Lifts at Rose Street multi-storey car park in Inverness city centre break down just hours after being repaired; frustrating Highland shoppers
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A SPATE of lift breakdowns in a key city centre car park have sparked concerns among businesses of knock-on impacts during their busy Christmas and New Year sales shopping period.
The Rose Street multi-storey car park has been hit by a string of lift breakdowns in recent months, with one of two lifts frequently out of order, and sometimes both – as happened on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Highland Council revealed that both were repaired and back up in action by midday on Wednesday.
But, just before this story went live online, it confirmed that they had broken down YET AGAIN – having earlier admitted that the issues are at least part age related.
And business figures have raised concerns that the repeated outages could put shoppers off city centre visits – especially those with mobility issues, or families with pushchairs and prams.
David Richardson, the Federation of Small Businesses' development manager for the Highlands and Islands, said this time of year is "crucial" for traders, and hoped that recent problems could be ironed out swiftly.
He said: “Christmas is – or should be – a time for everyone to enjoy, and a time when we all look out for each other. However, while we all focus on getting the big things right, it is often the seemingly little things going wrong that can have the greatest impact. The lifts in the Rose Street car park are a case in point.
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"It’s so important that those with disability issues, or push chairs and young children to manage, can get in and out of the car park and go about their shopping with ease, and that is clearly not the case here.
“However, Christmas is also a crucial time for city centre business owners, and in this challenging year of all years, the last thing they need is for valued customers to avoid the risk of Rose Street’s lifts being out of action and to instead buy online or head up to the Retail Park.
“All will be hoping that Highland Council can get the matter resolved quickly.”
Confirming this week's breakdowns, a Highland Council spokesman said the recent issues were related to the age of the lifts and also difficulty sourcing parts amid supply chain pressures.
They added that they were monitoring the situation, and would determine the point they might need replaced entirely.
The spokesman said: "The lifts at the Rose Street multi-storey car park have experienced recent faults, relating to their age and general wear and tear.
“The council has an ongoing maintenance contract which seeks to minimise breakdown periods but these are sometimes unavoidable due to availability of parts in the current pressures on supply chains.
“We are monitoring the situation with regard to the status of the lifts and at what point it may be necessary to replace them due to their age.”
After they broke down again on Wednesday afternoon, they added that there was no ETA on their expected repair time, adding: "We are awaiting new parts which have been delayed by supply chain problems. Interim repairs are only partially successful until replacements received."
