I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to increase the minimum required height of guarding in multi-storey car parks; to make provision about increasing the height of guarding in existing multi-storey car parks; to require 24 hour staffing of multi-storey car parks; and for connected purposes.
Unfortunately, I never met my constituent Gabriel Jack Santer, known as Gabe. He died, aged just 15, on 3 October 2020 when he fell from the top of an open-roofed multi-storey car park. It was a Q-Park on the corner of Hanover Street and Gradwell Street in Liverpool city centre on a bleak, wet and windy Saturday night. The inquest at the end of January 2021 recorded an open verdict.
Gabriel was, by all accounts, a lovely, popular, friendly and lively boy. His teachers thought him destined for stage or screen, because he was a natural entertainer with a fine sense of humour. He was kind, never cruel; he was a sensitive young man, who was solicitous and caring. He was friends with many and scorned by none of his peers at school or from skateboarding. Now he is gone and very much missed by his family and friends.
Agonisingly, Gabe’s family will never know what was in his mind around the time of his fall from that place, but they know one thing for sure—his death was as preventable as it was senseless. Had the barriers atop the car park been higher or designed to prevent people falling or climbing over them, Gabe could not have fallen as he did on that night. Had there been staff on site to watch what was going on and to check on safety, he would not have fallen.
As it happens, the barriers in the place from which Gabe fell were a few inches below the legal minimum. Even so, almost two and a half years later, there is no indication that Q-Park is to be pursued by any enforcement authority for that failure to adhere to the guidance in approved document K of the building regulations, even though it led to the death of a 15-year-old boy.
Gabe’s father, my constituent Johnny Santer, is determined to ensure that Gabe’s death will not be in vain. He wants to make sure that no other person finds it so shockingly easily possible to fall or jump from an open-roofed multi-storey car park, and I want to help him achieve that aim. That is why I seek the leave of the House to bring in a Bill, the Multi-Storey Car Parks (Safety) Bill, to ensure that the minimum height of barriers is increased substantially; that existing car parks have to be retrofitted with safer barriers adhering to new, higher standards; and that provision is made for the staffing of such sites to ensure that people do not fall.
After Gabriel’s father came to see me following Gabriel’s inquest, I was shocked to discover that the building regulations’ requirements for the height of barriers set a minimum height for guarding the rooftop of only 1.1 metres, or just around 3 feet. That is too low to stop anyone from accidentally falling, and it is certainly too low to stop anyone who is determined to jump. Multi-storey car parks must be attractive to those seeking to take their own life. They are easily accessible; one can reach the top floor easily, without needing to explain one’s presence; they are generally unstaffed, so there is unlikely to be anybody asking, “What’s going on?”; and the barriers only have to be 3 feet high to meet the requirements set out in the building regulations. In addition, such low barriers make it easy to fall accidentally in certain circumstances.