leeds Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Has anyone got any links to official standards on car park height barriers? How accurate should the warning 'clatter' barrier height be? If the barrier says a certain height would you expect the 'clatter' barrier to be at that height? Is it acceptable for the warning height on the 'clatter' barrier to be X and the barrier set at X plus 11 cms? Yes you can guess what's happened Regards Brendan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I would expect the hanging bit below, if present, to be at a height just below the stated height. So if there was a 7' height restriction, I would expect the lower part to be at around 6'6" or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeSheds Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Hope the damage wasn't too bad.. It wasn't the Merrion Centre was it? - I saw a Land Rover wedged in there a couple of years back, I assumed the driver had ignored the clatter board and deserved all he got, but maybe not! Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 Clatter height barrier had 1.85 m/6'1" on. Was in disco and approached slowly. Cleared barrier easily. Went up onto floor that hotel parking was on. On way down got stuck on raised roof. Deflated rear tyres and drove out. Height 'clatter' barrier was set at 1.96m. Concrete beam on ramp was 1.91 m Disco height is 1.904 m! Yes you could say I should have know height of Disco, BUT how many of you know the exact height of your vehicles? Is it reasonable to expect that if you clear the 'clatter' board that you will not get caught up on the roadways in the car park? Regards Brendan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Brings back a memory of the solid steel barrier on the car park opposite Gt Yarmouth amusements the entrance one was fine to get the 90 in the exit one left two yellow lines and dents along the roof as it was lower/ or the roadsurface was higher after roadworks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Yes you could say I should have know height of Disco, BUT how many of you know the exact height of your vehicles?Is it reasonable to expect that if you clear the 'clatter' board that you will not get caught up on the roadways in the car park? Regards Brendan Bad luck Brendan! It is reasonable to expect the clatter board to be an accurate guage, but when we had a Disco I was always very wary of judging the height purely on those because of the raised part of the roof and not always knowing how much the back half had cleared it by.... As for knowing the height of the vehicle, wasn't a problem for our N Reg Disco 1 ES the heights were printed on inside the drivers sun visor and I always added a couple more cm to allow for any extra tyre height Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101sean Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 The clatter board probably wasn't at right height, if you can prove it you may have a case. Don't believe there are any standards. I took my 110 into Heathrow car park 1A shortly after I got it. Cleared first barrier but clipped second by ticket machine and it was too late then, queue of cars behind so I went in anyway. Cleared everything but I was reasonably confident having done a survey in there the previous year Since putting on new tyres and springs and two local shopping centre putting in barriers I now have a card on the sun visor to remind me (2.05m) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I'd say go for it. Take some photos with a measuring stick to indicate heights, then send a letter to the appropriate authority asking them to pay for damages. If that fails, take them to court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 My father had a similar experience with the roof light on his VW camper. He cleared the barrier but hit the ceiling in the carpark and smashed the skylight. IIRC the owner of the carpark (district council) paid for the damage as the barrier was set too high. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiddler Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 A good few years ago when I was 17 and had a 2A 88" I went into a local multistorey in Wolverhampton and cleared the board at the entrance. Zooming along as you do at that age I got to a section where some fool had fitted the fluorescent strip lights to the underside of the concrete roof beams - lowering headroom by a good 3"! Clatter, clatter, clatter, lots of broken glass and plastic. I decided to do my shopping another day and didn't hang around to discuss the finer points of the law. Giles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven Hart Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 The Cinema near us had a one way system round it and on the exits it had one of those 6' 3" barriers which be OK if they warned you before you went in, but they didn't, Forced me to drive back out through the entrance as my SIII 109 was about 6'5". Fortunately things have changed with the addition of of Frankie and Benny's the one way system is no longer in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SacredDog Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 A good few years ago when I was 17 and had a 2A 88" I went into a local multistorey in Wolverhampton and cleared the board at the entrance. Zooming along as you do at that age I got to a section where some fool had fitted the fluorescent strip lights to the underside of the concrete roof beams - lowering headroom by a good 3"! Clatter, clatter, clatter, lots of broken glass and plastic. I decided to do my shopping another day and didn't hang around to discuss the finer points of the law. Giles I had the same issue with fluorescent strip lights with my 110 HiCap (fiited with an Ifor Williams) many years ago in Cardiff. I cleared the clatter