London Borough of Hillingdon overall winner of British Parking Awards 2010

The British Parking Awards were launched in 2002 by Parking Review. The awards are supported by the British Parking Association (BPA). They seek to recognise best practice and innovation in the management, design and enforcement of parking.

Mark Moran

The London Borough of Hillingdon emerged as the big winner at the British Parking Awards 2010, which were announced in London on Friday.

The west London council was named Overall Winner after being recognised for its work in launching the Hillingdon First smart card; that gives residents discounted parking and developing training for parking staff. Besides the overall prize, the council received the Back Office Team of the Year and the Innovation Award.

The British Parking Awards 2010 took place at the InterContinental on Friday 12 March. The winners were revealed to an audience of over 500 people by leading impressionist Jon Culshaw.

The competition is organised by Parking Review magazine to recognise the best in car park design and management. The annual event is supported by the British Parking Association (BPA) which was presented with a surprise award marking 40 years of promoting professionalism in parking.

The annual competition and gala lunch sponsored by civil enforcement agency Equita and supported by Local Transport Today magazine

The Best New Car Park was the new 1,000-space Enderby park & ride scheme created by Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council. The launch of this environmentally-friendly project also secured the project the Marketing Award.

Further affirmation of parking’s green credentials came with praise for the joint winners of the Environment Award. The London borough of Islington’s popular car club scheme is credited with encouraging many residents to give up full-time car ownership, while Richmond upon Thames introduced a scheme which offers drivers discounted parking, as long as they drive cars with a low-carbon emission engine and pay via the RingGo mobile phone system.

A Norwich school that turns its playground into parking on Saturdays to raise valuable funds won an award at the annual British Parking Awards.

The Parking in the Community Award was presented to Bignold School, which uses the parking fees it collects to improve its facilities and has also helped a school in Africa. On Sundays the school allows local churchgoers to use the facility for free. The parking expertise is provided by RCP Parking, a national operator whose head offices are in Norwich.

Another winner with a heart-warming story was Mohammed Farooq, who has been named as Parking Person of the Year. Mohammed works as a parking host for Q-Park at the Queen Mary Hospital in Birmingham. He runs a car park that serves the hospital’s cancer clinics, and has been widely praised for making the arrival and stays of patients, their families and loved ones as stress-free as possible.

Mark Moran, managing editor of Parking Review, said: “The level of interest in the competition remains fantastically high. This year we have added well received environmental and community categories. Over 90 entries were received from across the country. The diverse nature of the parking sector means that the awards reflect the worlds of architecture, enforcement, customer service, technology and training.”

Paul Sharpe, marketing director of main sponsor Equita, said: “The British Parking Awards 2010 has proven to be another success. Equita is proud to support this celebration of the best in British parking.”

www.britishparkingawards.co.uk

British Parking Awards 2010: The winners

The Equita Overall Winner

Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon

Outstanding Contribution to the Parking Sector

Winner: The British Parking Association

The Innovation Award

The Customer Service Award

The Living Streets Award

Reinventing the Car Park: The Refurbishment Award

Winner: Woking Borough Council

The Enforcement Award

Winner: London Borough of Lambeth

The Training Award

The Marketing Award

Winner: Enderby Park & Ride – Leicester City Council & Leicestershire County Council

The Environment Award

Best New Car Park