Westminster City Council has standardised all its CCTV traffic enforcement systems around a single platform. The council believes its new network of digital HD cameras will generate high quality images, which will minimise discard-rates and thus help reduce the number of appeals. Westminster City Council has signed a contract with Videalert and NSL, which are both part of Marston Holdings. The city council’s decision follows a 12-month pilot comparison exercise between Videalert and the

Island Roads has replaced around 40 ageing parking terminals at a variety of locations across the Isle of Wight with new solar-powered pay & display technology from Flowbird Urban Intelligence. Island Roads is responsible for the Isle of Wight's highways network and associated services. The new machines are the final phase of a rolling programme that has seen more than 130 terminals on the island replaced since 2016. All the terminals linked to Flowbird’s Smartfolio central manageme

ParkVia has been appointed the online parking provider for multi-national airline operator IAG (International Airlines Group) following a tender process, The first phase of the contract covers a dedicated micro website for British Airways. Operating from its home base at London Heathrow, British Airways flies 123,000 daily passengers to more than 200 destinations in 75 countries across the globe. British Airways' customers looking to pre-book airport parking, valet parking or airport hotels wit

East Cheshire NHS Trust has adopted a new parking system at Macclesfield District General Hospital. The new system, which has been provided by ParkingEye, enables pay-on-exit via kiosks or via a mobile payment service. ParkingEye has been managing public and staff parking at the hospital since January 2015. It operates an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system and deploys customer service attendants to ensure compliance with parking regulations and that payments are made. Payments fo

Nottingham City Council has adopted a system that uses a terminal to activate phone parking sessions. The council has installed RingGo’s Touchscreen solution at the Harvey Sports Village. The terminal allow users of the sports centre to park for free while providing paid-parking to people visiting the area. The touchscreen terminals are located inside the leisure centre and the parking sessions are stated through the registration of a vehicle. As all sessions are booked and enforced via

Peterborough’s Queensgate shopping centre is upgrading its parking technology system. The mall is located in the centre of Peterborough and is home to more than 100 stores. It has parking for 2,300 cars provided in four on-site multi-storey car parks. APT Skidata systems have been used at the mall since 2008. In terms of new hardware, APT Skidata will be installing new Smart payment terminals from the Skiosk range, which have interactive touchscreen displays, multiple payment options, a

The University of Warwick has appointed SWARCO Traffic to provide technologies to manage car park occupancy across the entire campus, which is based on the outskirts of Coventry. SWARCO Traffic will supply an initial batch of 42 parking guidance signs to display parking space availability. It will also supply seven car park counters and inductive loops that record the vehicles entering and exiting the car park. The signs will be managed via SWARCO’s Zephyr solution, which enables message

Q-Park has appointed APT Skidata to upgrade the parking technology at The Mailbox, a shopping and lifestyle destination in the centre of Birmingham. Q-Park was awarded a long-term lease agreement for The Mailbox’s 686-space car park in 2018. A modernisation project will align the car park with other Q-Park sites across the UK. Q-Park will be offering season tickets, online pre-booking and the Q-Park Rewards loyalty app. The Mailbox, which opened in 1998, is a redevelopment of the Royal M

Luton Council has selected PayByPhone as its new mobile parking payment provider. PayByPhone will replace RingGo as the exclusive cashless parking provider for the Bedfordshire town from 1 July. Drivers will be able to use PayByPhone’s services to pay for parking across Luton, covering 91 on-street and off-street parking locations. PayByPhone users can choose to receive text message reminders before a parking session expires and can also extend their parking sessions remotely in accordan

A new exhibition charts the changing face of Leeds city centre’s first purpose-built shopping centre. The Merrion Centre was opened Town Centre Securities (TCS) in May 1964. The mall was novel in featuring an integrated multi-storey car park, which continues to be operated by TCS under the CitiPark banner. The shopping centre was opened with a golden key on 30 May 1964 by Dr Marjorie Ziff, wife of the late Arnold Ziff, founder of Town Centre Securities (TCS). Dr Ziff returned to the mal

Flowbird Urban Intelligence has launched terminal-based digital technology to enable local authorities to levy variable surcharges on vehicles that exceed set levels of CO2 and diesel pollutants. The new system can be used to generate a separate fee for higher polluting cars at the time of parking, using data linked to official government figures covering vehicle emissions. The digital system is loaded onto Flowbird’s solar-powered, multi-service terminals and provides authorities with a

The finalists in the 2019 everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards programme have been drawn from the worlds of freight, rail, retail and architecture. The 46 finalists showcase the range of opportunities being undertaken by women in an industry traditionally seen to offer manual, male-dominated jobs. This year’s awards programme will see two winners per category – one industry “Leader” with a breadth of experience and one individual at any stage of their career,

Airport parking specialist ParkVia has strengthened its partnership with Portugal’s flag carrier, TAP Air Portugal, following two consecutive contract renewals since its original agreement began in 2016. The airline uses a ParkVia white label site, parking.flytap.com, to provide passengers with the ability to search, browse and book parking at 157 airports across 34 countries worldwide. Tiago Phillimore, head of digital and innovation at TAP Air Portugal, said: “Over the last three

A year after the Department for Transport made a commitment to increase the provision of lorry parking places on the strategic road network, the Freight Transport Association is calling on the government to deliver on this promise after a new survey indicated that drivers believe the situation has actually worsened in the past 12 months. The FTA supports the work Highways England has undertaken over the past year to identify potential new sites for rest and service areas for commercial drivers,

A recent spate of storefront crashes in which vehicle drivers smashed through the front of retail or office space windows led barrier manufacturer McCue to look into the causes and work on a solution. Using data from the Storefront Safety Council, McCue discovered that driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs caused only 17% of storefront crashes, while operator or pedal error caused 56% of crashes. “What this statistic reveals is good, even conscientious, drivers make errors,&rd

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has extended PayByPhone’s contract by 12 months. The mobile parking payment operator processed nearly 1 million transactions for Bournemouth in 2018.  Use of cashless parking increase by 149% since PayByPhone replaced the council’s previous provider. Elaine Smith, the council’s deputy parking services manager, said: “It’s great to see so many drivers across Bournemouth adopt cashless parking services. We have worked

Grid Smarter Cities has been selected to take part in Phase 2 of Smart Dublin and Enterprise Ireland’s SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) programme, which aims to support ‘last mile’ delivery in partnership with Dublin City Council and Belfast City Council. Newcastle-based Grid Smarter Cities has been working with Dublin City Council to better understand and analyse potential use-cases for Kerb, its intelligent kerbside management solution, in the city centre. Grid&rsq

Parking payment systems are being upgraded at Newcastle International Airport Limited (NIAL). The airport wanted an integrated payment system that can manage everything from pick-up and drop-off facilities, short-stay parking, long-stay holiday parking and a more personalised meet & greet service. The airport opted for a system developed by Orbility, which is the new name for the former Xerox ACS parking technology business. Orbility is currently replacing both parking equipment and associ

The shortlist for this year’s Parking Annual Reports by Councils (PARC) Awards has been announced. The PARC Awards recognise annual reports on local authority parking services and traffic management. This year, 2017/18 annual reports are under review. The annual competition is run by Parking and Traffic Regulation Outside London (PATROL), a joint committee represents over 300 local authorities in England, outside London, and Wales. Louise Hutchison, director of PATROL, said: “The

Ford has developed an algorithm which it believes could support increased electric vehicle use by identifying the most beneficial places to install charging stations. Data scientists at the company developed the algorithm, based on more than one million kilometres of driving data, including where vehicles actually stopped, to pinpoint the places that could help drivers integrate charging within their operating patterns, rather than making special journeys to out-of-the way locations. Following

Digital parking and permitting services company Chipside has appointed Leighton Ponting as its new business development manager. With more than three decades of experience in business sales and management, and 15 years involvement in the parking industry, Ponting will drive Chipside’s expansion into new markets. Ponting has previously worked in sales and management for IT and manufacturing companies across the UK, entering the parking sector in 2005. In the parking sector he has worked fo

