Parking mishap

Editor:

 On Sunday, July 06, I stopped at restaurant with my daughters for breakfast en route to the Princeton Castle Resort for a 5 day vacation.

Upon leaving the restaurant, I reversed out of the parking stall and hit a sign pole. 

I then moved the vehicle slightly to evaluate the situation. 

I realized that the pole had been in my blind spot as I backed up and that the clearance from this parking spot is very limited.

My vehicle is about 13 feet long and the distance to back up from this parking stall is approximately 8 feet, clearly not enough space unless ones turns sharply to the right (or left) when backing up, which is not possible when flanked on both sides by other parked patrons.

In the course of my examination, it was obvious by the amount of residue paint on the pole that it has been struck many times in the past.

The following day I stopped by that same restaurant to visit the owner and to introduce myself. 

I politely asked him to come outside to see the damage to my vehicle and I then pointed out the problem of the location of the pole in relation to the parking stall in question.  

He immediately got defensive with me and asked me “what if I had backed up and killed a child?”

I replied that I had not killed a child and this was about the safety of vehicles hitting a pole.

As far as safety is concerned—I pulled out of the parking spot slowly, but if anyone hit the gas petal hard, there could be a serious injury.

During our discussion I asked if there had been previous incidents involving this particular parking stall and the location of the pole and he advised me “that it was not his problem and that the sign had been there 50 years and he wasn’t about to move it”. 

It became apparent that we had reached an impasse as the restaurant owner kept repeating the same statement, “you could have killed a child”. 

I still suggested blocking off that parking stall and or put some signs up and or reflexive paint or padding around the pole— there are many possibilities without removing the pole.

He then told me not to bother getting any police or legal help on this matter. As no one would help me.  I reported the entire incident to the local police and then obtained a police file number for insurance purposes.  

 I felt that I had the right to report the accident to the restaurant owner, without being insulted and bullied off the property. It is the owners duty to advise patrons and to protect them of any potentially hazardous situation— including parking lots that result in incident claims similar to mine. That restaurant owner is not above the law. 

 I would like to encourage the Mayor and Council of the Town of Princeton to address the problem before any incidents of a more serious nature occur.

Sincerely,

Brenda Martin

Surrey BC