board easily and didn't come close to anything else. Luckily those ones were hung by chains, so just made a lot of noise and no Tinkle Tinkle. After the first few I managed to avoid most of the others by picking my route carefully, it was mainly just in the ramps where I didn't have much choice of route. I didn't worry about a few more dents in the Ifor (just a bit more added character). Colin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8bertha Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 There is an "open air" car park here in Portsmouth with solid steel height barriers on the entrance and exit. Got my old 110 + roofrack through the entrance ok, but when I came to leave I couldn't get out because the exit was lower! In the end I had to go out via the entrance, much to the disgust of everyone else trying to get into the car park Most embarrassing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quagmire Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I had this with Bentalls car park in Kingston some years ago in my series 2, just brushed the barrier- and i therefore falsely applied the logic that "surely the barrier must be lower than the actual ceiling, to give some margin for error" I was wrong and my (brand new at the time) canvas got nicely scraped as i went up the first ramp. Pulled over and took off the roof and all was well. Backing out was not an option due to the sheer amount of traffic and the high curb that would have meant about 20 cars would have needed to reverse for me to leave. I am much more careful in the 90 now. The other classic was going to the dump loaded with stuff- zoomed under barrier ok on way in, on the way out "Clang!" i had removed enough weight to make a difference... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 One of the probelms in mutistorey car parks is the height is a vertical measurement. When you drive a vehicle up a ramp as the front axle climbs up the middle of the vehicle rises also and then hits the roof. Same thing happens when decending a ramp and the front axle reaches the level floor at the bottom. This is a bigger problem if your vehicle is both tall and long. I had this problem with an old S2 SWB truck cab. The carpark entrance clearance was fine if I took the amber flashing light off the roof but driving through meant a lot of zigzagging to avoid the lights and sprinklers. When it can to leaving I got stuck on a ramp. Fortunately the concrete slab roof was like a giant waffle so I was able to climb on the roof in one of the waffle voids to squash the roof panel down a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_J85JTY Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Had a similer problem in a Minibus. Parking it up in Milton Keynes and got through the entrace fine, only to find that they had put in drop ceilings over the padestrian walkways. No damage to the roof, but managed to nearly rip a door off trying to reverse out. (Passenger was hanging out the door pushing the ceiling tiles up and hit a bollard!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazelle Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Before you have a go at them, check the road signs for the height restriction. If they say less than 1.9 m then I wouldn't think you have a leg to stand on. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 The Cinema near us had a one way system round it and on the exits it had one of those 6' 3" barriers which be OK if they warned you before you went in, but they didn't, Forced me to drive back out through the entrance as my SIII 109 was about 6'5". Fortunately things have changed with the addition of of Frankie and Benny's the one way system is no longer in place. uttoxeter by any chance? mikey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I was very cautious at my local multistory and got out of my Hybred to look. A woman stopped an said that all would be OK as her 90 County is fine in there. I thanked her but pointed out that the Hybred has a 2" lift and 7.50 tyres not 205s. Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justustwo Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Ah this brings back funny memories to me of a few years back just after the fuel shortages @2005 I think ,was doing some contract work for a company and delivered an item to Dorset from Kent .After I got rid of the item I decided to take some time off and go back into Eastleigh in Hampshire where I have family .Well needed to purchase some items so went into the Swan Centre shoping centre in Eastleigh town centre.I was in an everyday white van and so carefully went under the swinging height barrier (the one hanging on chains ) at the entrance and therefore thought I was fine .Now this car park has quite a steep slope after the entrance so had to give it a bit of wellie to get up there ok...........Yes top marks! you guessed right half way up the slope the van was well and trully wedged under one of the steel beams destroying the fire insulation boarding covering it and also damaging the hired van roof.Now this car park is fully camera monitored and within a few seconds some jobsworth security gaurd came out giving his all and stating that it happens regulaly and I would be charged some drastic figure (very expensive this stuff he kept saying)for the repairs to the carpark infastructure.I then explained if I could get in no problem under the first barrier and no other warning sign before I hit the beam why was I wedged solid under the beam. He then had the classic answer that they tie the first hanging barrier up a bit higher so that the local youths do not start playing and swinging from it!!!!!!! Ther worst bit of the exercise was that it just so happened that it was the afternoon of a false alarm about no fuel available cause they thought the fuel strikes