Glasgow Central is on Fire!

[weareallqueens]

The fire started in a vape shop, apparently but seems utterly out of control now. No trains in or out of the station. Has hit the Grand Central Hotel too.

Well it depends how many vapes; but a carpark of teslas abso fuckinglutely. Just google it. Watch firefighters trying to put out a lithium fire by itself in open air - let alone a burning building.

It’s wild.

When DH was in the royal navy, a lithium fire from the helicopter, if the was a crash on deck was his nightmare. In exercises it usually resulted in abandon ship.

There are quite often news stories about fires in bin lorries caused by lithium batteries not properly disposed of.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4en50v6ngo

I’m really not liking the sound of the Network Rail guys works about the Gordon St Canopy

It’ll be so sad if that has to be removed. It’s iconic.

Words not works

Many of the shops that have been destroyed have started GoFundMe threads to replace their equipment lost in the fire to get started again or because of lost income. Insurance would, of course, pay out on both of these but all of them have already raised thousands.

If they had it. At least one of them has actually admitted not having contents insurance. FFS.

Where did you see that?
the quote on the BBC reads to me as if he meant the facade of the building on Union Street which burnt down, not of the station. It is not clear though because he starts off talking about GLC and then says part of the difficulty is the building’s facade which is still standing and will probably need to be taken down at some point. I read this as implying the rest of the building is not, therefore he means the burnt shell. I think if it was any part of the iconic station, it would be more headlines?

the quote on the BBC reads to me as if he meant the facade of the building on Union Street which burnt down, not of the station.

Yes, I agree. The Glasgow Heritage bloke was saying similar, and he was definitely talking about the building which burned, and whether it could or would be rebuilt.

The problem re insurance, though, is the time it takes to pay up. And people still have bills to pay

He was talking about the safety checks Network Rail would have to do once they had full access to the station and would have to check all of the glass roof and commented about the facade of the station. He didn’t come across when speaking as if he was talking about the building that has burnt, he was specifically talking about the station building.

he may have come across badly, but he definitely sounded like he was talking about the station facade with the glass

He was talking on the news, but I can’t remember if the tv was on bbc or sky news at the time

Even those insured may have to wait months for payouts. What do they do in the meantime? They can't afford to set up new premises, buy replacement stock and equipment, etc., and of course, no income for the proprietors own costs, nor to pay wages to staff who have nowhere to work.

Just look at covid, even businesses who had "pandemic" cover in their policy had to wait months for payouts, and some insurers simply refused to pay out citing that they required proof that covid was on the business premises!

I think it's entirely right that businesses take advantage of go fund me pages to help them through the waiting game of dealing with insurers as they need to set up in new premises immediately or they risk losing the customer base they've probably taken years to build up.

My ex partner an a small business. Premises wiped out due to the floods in 2007 song with hundreds of others. In addition to contents insurance they had business interruption insurance. Insurer was supplied with accounts and statements proving the monthly income over the preceding twelve months. Assessor confirmed the premises would be out of action for a minimum of three months and partner received three months income within 10 days. Contents insurance was sorted about 14 days after that.

My issue is at least some of these businesses didn't even have contents insurance let alone business interruption cover. That's bloody basic and if, as is the case with some of them, you've been in business for 4-8 years and you've not got a contents insurance you shouldn't be in business or go begging for others to bail you out.

The problem is a lot worse in the waste industry than if they are just stored on a shelf. The batteries are likely to be crushed or damaged resulting in either a short circuit or an instant discharge, both of which can result in a fire.

i think some of you are talking about this article in the Herald which is specifically about the glass roof of the station itself. I have similar thoughts to this architect, I can’t see how the glass roof can be unaffected given the intensity of the fire and its proximity.
https://archive.ph/H5nfW

I don’t really have a problem with the go fund mes. Even if insurance pays out it never covers the full loss.

They are in the shit.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25924049.glasgow-fire-vape-shop-missing-required-register/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1773152044-1

@JenniferBooth indeed. I have to question what sort of inforcement even exists in Glasgow as well - how can someone just open a shop without the required paperwork and no-one actually does any sort of inspection? Just how many more are there?

Well what a surprise.

These fly by night dodgy shops are all over the city centre, whether they're selling vapes, or wee dodgy corner shops with money transfer and other illicit goods.

Quite clear that Glasgow City Council have some SERIOUS questions to answer here. What the fuck are Trading Standards doing if a shop not licenced to sell vapes is open, and selling vapes. FFS. And if the shop is insured for all the damage caused by the fire in their premises, I'll eat my hat.

I just said the same to my DH that i bet they wernt insured either Bet they have scarpered

The whole of Glasgow city council Trading standards needs sacking.

Yes I agree, I heard the full network rails spokesperson interview later on in the day and he was talking about the glass roof in the station overall, and the facade of the building on Union corner that burnt down. He did not mention the canopy on Gordon Street.

I have some sympathy with Trading Standards on this. The shop had very clearly only recently opened (it's not visible on street view, I pass there regularly and don't remember seeing it). These shops come and go all the time. I'm sure they open up, sell as much as they can until Trading Standards turns up for their inspection and then close down and pop up somewhere else. Maybe there needs to be some sort of responsibility on the landlord too because they will be profiting in the meantime.

Now reporting station closed for at least the rest of the week.