Alpha Parking has launched a personalised training approach for civil enforcement officers and back office staff. The ‘shadowing and mentoring’ training approach involves trainers from Alpha Parking observing and advising parking personnel while they carry out real world tasks. “Shadowing and mentoring differs from other training because it offers a one-to-one service to provide staff with advice and support,” said Alpha Parking director Penny Winder. “The approach

CP Plus and Ranger Services have merged to become GroupNexus, with the aim of providing technology that helps landowners better serve their customers and to build stronger customer connections. CP Plus was set up in 1991 to supply customer-focussed car park management and facilities management (FM) services. Ranger Services has developed parking technology solutions based on automated number plate recognition (ANPR) since its launch in 2003. Together, the companies operate 1,200 sites in the

Bath and North East Somerset Council is to use of its existing CCTV traffic and parking enforcement platform to enforce its clean air zone (CAZ).New cameras will be integrated with the council’s existing Videalert digital video platform, which is used to enforce a wide range of restrictions including bus lanes, bus gates and permit parking. Bath’s Class C CAZ will give exemptions to private cars while charging higher polluting buses, coaches, HGVs, vans, private hire vehicles and ta

Somerset County Council has launched the PayByPhone service. This means drivers can use the cashless services across districts including Sedgemoor, Mendip and Somerset West and Taunton. Steve Deakin, Somerset’s parking services manager, said: “All drivers in Somerset now have the option to go fully cashless and to enjoy the advantages of the services PayByPhone offers. They don’t have to carry cash or cards anymore or worry about running back to top-up the parking before their

Cambridgeshire has launched a multi-vendor parking service whereby three cashless solutions will be offered at each location.  Cambridgeshire is the first local authority in the UK to introduce a multi-vendor service. Multi-vendor cashless parking is relatively common in Europe but in the UK a single-supplier model has predominated, with tender processes delivering outright contract winners. The new scheme means drivers will have a variety of options and can choose the phone parking servi

PayByPhone replaced Dash as the exclusive cashless parking provider for the London borough of Enfield on 1 May. Drivers can now use PayByPhone’s services to pay for parking at 2,000 on-street and off-street parking spaces in Enfield, including Cockfosters, Enfield Town, Palmers Green and Southgate. Cllr Guney Dogan, Enfield Council’s cabinet member for environment said: “PayByPhone will make parking easier and more convenient for our residents and visitors. Being able to exte

The introduction of JustPark cashless payment system in Dundee is the first phase of a series of smart city projects to be launched by The MILL – The Mobility Innovation Living Lab. The MILL is a Dundee City Council initiative that enables companies to trial new innovations, establishing the city as a real-life test and experimentation environment for smart mobility solutions. Other trials will be developed over the next year, including a scheme that encourages drivers to park in differen

Shropshire Council is offering residents and visitors cashless payment as an option at parking terminals in 10 towns. The council has been replacing its coin-only pay & display machines coming to the end of their working lives The council has installed 115 Flowbird StradaPAL terminals as part of a drive to enhance operational effectiveness while improving the customer experience. The terminals offer contactless, chip & PIN and coin payment options along with a capability to print vouch

Encouraging customers to visit high streets is vital to ensuring the sustainability of town centres, which face competition from both out-of-town and online retailers. Tired and unattractive shops, rundown streets and uninviting car parks do little to attract people into a town centre. This was the case in the Northamptonshire town of Corby, which has seen around a fifth of its shops closing in the past five years alone. A particular area of concern was the Market Walk shopping centre, which wa

Car parks at the Broadway shopping centre in Bexleyheath, Kent, are being refurbished by USL StructureCare. The shopping centre, which is owned by NewRiver Retail, has an annual footfall of nine million people. USL StructureCare is acting as principal contractor on the £1m project. Property manager CBRE are the client’s contract administrator on the 21-week programme, which began in January and ends in June. USL StructureCare is working in both the Broadway Shopping Centre and Broa

Art and car parks are not natural bedfellows. The association between the two would not normally go beyond provision of parking as an ancillary facility at an arts venue or festival, or commissioning some public art to beautify a car park. In Wrexham, however, the arts have been transplanted into a multi-storey car park through the conversion of some of the structure to form galleries and performance space. The local authority, Wrexham County Borough Council, has handed operation of the car park

Imaginative systems and solutions on show at Parkex 2019 were flagged up on The Innovation Trail. The 10 companies selected for inclusion on the trail had a chance to pitch the benefits of their systems to a jury panel and visitors alike at a series of hustings held across the three-day event Innovation of the Year QUCITParkPredict ControlParkPredict Control is an all-in-one tool for effective on-street parking enforcement powered by artificial intelligence. It uses machine-learning algorithms

The latest trends and technologies were showcased and debated at Parkex 2019, which took place at Birmingham’s NEC between 2-4 April. The British Parking Association (BPA) used the three days to explore a wide range of topical issues and raise awareness of campaigns such as the Positive Parking Agenda, Halt the Hate and Baywatch. The BPA Parkex Hub hosted a wide range of topical themes, ranging from the importance of data in mobility, the role of parking in clean air zones, the potential

Housebuilder Berkeley Group has signed a framework agreement with APT Skidata to provide parking solutions at development sites throughout London, the South East and Midlands. The Berkeley Group is a FTSE 100 company that has built 19,000 homes in the last five years. Pete Brown, APT Skidata’s managing director, said: “APT Skidata already provides parking for some prestigious developments at London Dock, Dickens Yard, Imperial Wharf and St George’s Wharf, and this new framewo

Chipside took part in a Smart City Summit & Expo in Taiwan on 26-29 March. The parking and traffic management IT specialist’s chief executive, Paul Moorby OBE, joined the Department for International Trade (DIT) at the Smart City Summit & Expo in Taipei. There were 1,000 booths representing cities, technology advancers and service providers from around the globe. For the expo, the UK DIT has recruited a number of UK companies specialising the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial

Paul Moorby, chief executive of Chipside, was presented with an OBE at Windsor Castle on 22 March. Moorby was awarded an OBE for services in the New Year Honours list 2019 in recognition of his dedication to continued innovation in the UK parking industry and promoting British technology to governments across the world. A vocal advocate of UK innovation, Moorby has promoted Chipside and UK capabilities in Europe, the Americas and Asia. In February, Moorby attended the Bengal Global Business Sum

Weston Homes and Tesco want to redevelop a store and car park in north-east London as a new mixed-use development. The 10.4 acre site at 822 High Road is located next to Goodmayes Railway Station, opposite Barley Lane Park.The development would include a new Tesco store, a primary school and up to 1,400 new homes. Weston Homes and Tesco say they are looking to create a new community that will include 35% affordable housing, assisting in meeting the London Borough of Redbridge’s increased

ParkCloud has signed new contract with Aeroporti di Roma (ADR), with whom the Manchester-based booking specialist has been working since 2016. ADR runs Italy’s largest airport, Rome Fiumicino (FCO), and Rome Ciampino (CIA). During 2017-18, bookings for parking at both airports doubled.   ParkCloud has been promoting eight of ADR’s official car parks through its marketing channels, including its B2C site. ParkCloud also delivers ADR’s car parks enhanced coverage thro

Online parking reservation company ParkCloud has renewed its contract with Latvia’s Riga International. Situated in Latvia’s capital city, Riga Airport is the largest airport in the Baltic states, serving as a hub for national carrier airBaltic. Riga was used by seven million passengers in 2018.  Following consistent booking growth over the three-year contract term, ParkCloud will continue to market on-site parking at Riga Airport – known via its code RIX – through

PayByPhone has replaced RingGo as the exclusive cashless parking provider for the London Borough of Harrow. From 1 April drivers will be able to use PayByPhone’s services to pay for parking at 90 locations across the borough, covering a total of 3,506 on-street and off-street parking spaces. PayByPhone users can choose to receive text message reminders before a parking session expires. They also have the ability to extend their parking sessions remotely in accordance to the car park&rsquo

