Im absolutely livid...thinking about sending a strongly worded email...

[Twdfn123]

Hi,

So my partner and I were at our local peacocks browsing the clothes and we had our 1 year old son with us. I usually push the pram as i look at baby clothes but my partner took him to go to the mens. thank god! Because as i was browsing a bit of the roof fell down about 2 ft in front of me!

Now if I had been pushing my son, that would have caved in over his pram and he could have been injured! I just sort of stood there frozen and the woman at the till noticed and came over. She said did that just happen and said yes. All she said is they should have fixed it months ago as there is a massive leak up there. Then that was it and she turned around and went about her business.

I get its not her fault, but 1) to not even ask if i was okay (i am just a bit shocked and grateful at the same time my son was with his dad) 2) for the store to not even cordon that corner off if they knew it was dangerous because of the 'bad leak'.
After the lady said that I looked at the ceiling and there was lots of brown patches and drips down the wall as well.

I feel like contacting customer service as i find this all quite appaling to be honest.

thank you for seeing my point of view. I regret using the word livid and people seem to have an issue with it, but i was certainly angry. The peacocks doesnt sell medical aids but its over the baby / childrens items so parents with young kids / babies will likely be over in that part of the store.

OP ignore the gfs. They're only here to start fights and be arsey.
You were right to contact the council. You could also contact Peacock's head office. They should have a policy for leaks and water damage to ceilings. They should have a risk assessment. So either their head office is rubbish and the paperwork doesn't exist or the local store didn't follow processes. If you want, you could also contact the local newspaper if you have one. Sometimes companies need shamed into action.
Give your DC an extra cuddle and maybe give Peacocks a wide berth for a while.

They look like fairly heavy, more when damp, board tiles.

If I was in the mood I would probably write, not to complain, but to inform them of my concerns around the near miss, condition of the ceiling and the dismissive staff.

I wouldn't dramatise in any way by adding in would have/could have as they are irrelevant.

thank you very much, i didnt think to contact the local paper. I didnt want to make a big scene of it if that makes sense, just want them to fix it and make it safe. But if they can be shamed in to action i'm all for it 😬

I have messaged and not mentioned the staff as in hindsight its not their fault and they're not responsible for the building maintenance , but someone is so hopefully it will get passed along to the right person.

Thanks for having consideration for the next person shopping there, Op and thanks for taking action in the right places.

Near misses are a thing in health and safety at least they are schools. It all needs to be logged.

Who cares if there's a leak and the ceiling is falling down? If it's not fixed there's surely zero chance more could fall and if there's customers in the shop zero chance of hitting anyone. 🤔

But the key word here is that it DIDN'T fall on your son. Life is full of these "that was a bit close" type moments. But if you live your life in a state of livid, because of something that "might" have happened, your anxiety will be sky-high.

The shop or the shopping centre probably have a "near-miss" book, where these sorts of things can be recorded.

If it makes you feel better, right to management, but don't expect anything to come from it.

I have written already so at least ive done my part. If nots looked at then it will happen again and the next person walking by or baby in the next pram might not be so lucky not to get clonked on the head with a heavy bit of waterclogged roofing.

Sure i can get on with my day but id feel a bit guilty if i didnt at least get health and safety involved. I dont want anything either, just for the roof to get fixed.

It's amusing seeing posters being so annoyed by OP's response whilst saying they'd be the epitome of calm in her situation. Maybe they only get annoyed with women posting on MN but it seems unlikely that they'd be so arsey online and yet completely zen in RL

The staff in the store are absolutely responsible to make an assessment of what has happened. Block off the area if necessary and escalate to the relevant manager.

"Then that was it and she turned around and went about her business."

Fair enough as you were not injured in anyway I would not expect or be concerned over an apology, but it is unacceptable she did not deal with/ignored reasonable sized parts of the ceiling falling down.

Of course you should be livid OP. The shop has a duty of care to its employees and customers, and as you rightly observe there was a chance your baby might have been killed due to the poor condition of the building.

I am frankly flabbergasted at the attitude of many posters on here.

As the Uk becomes even more decrepit and more and more funds are sucked out of the economy whilst "red tape" - ie safety precautions are done away with this is more and more likely,

I hope those posters who find it normal that you should walk round a shop or a hospital avoiding debris and not complaining if you didn't get injured will see sense before they see stars.

It wouldn’t be peacocks fault and most shops are leased and the shop pays a landlord. You can email peacocks, but just know it will be passed on to the landlord with a “really need you to sort this leak landlord” note.

If they knew that there was a leak you'd think that they would have least blocked tha bit off!

I work for a large retailer as part of their facilities team - basically sorting out problems like this for stores. Please ensure you call their central customer service number and get this reported. Hammer home the point that it was lucky you didn't have the pram with you!

Thats pretty much my main annoyance to be honest. Yes i know nothing happened blah blah blah but it could've, and may still happen to someone else so hopefully theyve blocked it off now until it gets sorted. God forbid that lands on a baby etc..

thank you, i will!

So yesterday’s pp’s thought it was wrong to report a friend having their gas meter tampered with even though it could be dangerous. And today they return to tell us that walking around in an unsafe shop is just life and we should accept it.
If they’re not the same pp’s then there are even more idiots than I realised here on MN.

But the roof didn't hit your sons pram did it. It was a near miss and no harm was done. Companies don't offer compensation for what ifs so you can be upset but don't expect anything else!

My first thought would have been to say a prayer of gratitude that no one was hurt.

I might send an email to store management to alert them to your concerns related to customer service, but I would imagine that they are very familiar with potential liability issues.

YANBU to write an email to the management because it shouldn’t have happened. But YABU to be ‘livid’ - you weren’t pushing the pram so that bit is irrelevant and you weren’t hurt. Are you planning to pursue compensation?

No it didnt hit the pram and it was a near miss but who's to say if this doesnt get fixed more of the roof wont come down and the next pram wont be so lucky. 'Sure, just walk around in an unsafe store it doesnt matter if the roof could fall down at any time.'

Jesus.

No i dont want compensation. I want them to fix it and cordon the area as unsafe as its a known issue. Thats what im livid about, that a health and safety regulation has been ignored whilst known about.

The thing is, your son wasn’t there. Therefore you need to stop acting like he could have almost been hit, he wasn’t in the vicinity. He wasn’t present. He was safe elsewhere

It might make you feel better to know that those tiles feel rather like a wad of damp cotton wool falling on your head, and they disintegrate when they've absorbed enough water to collapse, so there's no 'hard impact' or smothering risk. They wouldn't hurt at all, not even a small child.

Source: working in multiple underfunded schools.