Car broken into in Company Car Park - Is company liable?

boredatwork82

Quickly.
I parked my car in my work car park. There is a sign up stating that it is a Private Car Park.
There is no sign up stating "Cars are parked at owners risk, and that the company has no liabilty" or anything to that effect.

Well my car was broken into - back window smashed and personal stuff taken.
My car insurance won't cover the loss of items as they were left on the back seat.
Do I have a case to seek compensation from my employer?

Paulw

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Well my car was broken into - back window smashed and personal stuff taken.
My car insurance won't cover the loss of items as they were left on the back seat.
Do I have a case to seek compensation from my employer?

No. Not unless there was a failure by the company to secure the car park. If it was open so people can walk/drive in, then the company wouldn't be liable.

About the same as if you parked in a shopping centre car park.

boredatwork82

Well the area is covered by super duper high tech security cameras that were pointing in all the wrong directions at the time, and were not able to read the reg of the robbers car as he drove in and out of the main entrance to the company site. Also the security cameras for whatever reason failed to cover half the car park.


Shopping centres have signs stating they are not responsible for such incidences?
My work car park does not.

Paulw

Signs make no difference.

Reading the reg of the robbers or seeing who they were would not put liability on the company, in my opinion.

Procrastastudy

Even if you did manage to attribute liability you are at least partially liable/contributory negligent in leaving personal items on display in your vehicle. How many other vehicles where parked there and broken into?

Hogzy

Its not your companies responsibility to secure your car. That is your responsibility.

If the theft was caused by your employers negligence then you may have a case. But seeing as they have CCTV in the car park shows that they are going above and beyond what little duty they owe you in protecting your car. Even if it only covered a tiny part of the car park. Whatever minute liability your employer MAY have will be vitiated by your contributory negligence of leaving your belongings in plain view.

To sum it up. You have nobody to blame but yourself unfortunately.

Avns1s

In fairness, leaving the items on your back seat regardless of where you are parking, is tempting fate in the extreme.