park car park in 2020.
Mr Santer has been tirelessly campaigning to raise the legal minimum height of car park barriers from 1.1m to 2.7m and 24-hour on-site security.
Johnny Santer, from the Gabe’s Law campaign is meeting the new Minister for Building Safety, Baroness Blake, on 4th November in Westminster and said:
“Although it’s taken 15 months for the call for evidence to be published, it is a significant step towards getting Gabe’s Law onto the statute book.
“During that time, many more preventable deaths have occurred, and more tragic stories come to light involving people who would still be alive if the legal minimum height of barriers was raised.
“We hope this marks an important milestone in the campaign and urge people to have their say and share their lived experiences.
“I hope the Minister will take on board the testimony of the many families, including survivors, who are retraumatised with every reported preventable death from MSCP.”
Families across the UK including Liz and Andy Combeer from Guildford, whose 17-year-old son Tom died after falling from a multi-storey car park (MSCP) in the town last year, are sharing their story to push for a change in the law.
Andy Combeer said:
“Tom’s is another preventable death, where the edge barrier height was proved at his inquest to not be compliant with current building regulations.
“In her Prevention of Future Deaths report (PFD) the Coroner said that the Council-owned MSCPs present a safety risk to the public (including children) of falling and that there are insufficient measures in place to prevent suicide.”
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in its call for evidence says:
“Part K of the Building Regulations sets requirements to protect building users from falls, collisions and impacts in and around buildings. It covers requirements for features in all buildings, such as stairs, ladders, handrails, ramps, guarding windows, doors, glazing and vehicle barriers.
“I encourage all interested parties to respond to the call for evidence. The evidence received will help inform future consideration of Part K and Approved Document K, including whether any further changes may be justified.”
The call for evidence will run until December 28th with respondents encouraged to submit their views via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/have-your-say-on-the-future-of-part-k-of-the-building-regulations
For more information follow Gabe’s Law on Instagram @Gabes_law or visit www.gabeslaw.org to join the campaign.