The gate is the first thing your premises says to a visitor — and the last line your security depends on at night. We repair automatic swing and sliding gates that have stopped, stuttered or been hit, and install new gate systems with the safety engineering done properly.
Sliding gates live or die by their track. Stones, frost heave and kerb damage in the running track derail rollers; racks wear until the pinion skips; and a gate that has jumped its guides will destroy its own motor trying to move. We repair tracks, rollers, racks and drives — and reset the limits so the gate stops where it should.
Swing gates put the load on hinges and rams. Sagging leaves strain the operator until seals blow (hydraulic) or gears strip (electromechanical); underground operators add drainage problems to the list. Hinge realignment is often the repair that saves the motor — the same discipline as our door work, at ten times the leaf weight.
Common to both: control board failures, dead remotes and receivers, severed cables, intercom and fob triggers that no longer talk to the gate, and safety photocells or edges that have failed — which most modern controllers rightly refuse to run without.
A gate that will not secure the site overnight is a priority call. Send a short video of the gate attempting to move and we can usually diagnose before the van leaves.
Powered gates have caused serious and fatal accidents in the UK, and the law treats them accordingly: a gate at a workplace is machinery that must be safe in use under PUWER 1998, with closing forces limited and crush points protected in line with BS EN 12453. What that means at the gateline is concrete: photocells that stop the gate for a vehicle, safety edges that reverse it off an obstruction, no accessible gaps that can trap a person, and forces measured with a meter — not judged by eye.
We build new installations to that standard and we test for it on every repair. Where we attend a gate with disabled safety edges or bypassed photocells — and we do find them — we tell you in writing and quote the fix.
For sliding gates: debris or damage in the track, a worn rack, or a slipped clutch. For swing gates: ram or underground motor failure and hinge collapse. Across both: dead safety photocells (many controllers refuse to move without them), failed control boards and water in cabling. An engineer can usually narrow it down from a video of the gate attempting to move.
Yes. A powered gate at a workplace is machinery — it must be CE/UKCA-compliant when installed and kept safe in use under PUWER 1998. In practice that means working photocells and safety edges and closing forces within the limits of BS EN 12453, tested rather than assumed.
Yes — orphaned gates are a large part of this work. We service and repair the common operator brands, replace obsolete boards with compatible controls where parts have dried up, and put the safety devices right if the original install cut corners.
Sliding gates win where the driveway rises or space behind the gateline is short, and they secure wide openings well. Swing gates suit level sites with room to open and tend to be cheaper to install. Ground conditions and the traffic through the entrance decide it — we advise on site.
Send a photo and a short description of the fault and we’ll come back with a fixed-price quote the same day. Most diagnoses don’t need a site visit.
Get in touch
Head Office:
Commercial Door Maintenance and Security Ltd
61 Bridge Street,
Kington,
HR5 3DJ
t: 0800 774 7998
e: info@cdms-ltd.co.uk
Office Hours
Mon - Sat: 8am - 10pm
Sun: Closed