A shopping centre in North Wales has upgraded the payment and management systems used in its car park. The White Rose shopping centre in Rhyl, North Wales, has opted to use ABACUS software and equipment produced by Designa. Home to 30 stores, the White Rose shopping centre is located in the centre of the town, making it a short walk from Rhyl’s seafront, railway station and sea aquarium, and has direct access to car parking for 300 vehicles. The centre previously used a chip coin pay-on-f

Ford is partnering with a UK delivery company to trial a new digital parcel courier service designed to help reduce congestion and offer faster deliveries. The ‘warehouse on wheels’ trial is being conducted in London with Gnewt by Menzies Distribution, an urban parcel courier specialising in zero-emission last mile delivery services. During the trial, Gnewt’s ‘last mile’ delivery service will be driven by Ford’s multi modal routing and logistics software MoDe

A lack of available parking facilities and regular parking fines are having a detrimental impact on van drivers and operators, according to research from Mercedes-Benz Vans. Most drivers surveyed felt there is a parking problem in the UK for vans (90%). This is demonstrated by the 56% believing most parking spaces are too small even for cars, with inflexible parking bays (27%), no spots near client drop-off points (46%) and increasing ‘permit holder only’ areas (30%) also playing a

Parking equipment manufacturers WPS is to launch two new technologies at Parkex and Traffex. WPS will unveil a new validation platform called ValID, which has been developed to satisfy the needs of both retailers and local authorities. ValID enables a site operator to offer discounted parking in town centres, while also supporting the local community by encouraging spend to retailers, restaurants, cafes, hotels and other leisure providers. The system was developed in-house by WPS engineers and

Three Welsh local authorities have adopted pay & display technology manufactured by International Parking Systems (IPS). Swansea City Council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and Newport City Council have all chosen IPS technology to replace existing parking terminals.IPS won a competitive tender run by Swansea City Council for machines to be used in both on-street and off-street locations. The IPS MP1 machines for Neath Port Talbot will be installed on the coast and at country pa

Gloucester City Council has selected payment technology from International Parking Systems (IPS) for the upgrade of its parking machine portfolio. The installation in Gloucester replaces all off-street technology, providing the car park customers in the city with the option of making contactless cashless payments. The project will see the council upgrading existing Parkeon Stelio and Strada units using the IPS Revolution upgrade kits in addition to taking delivery of complete IPS MS1 parking t

A car park in Bournemouth town centre has been shut for two months due to a power failure. The underground car park at the Bh2 leisure venue has been closed since 28 December. It is understood that water damage caused the car park smoke extraction control panel to fail. The destination’s website states: “We apologise for the inconvenience but due to a power failure, the car park at Bh2 will be closed until further notice. Thank you for your co-operation and we will let you know when

Parklets are a concept that developed as a protest by architects in San Francisco against the dominance of the car in urban areas. Their guerilla action spawned the annual PARK(ing) Day event, which sees parklets set up in cities across the world every September. The parklets created in kerbside parking bays by campaigners, designers and communities become social hubs decked out with greenery, games and activities. While PARK(ing) Day lasts one day a year, the parklet does not have to be a tran

As ride-share becomes more popular, councils should replace on-street parking charges with a “transaction fee” for stopping at the kerbside, believes Alastair Evanson, solution director at traffic and transportation software specialists PTV Group. Local authorities should consider the impact on revenues as kerb use shifts from parking to passenger pick-up and drop-off, Evanson told delegates at Future Streets, hosted by Arup Group and organised by Landor LINKS. “Pricing kerb u

Outdated policies and an unfair tax regime must be reformed to create an environment that will allow high streets and town centres to flourish in the future, suggests a report published by the House of Commons’ Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. The MPs call on the government to initiate reform in key planning and taxation areas, including the options of an online sales tax and reforms to business rates, to allow high streets to adapt to changing demand, and compete with

Vehicles, highways, urban centres and public transport systems are evolving – fast. In fact, the pace of change is accelerating, and UK councils have the challenge to keep up. Councils face pressure from multiple fronts. On one side, they need to manage their everyday kerbside management challenges: ensuring fair and consistent enforcement that promotes the safe and expedient movement of traffic whilst also promoting and encouraging easy cashless payments for parking. And at the other end

Once a car park was simply somewhere to leave vehicles, but now digital solutions from apps to sensors are transforming the humble parking bay into a high-tech haven. Parking is changing at a rapid rate as technology becomes more sophisticated and cheaper to implement at scale. Already, coins are out and cards are in when it comes to car park payment machines. JLL research shows that in 2017, 44% of car parks took contactless payments, up from 10% in 2014. Yet even these machines may soon become

Contemporary and 1960s car parks, school streets schemes, charity fundraisers, cycle hubs and digital payment systems make up the eclectic list winners at the British Parking Awards 2019. The British Parking Awards have been presented annually by Parking Review magazine since 2002, and the awards ceremony organised by Landor LINKS is the social highlight of the parking calendar.The ceremony was compered by the comedian Shappi Khorsandi, who revealed that in being evicted first on I’m a Cel

The Fitzpark project involved the transformation of a loading bay on an urban London street into a temporary seating area, or parklet, for local residents, businesses and visitors to enjoy. The parklet on Windmill Street was jointly funded by the Invest in Arup initiative, The Fitzrovia Partnership and Clean Air Better Business (CABB) as well as from the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund. The parklet was in place for six months in 2017-18 and during a six-week period before and after in

The finalists of the British Parking Awards have been revealed. The short list was selected from a long list of around 120 submissions. The competition was launched by Parking Review magazine in 2002 to recognise and celebrate best practice, innovation and achievement in parking. The 2019 competition encompasses the design and construction of facilities, innovative technologies, community engagement, green thinking, individual achievement and team work. Mark Moran, editor of Parking Review and

NCP has a target of increasing its number of sites across the UK by over 100 by the end of 2021. The past two months has so far seen NCP open new builds in Salford and Belfast. The Stanley Street car park, which opened in December, is its third car park in Salford, while the Belfast Harbour car park is third site in Belfast city centre. Between October and December 2018, the operator acquired several other sites nationwide. Six of the facilities are existing multi-storey and surface car parks

NCP is the operator of Belfast Harbour’s new 900-space car park, which opened on 21 January. The £20m multi-storey car park services Belfast Harbour’s £275m, mixed-use City Quays development, as well as providing parking for hotel, commuters and visitors to attractions such as the Odyssey Area. Graeme Johnston, Belfast Harbour property director, said: “Belfast Harbour believes that providing high quality parking facilities. City Quays counts well-known businesses s

The car parks serving the Bluewater shopping and leisure centre in Kent are being refurbished. Bluewater's Yellow, Green and Red car parks were upgraded last year, with the Thames car park set to be revamped this year. The extended programme of works is being carried out by Hilton Abbey, which is working directly for Bluewater’s management company. Bluewater SC Management project manager Keith Williams said: “Bluewater will be 20 years old this year, so there are maintenance and imp

PayByPhone has expanded its presence in the south-east of England, adding two local authorities in Hertfordshire to its roster of locations. PayByPhone is based in Hertfordshire and its service is now being offered by Broxbourne, East Herts, Hertsmere, St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield councils. East Hertfordshire District Council launched the cashless parking service across the district on 17 January. The service is available in 26 locations in towns such as Bishops Stortford and Hertford. PayByPh

Local authorities are invited to submit their Annual Reports to the PATROL PARC (Parking Annual Reports by Councils) Awards for 2017/18. PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulation Outside London) is accepting reports from local authorities until Thursday 28 February 2019, with all shortlisted authorities invited to a reception at the House of Commons on 16 July. Louise Hutchison, director of PATROL, says: “Civil enforcement continues to be a headline opportunity for both local and national m

