Imagine parking your car in a carpark and not being able to get it out for over two years.
That’s exactly what happened to Steve Davies and Mark Lucas, who parked their van in a mechanical stacking carpark in central London way back in December 2022.
The BBC reports they were only able to retrieve their Vauxhall Vivaro Electric – sold here as the Peugeot E-Expert – earlier this month, after repairs on the stacker it was stored in were finally completed in March.
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“It fired up and it had enough juice to drive itself out of the bay, which we’re very pleased about as it could’ve been quite awkward otherwise,” said Mr Lucas.
The electric van is being taken in for servicing and assessment for any damage.
Mr Davies told the BBC his firm, HCS Furniture, is now low on money after close to £50,000 (~A$105,000) had to be spent on renting, then buying, a new van, and slammed Rathbone Square’s management CBRE for poor communication.
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A parking stacker in North America
“I’ve taken a few knocks in the 40 years I’ve had the business, but this has been the biggest and the coffers are fairly low at the moment,” he said.
“If they’d just communicated better and told us what was really happening, it wouldn’t have been so traumatic.”
The businessmen weren’t the only ones to have a vehicle stuck in the Rathbone Square development, with the BBC sighting an email that said other trapped vehicles will be released over the next month, and reporting word from a resident that up to 40 vehicles were still trapped in the stack.
CBRE declined to comment to the BBC, which reports that owners of trapped vehicles may be able to claim costs from the company for the inconvenience and “loss of enjoyment” of their vehicles.