were back on . Now because to exit from the car park beam I had to let all the tires down and travel a mile to the nearest petrol staion, in vast queues of traffic waiting to get in the petrol station for fuel and then explain to several coppers turning people away from the stations that I only wanted a bit of air no fuel (they did not believe me!!) This experience was a real eye opening experience in itself seeing the VIP taxi cars from southampton airport being given absolute preferential treatment and being given police escorts through the queues to get their fuel fill up.These cars are picking up standard buisness people and celebrites and I cant for the life of me see why they got to avoid the crisis when my mums a nurse and could not get the fuel she needed Well anyway to cut a long story short the car park owners did try to threaten me and the company I was working for later with a letter saying they were taking court action but we went back later to the car park took a set of photos showing the wrongly set height barrier and sent it back to them them threatening them with action and they backed down straight away. Lucily the hire van was not badly damaged (but would have been a lot worse had I not taken the air out of the tire to get back out)and as it was a company we used a lot they let us off the damage costs.If I had not been sort of taking a quikkie off from the job I may have been more resolute in taking action against the car park company. I know that the last time I went in that car park after this event they were still tying the hanging barrier up (slightly so you cant see)so I would say that if any Land Rover drivers are in need of a new roof and are good with words you know what to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quagmire Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I got stuck in Bentalls carpark Kingston in my series 2- has just fitted my new canvas roof! The clatter bar *just* touched the roof and to back out would have required 20+ vehicles nehind to back up too... Unfortunately for me my engineering brain kicked in and said "surely there must be some margin in this" i.e that the bar was lower than the actual ceiling. I was wrong and ended up scraping the roof on the first ramp as we climbed. Luckily the car park decks were high enough so i simply pulled over and whipped the canvas off. On the way out the hoops got a little scrape. The other good one was when i went to my local tip to get rid of some soil i had removed from a garden- went in fine under the clatter bar. On the way out you guessed it "BANG!!!" as i had unloaded and the landy was riding a little higher. Schoolboy error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santalars Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 The height of the vehicle at the rear varies wether you drive up or down. This is as the load distribution on the axles changes. That means that by driving down the rear axle gets less load and is coming up. So: no problems driving up a ramp, but driving down your rear can be 1"-2" higher Don't want to be smart, but worth keeping in mind when driving in somwhere. Talking from experience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_P Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 At the multistory in town I can sometimes make a right racket with the 2A when the CB ariel is fitted. The ariel only stands maybe an inch higher than the canvas roof, and the ariel cleared the clatter barrier without a problem. Once inside, cue lots of noise as the ariel clips all the signs that are hanging down from chains while I drive through the multistory. I just think of the paint damage that could be done to another vehicle, given that my ariel didn't even touch the clatter barrier at the entrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve King Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I think height restrictions should be on signs well in advance of the car park entrance allowing you to look for another car park without doing the typical Defender 7 point turn and holding up and annoying other drivers! I would never attempt a multi-storey car park in my 110, but sometimes get caught out with the barriers and clattery things on ordinary car parks. I got a nasty case of "roof rash" from a car park at Goodrington Sands in Devon recently. There was little chance of reversing or turning around and so I s-l-o-w-l-y edged in under the clatter bar with hardly any noise and no damage. Getting out though was far noisier and left a large yellow streak down the roof. The clatter bar was lower on the exit lane than on the entrance! Fortunately most of the streak polished out with T Cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailysleaze Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 If i'm going to be parking in an urban area and multistoreys are the only viable option, pre-planning is really required. Without a roofrack, 2.1m is the minimum, 2.2 ideal. Council websites have the height restrictions of the carparks, but http://www.parkopedia.co.uk/ is a great website for aggregating this. Other times I check google maps streetview to look at the entrance sign. This hassle means I normally just make the journey in a Polo Sometimes though it is unknown as in your case Steve King. I find a menace are woodland car parks, as they have barriers to stop fly tipping vans. I've also been chucked out of Reading's recycling centre for being "a van", as I misjudged the height of the barrier and scraped through. 5 angry workers descended on me with their golden height stick. The difficult thing with a Defender is that the roof over the cab is sloped, so it from inside it looks like you're going to make it..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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