The 2019 everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards programme is now open for entries, with organisers inviting nominations from across the industry, from aviation and shipping to road and rail. The awards are free to enter and the closing date is 11 February. The awards will recognise two winners per category; one successful industry ‘Leader’ and one individual at any stage in their career who is going ‘Above and Beyond’ for the business they work for. The Industry

Park Assist has installed a parking guidance system (PGS) at the REDI Shopping Centre in Helsinki, Finland. The new shopping centre, which opened in September 2018, features over 200 shops, 38 restaurants, a cinema, climbing arena, free-fall wind tunnel and an immersive ‘7D’ virtual theatre. The centre’s 2,000 parking spaces are provided underground in long cave tunnels. To help drivers locate available bays, each of the four levels has dynamic signage, and bays have overhead

British online parking reservation specialist has strengthened its presence in the Italian airport network with the addition of three new airports its partner family. Palermo Airport – also known as Falcone–Borsellino - is located 35km from Palermo, the capital city of the popular tourist island of Sicily. The contract will enable ParkCloud to offer its three million registered users the option of reserving their parking at Palermo Airport’s P1 and P2 on-site parking facilitie

The Project Centre has appointed Andy Brookfield as the regional director and for Manchester and the North. He will oversee the consultancy’s new Manchester office. Brookfield has over 22 years’ experience in the traffic and transport planning fields, working on both private and public sector projects. His areas of expertise include development planning, the preparation of transport assessments and masterplan schemes, car park design, travel plans, highway infrastructure business c

Paul Moorby, managing director of parking technology specialist Chipside, has received an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List. The award was made in recognition of his work promoting the UK’s technology sector abroad. Moorby has taken part in a series of high profile trade missions to Europe, Australia and the Far East in recent years. These events have seen him discuss how smart city solutions can help city authorities better leverage the opportunities presented by Big Data and Open

PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulations outside London) is pleased to once again partner with Landor LINKS and Parking Review magazine in the creation of the Traffic and Parking 2019 event, which takes place in Manchester on 22 January. The move to focus on both traffic and parking with this year's event reflects the increasing challenges facing local authorities and motorists in the traffic management landscape. PATROL was keen to be involved in the event to help guide and enrich the conferen

Parking Review is the leading source of independent news for the on-street and off-street parking sectors. Every month it looks at the management, enforcement, design and business of parking. Essential readingThe magazine and its online coverage is an essential read for anyone working in the parking and highways management sectors, as well as for facilities managers and property owners running car parks serving airports, shopping centres, supermarkets, hospitals and mixed-use developments. 2019

Traffic and parking management professionals will be gathering in Manchester during January to discuss issues such as the effective management of the kerbside, preparing Clean Air Zones, creating safer school streets, regulating pavement parking and the case for workplace parking levies. The Traffic + Parking conference on 22 January 2019 will be a forum in which parking and traffic management professionals from both the public and private sectors can gather to discuss the operational issues th

French parking company Indigo has sold its European subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia to Spain’s Saba Infraestructuras. The sale reflects Indigo’s strategy to focus on priority markets in which it holds a leading position or sees opportunity to become a major operator. Saba, a subsidiary of CriteriaCaixa group, has acquired all shares of Indigo’s companies in the UK, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The transaction became effective on 11 Decembe

The British Parking Awards 2019 recognises excellence in management, design and innovation in both the on-street and off-street parking sector. To give entrants some extra time refine submissions, the deadline for sending in entry packs has been extended to Thursday 10 January. The diverse nature of the parking sector means that the competition has categories that cover the design and upkeep of buildings, as well as ground-breaking policies, excellent services and innovative technology.&nb

The International Parking Community (IPC) has unveiled a new team structure to support its members and deliver a number of new initiatives. Two new management roles have been created at the accredited trade association’s head office in Macclesfield to develop its membership and enhance its online platforms.  Vicky Jarrett, the IPC’s former compliance officer, has broadened her role and assumed new responsibilities as compliance manager. A new compliance officer will also be joi

Oren Peleg, the former global chief executive of Fitness First, has been appointed as executive chairman of JustPark. Peleg specialises in accelerating business growth and was credited with transforming the fortunes of the Fitness First Worldwide health club group. Over the last two decades he has also held senior strategic and operational roles at private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP, Terra Firma Capital Partners and McKinsey & Company.  Peleg, who has been supporting Ju

Jonathan Scott, NCP’s chief financial officer, has become the organisation’s chief executive. The appointment comes as current chief executive Jo Cooper steps down after almost a decade in the job. Scott has been CFO of NCP since he joined the company in 2000. Over the past 18 years he has had key roles in the company’s restructuring, stabilisation  and return to profitability. He was also part of the management team that oversaw the sale of NCP to a partnership between l

Forecasters are already predicting that temperatures this winter could drop below the seasonal averages. This, compounded by the extreme and somewhat unpredictable past winter, serves as a chilling reminder to all businesses of their responsibility to protect people from the risks of slips and falls in icy conditions.  According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), around five million days are lost each year through workplace injuries, costing the UK economy billions of pounds. Slips,

A real-world simulation analysis that demonstrates that switching to totally autonomous vehicles significantly reduces urban congestion by a factor of 10, but that mixing human and robot drivers together will increase traffic jams by over 16%. The micro-simulation was based on a major intersection in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, notorious for its evening traffic jams.  This five-lane highway includes two lanes turning left and one to the right, has a 80 km/h speed limit, and is controlled

Tesco and Volkswagen plans to install around 2,400 charging bays at up to 600 stores by 2020. The charging bays will be based in Tesco Extra and Superstore car parks throughout the UK, and will be installed by independent public charging network operator Pod Point.  Customers will be able to charge their electric cars using a standard 7kW fast charger for free, or benefit from the use of a rapid 50kW charger for a fee in line with the market rate. Volkswagen has two electric vehicles on t

Increased enforcement around schools has led to a significant increase in penalty charge notice (PCN) challenges for the London Borough of Hackney’s correspondence team. Hackney is one of the capital’s three most densely populated boroughs. It is a relatively young borough, with a quarter of the population under the age of 20 and a fifth of residents between 20 and 29 years of age. Air quality and road safety issues around many of the borough’s 78 schools have been a major cau

Cambridge City Council has selected JustPark as the cashless provider for its surface car parks. The JustPark service will also be extended into the council’s multi-storey car parks over the next few months through being integrated with Skidata barrier systems.  The JustPark team were in the council’s car parks during October launching the payment platform and assisting members of the public in accessing the payment app. Cambridge City Council said: “Cashless car parking

Tesco and Volkswagen plans to install around 2,400 charging bays at up to 600 stores by 2020. The charging bays will be based in Tesco Extra and Superstore car parks throughout the UK, and will be installed by independent public charging network operator Pod Point.  Customers will be able to charge their electric cars using a standard 7kW fast charger for free, or benefit from the use of a rapid 50kW charger for a fee in line with the market rate. Volkswagen has two electric vehicles on t

Grid Smarter Cities’ kerbside management system won the Innovative App Award at the ITS (UK) Awards 2018. Kerb is a patented solution for managing last-mile deliveries in cities. Kerb allows commercial vehicle operators to opt to book and pay to park, load and unload on previously unavailable kerb space in urban areas or to extend loading periods in time restricted locations. Glen Davies, transport and logistics director at AtoH, put Grid Smarter Cities forward for the award. He said: &l

Pittman Traffic and Safety Equipment has secured the sole authorised distributorship for traffic safety products made by Impact Recovery Systems.   Pittman is now able to offer a new range of fully impactable bollards, delineators and lane separators. Michael Cooke, sales manager at Pittman Traffic and Safety Equipment, said: “Impact Recovery Systems is a brand with a proven track record over the last 20 years with local authorities and car park operators in both the UK and Ireland.

