Cars trapped in a disused ‘robotic’ cart park in Edinburgh for more than a decade are to be rescued.
The vehicles, inside the Autosafe SkyPark, are believed to have been abandoned for around 15 years.
When it opened in 2001, the £5million SkyPark was heralded as Britain’s ‘most technologically advanced car park’ and the ‘car park of the future’.
But it closed just two years later when the firm which ran it went into receivership.
Cars found abandoned in a disused Edinburgh car park that has been closed for 15 years will be saved
At the time of its construction, the 600-space ‘SkyPark’ in Edinburgh was seen as the future of multi-storey parking but it shut down in 2003
It has long been suggested the doors were simply shut one day by administrators, leaving several cars trapped inside.
But a former employee has come up with an alternative theory – that the cars were bought by the car park’s former operators to try out the robot equipment.
At the time of its construction, the 600-space building was seen as the future of multi-storey parking, taking its design from similar technology in Beijing, Sydney and Tokyo.
Drivers would pull into bays and leave their cars to ‘robots’, which would then scan the cars and take them to the nearest space via turntables and lifts.
The vehicles, inside the Autosafe SkyPark, are believed to have been abandoned for around 15 years
Ronnie Meredith, a bus driver from Edinburgh, who worked in the SkyPark in 2001, told the BBC: ‘When it first opened they did buy so many bangers for testing.
‘We had a few scrap cars. I remember one being a Austin Maestro and we also had a Lada and a long wheel base Volvo.
‘On numerous occasions when it broke down we either had to instruct the computer to retrieve a car from its position or physically go inside with what we called a joystick and manually retrieve a car.’
He added: ‘I find it funny how people think that these car were abandoned.
‘Even if the place had its doors shut by administrators they would have still legally be entitled to retrieve their own personal vehicle.
‘If anyone looked at the windscreens of these cars they would no doubt have noticed that none of them had a tax disc which was still a legal requirement back then if the car was being used on the road.’
The abandoned cars were spotted by a worker in an officer building facing the site
After the shutdown, the facility lay empty for more than a decade, during which time it became a popular haunt for illegal raves.
Work started last year to convert the building into offices.
The abandoned cars were spotted by a worker in an office building facing the site.
The unnamed worker said: ‘As the outer shell of the building got cut off we could see the metal skeleton of the insides, and only as they’ve cut most away were the cars revealed.’
No one has come forward to reclaim the cars which are likely to be saved from the scrapheap after demolition bosses at GCM services said ‘every effort would be made to save them.’
A spokesperson for Hermes Real Estate, the company leading the project to convert the building into offices, said: ‘We can confirm there are eight cars present at the car park on the Capital Square site, which have been there since the car park closed in 2003.
‘The owners of the cars are unknown and they are now the property of the demolition company who will remove the cars once work begins on the levels on which they are located.’
Part of the development will include an underground car park for around 200 vehicles.