Westfield Hurstville — Local services in Sydney

Extremely Disappointed by the Lack of Security in Mall Parking – Victim of a 'hit and run' left to pay damages

I’m writing this review not just out of frustration, but out of genuine concern for other mall-goers who believe their property is safe in this shopping center's paid parking garage. My family and I have been visiting Hurstville Westfield for years as our local mall. But after what happened to us this past Saturday, we will never be parking in the P2 Green section again (or any of the mall carparks again)

We parked in the P2 Green area mid-Saturday afternoon, being sure to park well within the lines, and went upstairs for just about an hour. Upon returning, we got in the car and began to drive, only to hear a horrible scraping sound. My husband asked me to step out and check, and I was shocked to find our front bumper nearly torn off. The damage was significant — the driver’s side light had also been hit, and there was white paint on the car, likely from the vehicle that struck us and fled.

We immediately found a security staff member for help. I want to clearly say that he was kind, helpful, and professional. He did what he could, helping us tape up the bumper and advising us to file a police report, as the dedicated parking security team had already left for the day and could not assist. He also informed us that CCTV footage could only be released to the police, which we fully understood.

However, the real outrage came when I followed up with the police, only to be told that there is no CCTV coverage in that part of the car park. Let me repeat that: no security cameras in a busy, paid, and supposedly "secure" garage at a major shopping center. This lack of surveillance means the person who hit our car will get away with it, and we — the victims — are now left to either pay for the damage ourselves or deal with a hefty insurance excess. How is this acceptable?

It’s absolutely unacceptable that such a large shopping mall, which profits from both retail tenants and paid parking, has not invested in proper CCTV coverage across all areas of its parking facilities. People come here expecting a safe, secure environment. But this incident has proven otherwise. We parked in good faith. We did everything right. And yet someone was able to damage our property and flee without any accountability.

We will never park in that section again. I strongly urge mall management to address this major security gap. Until then, all visitors should be aware that your car may not be safe here and if something happens, you may land...

What the hell is the problem with your Health and Safety Manager or Security Manager or whoever 'Michael' is?

On a recent trip my 3-year-old son had his foot sucked into an escalator, we had to rip his foot out of the shoe and sock which were still stuck in the now immobile escalator. Security came (and while polite) seemed very unorganised while tending to a swollen toe and abrasion; our details were eventually taken in a notes screen on one of their mobiles and we were advised that we would receive a call from centre management.

Throughout the following week we saw a doctor and had an x-ray to investigate the injuries, which turned out to only be soft tissue injuries.

A week and two days later now and as there was no serious injury I've had time to call up and check if the shoe was recoverable and/or if there was anything we needed to do to close out the incident on their end as we still had heard nothing back from Westfield.

I called them yesterday and left my details as the 'Safety Manager' was not in. Today I've received a call that simply started with "this is Michael from Westfield, I was told to give you a call". When I asked if he was given any other information or should I start again I was told again "he was just asked to give me a call". So, I start to recount the incident again to the tune of the very dis-interested "Yep, Yep, Yep" from Michael. I stopped and said, "there seems to be a lot of yepping going on for someone who didn't know anything about this about this a second ago, do I need to continue" and his response was "I know of the incident, what do you want".

I said, "look at this point i'm just seeing if the shoe was recoverable but what I would have expected was some form of contact after an incident on your site that saw a three-year-old injured". Without acknowledging the injury, my son or his own attitude so far and without missing a beat to check a damn thing he responded, "no I don't think it was".

End of call, are you serious Westfield...

Our Youth Zone collaborated with Westfield Hurstville to host a 3 v 3 basketball tournament on the rooftop of the center. We have run this event with Westfield Hurstville before, with this year being the biggest and best event yet. With approx. 250 people in attendance, 68 participants, and 20 teams, in addition to overall excitement of the young people participating, it was an overwhelming success.

The staff of the centre were extremely generous with their time and resources, and managed to get contributions from various stores including Cha-Time, Soul Origin, Woolworths, Event Cinemas, and Oporto, to name but a few. These contributions took the form of both free food and resources for the attendees of the day, with most having their own stalls at the event to assist. Westfield also provided all the facilities for the basketball competition, as well as chairs for spectators, a barbeque, and ping pong & fooseball tables. Finally, all of the prizes for both the competition, and a raffle that was held, were organised and donated by Westfield.

Westfield were massively helpful in providing the wide-open space of the rooftop for the competition, and the young people that participated in the basketball tournament vastly enjoyed the experience and novelty of playing on the roof. The staff from Scentre that assisted our own staff throughout the day, but also in the weeks prior, were nothing but beneficial and kind. We look forward to running this event again with Hurstville Westfield...