Wirral Council has confirmed that NSL will continue to run the council’s parking enforcement regime for the next five years, with the option of extending for a further five years. NSL staff will continue to enforce parking regulations, monitor parking permits and support school crossing patrols. The council has also introduced phone parking for the first time, opting to use the JustPark service in 47 on-street locations and 32 car parks. The contract will run for four years with the optio

Two parking partnerships from Essex have embarked on a programme of improvements to their traffic regulations. The North and South Essex Parking Partnerships (NEPP and SEPP) are working with software solutions provider Buchanan Computing to create an accessible and interactive map-based inventory of all parking restrictions, lines and signage.  The £250,000 project includes a full roadside survey by consultant Buchanan Order Management of every on-street line, sign and parking area i

Funding has been awarded to six business groups to make deliveries more efficient and reduce congestion in London.  Transport for London (TfL) has awarded over £230,000 to schemes which will focus on consolidating deliveries, but also support cargo bike and electric vehicles. The funding from TfL’s Healthy Streets Fund for Business will be matched by the business groups. The six schemes include the promotion of cycle freight, single suppliers and co-ordination of waste collect

Dublin City Council and Belfast City Council are seeking smart, low-cost solutions to optimise freight and cargo deliveries in urban centres in order to reduce the number of goods vehicles and improve air quality and noise pollution.  Six companies have been awarded Phase One innovation contracts to develop their solutions. One is a real-time booking system developed by Grid Smarter Cities that allows local authorities to designate stretches of kerbspace as temporary stopping areas to enab

The multi-storey car park serving the Main Square shopping centre in Camberley town centre has been upgraded by USL StructureCare.  The 1,000-space car park is owned and operated by Surrey Heath Borough Council.  The car park is a split-level structure. Its internal decks were re-waterproofed using the DeckProtect+ system produced by USL Group company Pitchmastic PmB.  Following surface preparation works and minor repairs to the substrate, 13,000m2 of Pichmastic’s DeckPro

The Belfry shopping centre car park in Redhill, Surrey, has just undergone a £2m facelift by USL StructureCare. While no major structural changes are being made, the work is the most significant refurbishment in 26 years and the first full refurbishment in 17 years. The refurbishment includes re-surfacing of the entire car park following the removal of the previous coatings, decoration throughout of all ceilings, walls and columns, replacement of all joints, LED lighting and new parking b

Rising from among 50-metre-high cliffs of a former quarry in Kent, the Bluewater shopping centre opened its doors in 1999. The shopping centre was a trailblazer in the world of out-of-town retail and now attracts over a million visitors annually, many of whom arrive by car and use its expansive parking areas. Bluewater Landsec has been looking at ways to make the car park’s lighting both more efficient and easier to maintain. The shopping centre hopes to cut its lighting energy use by 650

Cotswold District Council has engaged Stripe Consulting, a specialist in car park structures, to help create a proposed multi-storey car park at the Waterloo surface parking site in Cirencester. Stripe is the lead designer on the project, providing architectural, structural and civil design services, as well as drainage, mechanical and electrical design services. Stripe will also devise the cladding brief for the car park’s façade, which will be used to select a cladding designer v

Like all relationships, those that work best are the ones where everybody wants to them to work. Most of us have experienced relationships, either personal or in business, that we haven’t really wanted to be involved in. Partnerships generally work best when there is a common goal or objective and all parties benefit from its success. From a local authority’s point of view, joining together with neighbouring authorities to carry out parking management and enforcement makes a lot of s

CitiPark has worked with John Lewis & Partners to renovate a multi-storey serving that serves a new John Lewis store in Cheltenham   The operator will also manage the car park, which provides 335 spaces over five floors.  CitiPark has installed automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology throughout the car park. There are 12 ‘click & collect’ bays that enable customers to stop and quickly pick up orders previously placed online. There are also pare

Parking management undertaken by councils is an “essential public service” that benefits London’s economy while helping to deal with traffic, improve air quality and ensure better road safety, states a report commissioned by London Councils.  The London boroughs association commissioned consultant Integrated Transport Planning (ITP) to evaluate the cumulative impact of parking management measures such as bays, yellow lines and parking zones.  Benefits of Parking Man

Pedestrians were awarded at least £2.1m in compensation after tripping on pavements in the past year, research by the AA has revealed. The motoring association found that 10,572 people made claims against local councils, although only 859 (8%) were successful. While some councils paid compensation on more than 75% of claims, others made no payouts, despite hundreds of claims. The AA’s Freedom of Information request to 421 councils throughout the UK resulted in 365 responses, repres

Andrew Higginson, chairman of retailer Morrisons, has been appointed as non-executive chairman of online parking portal YourParkingSpace.co.uk. The arrival of Higginson, which is in an external capacity to his current role as chairman at Morrisons, coincides with the launch of ParkMaven.com, a cloud-based parking management platform launched by YourParkingSpace earlier this year. “It is exciting to be joining a fast-growing tech business that is set to transform the parking industry,&rdq

Jade Neville has become parking services manager for OCS Group in Milton Keynes. Her new role involves the running and maintenance of parking enforcement provision in the Centre:MK shopping centre. The Milton Keynes role is her latest appointment within facilities management specialist OCS Group. She joined the group’s Legion Parking operation last year after a decade with APCOA Parking. She received the Front Line trophy at the British Parking Awards 2014 in recognition of her work as A

The PayByPhone mobile parking app is now the only cashless parking option on offer in the Essex town of Rochford. Rather than accept card payments at pay & display terminals, Rochford District Council has opted to provide drivers with a choice of either cash payment at terminals or cashless via phone in 11 town centre car parks.  Using the PayByPhone app means drivers do not have to remember to carry cash to pay to park, said Rochford District Council‘s portfolio holder for enter

Drivers who use PayByPhone can now extend their parking session from the Apple Watch. The new feature is supported by watchOS 4.0 and enables drivers to park without using their phone or having to make a trip to the meter. The Apple Watch app also includes the ‘Glances’ feature, which shows drivers the amount of time they have remaining in their parking session.  PayByPhone was one of 44 companies originally chosen to launch with the Apple Watch, which is now installed on over

Over the past few years technological advancements have revolutionised the way people park. Traditional pay & display machines have faced a technical onslaught from interactive voice response (IVR) phone systems, websites and apps. Behind this rapid evolution is a shift in customer behaviour that is driving parking operators, including local authorities, to focus on cashless payment systems.  The start of the evolution The first parking meters in Britain started operating in Mayfair,

Car parks are a vital element of shopping centres, but how does parking fit into the business of retail? Insights into the running costs, tariffs, profitability and impact of technology on retail parking is provided by property services company JLL, which has just published its latest shopping centre car park survey. The UK Shopping Centre Car Parks report was compiled jointly by JLL’s retail management and automotive teams, which collated and analysed the performance of 62 shopping centre

Parking in the United States has always lagged many, many years behind Europe for many reasons. One is that Americans do not like a lot of change. That is all about to change because we are living in an era of disruption. What does disruption look like from the United States’ perspective? Disruption with regard to parking and mobility has come from the outside. Indeed, it is rare that an industry gets disrupted from the inside out.  Uber and Lyft have completely disrupted the taxi in

A plastic tunnel connecting a supermarket to a car park is now the highest rated TripAdvisor attraction in the Cornish seaside resort of Bude.  The 70-metre long structure at the town’s Sainsbury’s supermarket has now attracted almost 200 reviews, with the majority rating it excellent.  The tunnel’s profile states: “The only tunnel Bude has to offer is open to the public free of charge, walk from the Sainsbury’s car park to Crooklets Road completely unde

Ford, Uber and Lyft will work together to develop a universal data standard for real-time kerb demand and availability. The car-maker and ride-share companies will work with SharedStreets, Bloomberg’s ‘open transport partnership’, to develop a data platform that will make it easier for the private sector to work with cities around the world and leverage data to improve urban mobility.  The agreement seeks to provide a common standard for sharing data across all cities, wh

