The Met Office published its list of storm names for 2026/27 on 1 September, the official start of the UK’s storm season. Austen is first on the list, followed by Boelo, Chloe and Dano. If last winter is anything to go by, several of them will be used.
The 2025/26 season brought seven named storms to the UK and Ireland. Storm Amy arrived unusually early, in the first week of October, with gusts above 92mph in exposed places. In January, Storm Goretti recorded a 99mph gust on the Isles of Scilly, the strongest wind there in 47 years. And Storm Dave, over the Easter weekend, was the most severe April windstorm since the UK started naming storms in 2015.
For homeowners, storm damage usually means slipped roof tiles and broken fences. For businesses, one of the most expensive and disruptive casualties is often less obvious: the roller shutter that secures the front of the premises or the loading bay.
How wind damages a shutter
A roller shutter is essentially a large flexible curtain held in two vertical guides. That design works well day to day, but it means a closed shutter on an exposed elevation acts a bit like a sail in high winds. The common problems after a storm include:
- Bowed or buckled laths. Strong gusts can push the curtain in or pull it out, bending the individual slats so the shutter no longer runs smoothly.
- Laths jumping the guides. If the wind load is high enough, the edges of the curtain can pop out of the side channels, leaving a gap and a shutter that won’t open or close.
- Damaged bottom rails. The bottom rail takes a battering when a shutter is caught partly open in the wind, which can stop it locking.
- Motor strain. Trying to open or close a shutter that’s bent or out of its guides puts the motor under heavy load and can burn it out.
Power cuts are the other storm problem
Storms also bring power cuts. An electric shutter with no working manual override is stuck wherever it was when the power went, either locking staff out of the building in the morning or leaving the premises open overnight. It’s worth checking now that every electric shutter on site has a manual override, that someone knows where the crank handle or chain is kept, and that it actually works.
Break-ins leave damage too
Storms aren’t the only cause of sudden shutter failure. Attempted break-ins often leave a shutter levered at the bottom, with damaged locks or a bent curtain, even when the intruder didn’t get in. A shutter in that state may still close, but it’s unlikely to offer the same level of protection, and many insurers expect premises to be properly secured after an incident.
Why repairs shouldn’t be a DIY job
When a shutter fails, especially late on a Friday, there’s a strong temptation to fix it yourself or get someone handy to have a go. That’s where people get hurt. The springs and roller barrel at the top of a shutter hold a lot of stored energy, and the curtain itself is heavy.
HSE cases show the risk clearly. In one, a recycling company in Cwmbran was fined £50,000 after the roller barrel of a powered shutter fell on an employee, leaving him with cracked ribs and a damaged spleen. HSE’s investigation found none of the powered shutters on the site had been properly maintained, and the inspector said the incident could easily have been fatal.
The safest approach is to stop using a damaged shutter, keep people away from it and call in someone qualified.
Repair, or replace?
Not every damaged shutter needs replacing. Bent laths can often be swapped out individually, curtains can be re-fed into their guides, and locks, motors, bottom rails and safety devices can usually be repaired or replaced on their own. A replacement tends to make more sense when the shutter is very old, when parts are no longer available, or when the damage is spread across most of the curtain.
A professional roller shutter repair service will assess which is the better value, and for businesses that can’t be left unsecured overnight, an emergency call-out to make the premises safe is often the first priority, with a full repair to follow.
A pre-storm checklist for business owners
Before the first named storm of the season arrives, a ten-minute walk around the site is worth doing:
- Check each shutter opens and closes smoothly, without catching or noise.
- Look for bent laths, gaps at the guides and damage to the bottom rail.
- Test the manual override on every electric shutter.
- Make sure staff know not to force a shutter that’s jammed or caught in the wind.
- Keep a repair contact somewhere everyone can find it, including an out-of-hours number.
When an amber wind warning is issued, the safest thing to do with a shutter is usually to leave it fully closed and locked rather than partly open.
Storms are a fact of life in a British winter. A shutter that’s in good condition before the season starts, and fixed quickly when it isn’t, is one less thing for a business to worry about when the wind picks up.
