A family from Guildford, whose 17-year-old son died after falling from a multi-storey car park (MSCP) in the town, are the latest to join the national campaign to make them safer, as reported in Surrey World.
Tom Combeer, fell from the 10th floor of the York Road MSCP in the early hours of 8th March last year. There have been at least 4 deaths from York Road and Leapale Road MSCPs in Guildford since 2019.
Now Tom’s family are backing The Multi-Storey Car Parks (Safety) Bill which was reintroduced to Parliament in September.
The Bill, to be known as Gabe’s Law, is named after 15-year-old Gabriel Santer who died after falling from the rooftop of an MSCP in Liverpool in 2020.
His dad Johnny Santer is leading the campaign to change the law which, if passed, would see all perimeter edging increased from 1.1m to 2.7m to be fitted retrospectively and 24-hour on-site security.
Andy and Liz Combeer are the latest family to share their story to push for a change in the law and want to appeal to other people affected to get involved.
Andy Combeer said:
“Tom’s is the latest preventable death caused by falling from an MSCP in Guildford, 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 Council commissioned a report into safety at Leapale Road MSCP in 2020 after two suicides in 2019. The £200k cost of increasing barrier height and consequent concerns about displacement of suicide-risk to other Guildford MSCPs, if Leapale Road was rendered safe, were given as reasons to decide not to proceed.”
Liz Combeer said:
“It would seem that raising barrier heights to 2.7m is a relatively cheap and easy approach to reducing the risk of either impulsive (as appears to have been the case with Tom) or planned suicide, as well as accidents.
“The financial costs of managing such deaths due to the involvement of emergency services, the coronial process, the impact on the ability of bereaved families to remain in work, the need for counselling and other post-bereavement support is huge, but even more significant is the human cost of the loss of a very precious child.”
Johnny Santer, founder, Gabe’s Law campaign.
“I’m grateful to the Combeer family for getting in touch. All the families agree that any cost outweighs the cost this is having on society. There’s no doubt that Gabe’s Law would not only save lives but also save many other families and communities from the catastrophic loss that we are all suffering.”
The families are also appealing to the Government to deliver on its promised call for evidence on building regulations, around perimeter guarding design and wider fall and accidental prevention measures. Former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer asked for the call for evidence, following a question by Gabe’s Law Bill sponsor Peter Dowd MP.
For more information follow Gabe’s Law on Instagram @Gabes_law or visit www.gabeslaw.org to join the campaign.