Mobile payments specialist Passport has appointed Adam Warnes to head up its UK operations. Warnes was previously head of parking at Westminster City Council. Passport is a US-based company whose product lines span parking payment, parking enforcement, and permit management. It is also active in public transport and road tolling. Its new office will be run by Adam Warnes, who is the newly apppinted vice president of UK operations. Warnes worked at Westminster for over five years, fulfilling a

Over half of UK local authorities have parking problem areas and a third are experiencing an increase in illegal parking, according to a survey conducted for mobile payments specialist Passport. The sector review, carried out by Passport in partnership with survey VIGA, was designed to get a better understanding of the pressures faced by local authorities. It also reveals concerns over the impact of reduced local authority budgets and that new mobility modes such as ride-sharing and dockless cyc

The 2019 edition of the British Parking Awards is up and running. Now in its 18th year, the competition encourages both public and private sector organisations to nominate people and projects that represent the best in parking management, design and innovation. The awards encompass both the on-street and off-street sides of the parking sector. The diverse nature of the parking sector means that the competition has categories that cover the design and upkeep of buildings, as well as ground-break

Brockton Capital, owner of the Mailbox shopping, office and lifestyle destination in Birmingham, has agreed a 35-year lease with Q-Park.  Following a competitive tender process, Q-Park was appointed by Mailbox to manage the 687-space car park on a 24/7 basis. Q-Park will take over the Mailbox’s car park operations from this month. It will introduce a new parking management system as well as services such as shoeshine machines, jump starter kits and complimentary umbrella and buggy h

The UK has been experiencing a heatwave this summer, and there is every sign that the hot weather will last into autumn. A heatwave was officially declared on 22 June and the hot weather lasted through June, July and August. On 6 August the Met Office warned that the warmer than average temperatures could last until October. The record-breaking temperatures have boosted tourism but have also made life difficult, as a widespread drought has resulted in hosepipe bans, crop failures and a number of

Solihull Council in the West Midlands has adopted a pair of sister software systems that have helped it simplify the way it deals with challenges to parking and bus lane fines. The use of correspondence and interactive public information platforms developed by Barbour Logic has enabled the council’s in-house parking team to manage an increase in challenges. The council’s contactor, NSL, fields 24 civil enforcement officers, who cover all on-street parking, as well as the 4,500 spaces

Parking Control Management (PCM) specialises in running parking schemes for residential and commercial sites and restricted parking areas. It has adopted an openly tough approach to ensuring compliance with the parking requirements of its clients. This approach, believes PCM, has proved particularly effective in densely populated metropolitan areas, where only authorised users and permit holders have access to limited parking facilities.  The company is currently consolidating its resident

A new meet & greet parking service at Cardiff Airport has been developed in partnership with Excel Parking Services. Meet & Greet customers pre-book online and, on arrival at the airport, follow signs and drive straight into a designated zone.  The service uses number plae reading cameras to recognise pre-booked vehicles.?On arrival at the airport, Excel uses an ANPR International Vehicle Damage Recording System (DRS) to take a series of digital images. These images record the stat

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council has reintroduced pay & display terminals in a car park following a two-year period in which customers were limited to just using the RingGo phone payment service. The council has installed IPS (UK) terminals at the Chappell Drive car park, meaning that drivers now have a choice on how to pay for parking. The new machines accept both coins and contactless cards. Richard Boultbee, executive director at IPS, said: “Providing a choice on how to pay

Gemini Parking Solutions has appointed Mahesh Vadgama as its new financial director. With 30 years’ experience in finance, Vadgama was most recently interim group finance director with Minerva Cosmetics, a globally operating SME. He previously spent 12 years as finance and operations director with PSAV EMEA, an organiser of meetings, events and on-site event support services to the hospitality industry. Ryan Jackson, founder and director of Gemini Parking Solutions, said: “At w

West Sussex County Council is allowing local businesses to issue free street parking vouchers in a bid to encourage more visitors to Chichester city centre. The council has given Chichester Business Improvement District (BID) 1,000 books of its on-street parking vouchers to be distributed from September though to the lead-up to Christmas. Businesses can give the vouchers to regular customers for use when picking up orders or to extend appointments.  Roger Elkins, county council cabinet me

UK clothing brand Superdry has invested in nine electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints for its Cheltenham headquarters after seeing a rise in the number of employees switching to plug-in cars. Currently, seven of the 700 staff based at the company’s Cheltenham headquarters drive plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) or EVs, up from just one driver in 2016.  Following the new chargepoint installations – which include seven 7kW and two 22kW Pod Point Solos – drivers will be able to leave th

Wandsworth Council is rolling out almost 800 new cashless and contactless pay & display across the borough, starting this month. The London council has ordered around 590 new Flowbird StradaPAL cashless and around 200 StradaPAL coin and card machines, which will be installed in line with the council’s terminal estate renewal and refresh programme, which started in 2014.  The initiative includes the replacement of a number of older machines that are at the end of their useful work

It is a sad fact that violence towards civil enforcement officers (CEOs) and front line staff increases just after media frenzies such as the one between an ambulance driver and front line staff. It is important to step back and evaluate the situation calmly. The British Parking Association continues to seek better protection and respect for people delivering parking services and campaigns for a reduction in abuse and malicious behaviour towards civil enforcement officers (CEOs) and other parki

Volvo has redesigned parent & childe parking space icons to celebrate the diversity of modern families. The new signage, being trialled at Westfield London, comprises icons featuring a range of family types. The trial marked the launch of the new Volvo V60 estate car.  Mike Johnstone, marketing strategy director of Volvo Car UK, said: “The introduction of the new V60 gives us the ideal opportunity to celebrate the modern family in all its guises. As the contemporary iteration of

Devon County Council was named overall winner of the PARC (Parking Annual Reports by Councils) Awards at a ceremony held the Houses of Parliament. The awards, launched by Parking and Traffic Regulation Outside London (PATROL) in 2009, promote and share best practice among councils in the production of parking annual reports. The competition recognises local authorities that have “articulated and communicated on parking enforcement in their area in a compelling, well-structured way”

Hammerson has put its £1.4bn plan to extend north London’s Brent Cross shopping centre on hold. Hammerson, which owns Brent Cross with Standard Life, feels the currently turbulent retail market means the expansion plans would be too risky. The project, which would have seen the mall almost double and size and receive a new multi-storey car park, had been due to start on site in the summer and complete in 2022. Hammerson chief executive David Atkins made the announcement when reveal

Online parking reservation platform ParkCloud has extended its presence across the Greek market by adding Thessaloniki Airport and Kavala Airport to its network.  Thessaloniki and Kavala Airport join Heraklion Airport as part of ParkCloud’s official Greek airport partner network.  Mark Pegler, managing director at ParkCloud, said: “Southern Europe has always been a strong market for us, with demand for reserved parking in countries such as Italy and Spain increasing year-

The England football team’s progress to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup won manager Gareth Southgate and his squad inspired an unusually positive mood in the country. The self-effacing Southgate opted for a low-key return home, turning down offers of parades and receptions. However, whether the waist coated one and his protégés should have no problems finding parking space when shopping, as long as they use a Lidl. Despite being a German retailer, Lidl was the Officia

Slough Borough Council has awarded Indigo a new five-year parking enforcement contract. Indigo has worked for the council since 2010. The contractor has made a commitment to employee development, sustainability and technical innovation. The company will upgrade the Berkshire town’s entire pay & display machine portfolio. It has also pledged to use only electric vehicles and bikes and launch an apprenticeship scheme. The company will replace the current fleet of vans with an electric

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has acquired Looking4.com, an online consolidator and price comparison business, for an undisclosed sum. Looking4.com and its team of 35 people will integrate into MAG’s Airport Services division, alongside the group’s dedicated technology division MAG-O, which aims to enhance an end-to-end airport experience for its passengers.  MAG hopes the acquisition will improve its ability to distribute and market its own car parking, airport lounges and

