An inspection of all multi-storey car parks in Liverpool city centre should be undertaken to establish potential risks after a teenager fell to his death two years ago, according to a city councillor.
In October 2020, Gabriel Santer, 15, died after falling from a multi-storey car park on Hanover Street. The Calderstones student, who was known to his friends and family as 'Gabe', was pronounced dead by a paramedic at the scene just half an hour later.
A motion has been submitted to Liverpool Council for debate next week, for a local authority inspection of multi storey sites across the city and support of a bill being brought by Maria Eagle MP calling for amendments to car park building regulations. The motion, submitted by Cllr Tom Cardwell, said council should note Gabriel’s “tragic and avoidable death” and express its condolences to the Santer family.
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It added concerns around the retro-fitting of the car park with an additional safety rail and how lessons that could be learned from the tragedy have yet to be addressed. Cllr Cardwell therefore has used the motion to call on the council to request officers undertake an inspection of all multi-storey car parks using existing statutory powers to assess the scale of any potential issues within the remit of Liverpool Council.
It asks the local authority to write in support of Ms Eagle’s ten-minute rule bill, to be known as Gabe’s Law, and to push for Secretary of State for Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP, to secure government backing. Cllr Cardwell said through the motion he hoped the council would also write to the Building Regulations Advisory Committee asking that they intervene with the operators of multi-storey car parks across the country “to ensure that all the information available is shared to inform the work being done to change regulations and prevent avoidable deaths in future.”
After Gabe's death, a spokesperson for Calderstones School described him as "well-loved and charismatic." Mourners visited locations across the city to honour the teenager with touching tributes, while shrines were set up by friends and those who knew him at Calderstones School and friends he met while skateboarding at Pier Head.
Almost £3,500 was raised in an online gofundme page in a bid to create a lasting memorial for Gabriel. The motion will be heard in a 20 minute debate at the Town Hall next Wednesday.
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