British Parking Awards winners revealed

School’s weekend parking scheme charms judges

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.

This was just one of 16 awards presented at the British Parking Awards 2010, which 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.

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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 Elizabeth 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.

The big winner at the event with three trophies was the London Borough of Hillingdon. The west London council was named Overall Winner after being recognised for its work in launching a smart card that gives residents discounted parking and developing training for parking staff.

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.

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
Sponsored by Civica
Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon

The Customer Service Award
Sponsored by SIX Card Solutions
Winner: London Borough of Croydon

The Living Streets Award
Sponsored by APCOA Parking (UK)
Winner: Brightlingsea Town Council, Tendring Council & Essex Police

Reinventing the Car Park: The Refurbishment Award
Winner: Woking Borough Council & Matrix Solutions

The Enforcement Award
Winner: London Borough of Lambeth

The Training Award
Sponsored by Alpha Parking
Winner: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council & Phoenix Commercial Collections

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

The Environment Award
Sponsored by BemroseBooth Mobile

Joint winner: London Borough of Islington
Joint winner: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames & Ring Go

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

On-street Team of the Year
Sponsored by Creative Parking Solutions
Winner: Medway Council

Off-street Team of the Year
Winner: City of Lincoln Council

Back Office Team of the Year
Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon

Parking in the Community Award
Winner: RCP Parking & Bignold School, Norwich

Parking Person of the Year
Sponsored by RingGo
Winner: Mohammed Farooq, parking host, Q-Park

About the awards

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.

www.britishparkingawards.co.uk