The streets of Glasgow are set become smarter and more attractive spaces. The Avenues programme will see key Glasgow city centre streets redesigned to protect and prioritise space for cyclists and pedestrians, improve connectivity, introduce sustainable green infrastructure through attractive streetscapes and enhancing biodiversity and improve the way public transport is accommodated. The £115m project is being funded through the Glasgow City Region City Deal. Councillor Susan Aitken, le

Driverless vehicles will transform the way in which the kerbside and off-street parking are planned and managed in cities. Long-stay kerbside parking will eventually disappear from city centres, replaced by hop-on-hop-off vehicles, while car parks will be transformed into vehicle re-charging and servicing centres. These are among the predictions made by consultancy Steer Davies Gleave in a new report. There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about how connected autonomous vehicles (CA

Ask anyone what they think about parking enforcement and the response isn’t likely to be a positive one. It’s this negative perception of parking that Gemini Parking Solutions is determined to change. Gemini has always focussed on creating positive customer service while also ensuring drivers’ compliance with parking regulations. We hope to set in motion a new way of thinking that will inspire others to challenge perceptions of the sector.  Industry-wide, there has to be

Every day millions of journeys end in a parking space. We all want to live in a cleaner, safer, less congested world, yet without effective parking management there would be chaos, and access to places and people would be significantly harder. The British Parking Association (BPA) is the recognised and leading authority within the parking sector. We have 50 years’ worth of experience. We work closely with government, stakeholders and members on driving excellence in parking for all. We do

Delivering a consistent and professional service to motorists is a key ambition for Zulfiqar Ali, the new president of the British Parking Association (BPA) on 27 June. Ali, who took up the office at a reception held at the House of Commons on 27 June, is now the voice of a parking organisation that has over 700 corporate members drawn from both the public and private sectors. Ali takes over from Peter Lowe, managing director of consultant RTA Associates. It was confirmed that John McArdle will

PaParking technology provider JustPark completed the roll-out of its cashless payments service across Dorset in June. JustPark’s cashless payments service went live in North Dorset, West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland, and Dorset County on 18 June. The Borough of Poole, Swanage Town Council and Purbeck District Council car parks switched over to JustPark at the end of May.  The seven contracts cover payments at 189 car parks in total, including both on-street and off-street sites.

Keltic Clothing staged a fashion show celebrating the changing look of parking patrol officers at Parkex 2018. The fashion show saw members of the British Parking Association team don a range of uniforms ranging from those worn by police traffic wardens in the 1960s and ‘70s, local  authority parking attendants in the 1980s and ’90s, and more contemporary looks adopted by civil enforcement officers. “The fashion show had a lot of positive feedback,” says David Bar

Southampton City Council has installed 30 new electric vehicle (EV) charging points across five city centre multi-storey car parks. Southampton selected NewMotion’s charging points, which were installed by JoJu over a six-week period. JoJu was able to connect the charging points using the car parks’ existing electrical grids.  The EV charging scheme is part of a broader initiative to tackle air pollution in the city. Last year, Southampton was one of 40 UK cities named in the

Operator CitiPark, which has been a vocal advocate of providing facilities for electric vehicles, is supporting the second UK National Clean Air Day UK on 21 June.  National Clean Air Day (NCAD) sees local schools, hospitals, workplaces and communities across the UK hold events designed to improve public understanding of air pollution and build awareness of how it affects health. As part of its support for NCAD, CitiPark brought the New Nissan LEAF electric car to the main mall at the Mer

Use of the word ‘autonomous’ in carmaker marketing and literature is lulling drivers into a false sense of security, Thatcham Research has warned.  The UK motor insurance sector’s research body is concerned about the growing number of reports of people crashing while over-relying on technology which is not yet designed to drive the car independently. Thatcham Research and the ABI (Association of British Insurers) have asked carmakers and legislators to provide greater cl

There was a flurry of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions in the parking sector in 2017, with interest from infrastructure and private equity investors. Empark was put up for sale. Indigo-Infra Park was put up for sale. We saw the successful acquisition of Q-Park by KKR. We also saw the sale of NCP by Macquarie, which then bought Empark. This spate of M&A activity was unique. In turn, S&P Global Ratings received a huge number of calls from investors and financial advisors kee

The Netherlands is a highly urbanised country where space is always in short demand. Therefore, the country needs to use its space in a smart and inventive way. The country’s municipalities are responsible for their own parking policies. In about 150 of the 390 Dutch municipalities, anyone who wants to park must pay for a parking space. And all municipalities have regulations in place for parking places and permits for people with a disability. The municipalities decided that the key to m

Parking is one of the cornerstones of enabling ‘smart cities’ across the UK. It offers the opportunity to reduce pollution and congestion and enable new mobility solutions such as car sharing, electric vehicle and ride sharing infrastructure. But to achieve that, the UK parking sector has to modernise and enable, rather than hinder as it does today, these much-needed developments. Achieving connected transport systems are a critical part of the plans for UK smart cities and parking i

If Hercules had faced a thirteenth labour, it surely would have been parking in a crowded town centre on a Saturday afternoon. For many, parking conjures up visions of endless searching, pricey car parks and frantic dashes to feed the pay & display machine to avoid a penalty. Those days are coming to an end. A new wave of technology is ripping through the parking industry, changing the status quo and profoundly altering the parking journey and changing consumer behaviours. What does this mea

Rapid urbanisation combined with increasing demand for goods and people to be moved in large numbers and at speed means mobility matters more than ever. Logistics companies, mobility platforms and vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are competing to lead the way, and have invested some $80bn (£60bn) globally in connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs). However, the fast pace of change and wide range of trends driving investment in AV technology means identifying some short term pri

Very powerful forces are pushing the parking sector towards a level of standardisation that would have been unimaginable when I came into the parking business, well over 30 years ago. Back then, the parking operations in each of country were very much self-contained, shaped by very different sets of laws and very different ways of doing things. But today we are starting to see that local differentiation break down across Europe and further afield. The programme for Parking & Property had a

Donald Shoup, the US academic widely regarded as the world’s leading thinker on parking issues, is the editor of a new book looking at the relationship between cars and cities. Parking and the City is a follow-up to Shoup’s 1996 book The High Cost of Free Parking, which showed how city parking policies often prohibit walkability, damage the economy, raise housing costs, and penalise people who cannot afford or choose not to own a car. Using a combination of analysis and creative th

The International Parking Community (IPC) has held the first of its new quarterly forums for local authority parking managers. The forum’s members include county, metropolitan and district authorities, including Birmingham City Council, Milton Keynes, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire County, and Derbyshire Dales, Wycombe District Council and Aberdeenshire. Attendees at the first meeting at the IPC’s head offices in Macclesfield, Cheshire, discussed the ability to capitalise on ANPR techn

Australian parking technology and management company Smart Parking has reported an increase in earnings, including an improved share of the UK market. First half results for the 2018 financial year show its overall growth trend continuing with increased margins as well as the delivery of new systems.  Group revenues stood at A$16.1m (£9m) up 26%. Its earnings before tax, interest and tax (EBITDA) was A$3.8m (£2m), up 115%. Smart Parking chief executive Paul Gillespie said: &ld

Carlisle City Council has seen a 70% reduction in energy consumption at car parks where it has switched to LED (light emitting diode) systems. The council decided to upgrade lighting in its public car parks after seeing the energy savings that were being delivered by converting its street lighting to LED. The council decided to retain existing lighting columns in the car parks to minimise costs. The DW Windsor Kirium Pro luminaire was selected because of its wide choice of optics.  Esther

Plans to improve overnight lorry parking and to ease traffic in the event of cross-Channel disruption in Kent have been announced by the Department for Transport. The new plans for ‘Operation Stack’ are designed allow traffic to travel in both directions between junctions 8 and 9 of the M20 while lorries are being queued for the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel. That means drivers can access these junctions, rather than being diverted onto smaller local roads. The DfT said this will be

The intu Potteries shopping centre in Stoke-on-Trent has retained its Safer Parking Scheme Park Mark award for car parks for 16 years running.  The retail and leisure destination’s multi-storey and surface car parks were assessed for quality management, appropriate lighting, effective surveillance and a clean environment. This year Park Mark status has also been awarded to the surface car park adjacent to its leisure complex, which includes seven restaurants and a 9-screen cinema.&n

Volvo Cars is partnering with Amazon to bring in-car delivery of packages to customers in the United States. The service is made available via a smartphone app that connects with the Volvo On Call service platform. The service is available to Amazon Prime members and the majority of all Volvo owners in the USA. It is has been launched in 37 cities and surrounding areas across the USA with more cities to be rolled out over time.  Atif Rafiq, chief digital officer at Volvo Cars, said: &ldqu

Dacorum Borough Council in Hertfordshire has awarded Indigo a new parking enforcement services contract. Indigo has been providing parking services for Dacorum in towns such as Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead for 14 years. Indigo was previously known as VINCI Park Services. The new contract, which came into effect on 9 April, is for five years with a potential four-year extension.  Indigo is investing in upgraded technology, including new IPS pay & display machines on-street and in ca

The Lexicon in Bracknell is one of the biggest town centre regenerations in the UK. In addition to 70 new shops and restaurants, the project also encompasses improvements to the Berkshire town’s existing High Street buildings and the restoration of local landmark, The Bull public house. The Lexicon, which is being delivered by Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, is a joint venture between Legal & General Capital and Schroder UK Real Estate Fund. The shopping centre is well served by ca

Every day, millions of us go about our daily lives because parking is managed fairly and responsibly to make sure we can all access the shops, leisure facilities, hospitals and supermarkets that might otherwise become congested. We understand that no one likes getting a parking ticket, and we always advise motorists who believe they have received one in error to contact the operator who issued it in the first instance. All of our members managing parking on private land subscribe to Parking on

Somerset is a quintessentially English county with rolling hills and a wealth of historical and cultural heritage as well as vibrant market towns and a number of popular seaside resorts along a 60-mile coastline. For local residents and around 26 million day and staying visitors every year, accessibility and effective parking management around the main retail areas and public venues and facilities in the county’s main towns is of great importance.However, the fact that this predominantly r

The reliability of parking terminals across the Isle of Wight is set to improve after Island Roads decided to replace its ageing meter estate with new solar-powered technology. The machines are being supplied by Parkeon, which is now part of the new Flowbird Urban Intelligence business. Island Roads is responsible for the island’s highways network and associated services. It recently opted to install 40 energy-efficient Parkeon Strada Rapide parking terminals as part of a programme that w

Online parking reservation specialist ParkCloud has agreed a deal to offer customers using Belgium’s Brussels Charleroi Airport with the option of lounge pass bookings alongside existing fast track security and pre-booked parking options.  The airport has two passenger lounges: one located in each of the two terminals. Both lounges offer complimentary drinks, snacks, reading materials and free Wi-Fi, which customers can now book through parkcloud.com.  Passengers who book a lou

Work has begun on the 21,000 square metre retail park in Tower Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk. The scheme will turn a redundant brownfield site into a new gateway for the town. Site access will be remodelled and new car parking created. Demolition of the existing industrial buildings will make way for a retail terrace, coffee drive-thru and a mixed retail and restaurant unit. The development is anchored by Aldi and The Range. The project has been designed by designed by Urban Edge Architectur

New retail units and a parking deck will be created at Hempstead Valley shopping centre near Gillingham in Kent. While the new parking deck will make up for some of the lost spaces there will be a net loss of 50 spaces. Medway Council’s planning committee has approved a 24,500 square metre extension. Five large new units will be built on part of the existing car park. The shopping centre is owned by the British Airways pension scheme and features Argos, Boots, Sainsbury’s M&am

Parking for 725 cars is being provided as part of the expansion of McArthurGlen’s Ashford Designer Outlet in Kent.  When the 30,500 square metre extension opens in Autumn 2019 it will provide space for 50 new retail outlets, a food piazza, events space and children’s play area.  The £90m extension and new parking area has been designed by Chapman Taylor and is being built by McLaren Construction. This is the first extension to the Richard Rogers’ designed tent

A 900-space car park features in proposals to develop a retail, leisure and hotel scheme in Swindon, Wiltshire. Developer SevenCapital has submitted a detailed planning application for the North Star site in the town. The £270m North Star Village scheme includes two indoor ski slopes and family snow play area, a 12-screen cinema with an IMAX screen, 10-pin bowling alley, indoor trampolining centre, food and beverage units, retail units and a 13-bed hotel and gymnasium. The existing Oasis

Buying a car used to involve a trip to a dealer’s forecourt and a lot of paperwork, but online car shopping is now becoming increasingly common, with it now possible to buy both new and used cars without ever meeting or talking to a salesperson.  Carvana is a US online-only used car dealer that allows customers to shop, finance and trade-in cars through its website. Potential customers can virtually tour the interior and exterior of each car in 360 degrees on the company’s inte

Renault MOBILITY and IKEA France have signed a partnership to offer consumers an around the clock car and van rental solution.  Initially, the vehicles for hire will be both electric and conventional internal combustion engine depending on the charging infrastructure available on-site. This will make way for an all-electric fleet by 2020. The Renault MOBILITY self-service car rental service, which is debuting at the IKEA Paris-Villiers store, will gradually be rolled out to all IKEA store

Technology firm Grid Smarter Cities has made 7th place in an annual list that ranks UK companies based on their intellectual property (IP) assets and value. The 2018 IP League Table was developed by Metis Partners, a company that advises companies on how to monetise their IP. Grid develops smart city solutions and systems from its head offices at The Core in Newcastle upon Tyne.  Grid has been granted UK, European and US and other international patents in solutions relevant to parking, f

Britannia Parking has moved to new offices in Dorset to enable it to accommodate a growing team. Britannia has taken the seventh floor of the landmark County Gates House in Poole after outgrowing its premises in Bournemouth town centre. County Gates House marks the historic boundary between Bournemouth and Poole.  The company, part of the Britannia Group, has more than 25 years experience, with 545 sites and 300 staff nationwide. Its move into new headquarters allows the business to creat

The Dolphin Shopping Centre multi-storey car park has been awarded the People’s Parking accreditation by its namesake, Helen Dolphin MBE. The town centre car park, which is owned and operated by the Borough of Poole Council, has recently undergone a major refurbishment. She said: “I’m really delighted that the Dolphin Shopping Centre multi-storey car park achieved my accreditation and I hope it will encourage other car parks in Poole to follow suit.” Cllr Ian Potter, ca

Parking & Property 2018 will look at how social and technological changes will shape the design and operation of car parks The annual Parking & Property event is the one day in the year when property, parking, transport, technology and construction experts get together to explore the interaction between cars, people and places. Parking & Property 2018, which takes place in London on 10 May, will focus on how property developers and parking operators are developing new business mode

Local authorities using systems and services provided by parking and smart cities IT specialist Chipside have relaunched its user group as a forum for discussing and delivering enhanced parking experiences. The Modern Transport and Parking Forum was unveiled at the inaugural Chipside Conference, which was held in London on 16 March. The forum’s membership is the 160 local authorities now using Chipside’s MiPermit, Case Manager and mobile computing systems as well as the Oppidatim sm

Open Parking has appointed Sharon Silcock as its business development manager with responsibility for the company’s interests in the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland. Silcock was previously a sales account manager for NCP and sales director of Parking Scheme, a company specialising in salary sacrifice parking schemes. “I’m relishing the opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of Open Parking’s refreshing approach to parking management for the benefit of organ

A Danish technology company offering a camera-based parking management system has entered the UK market. Simplyture has opened a London office run by country manager Darren Burns, an IT specialist with a background in the retail sector. Simplyture was founded in Copenhagen in 2015 with the aim of reducing the complexity of commercial parking through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). It has developed Simplyture Parking Intelligence, a parking administration system that utilises automatic

Motorists in parts of Worcestershire can now use their phones to pay for parking in council-owned facilities. Wyre Forest District Council is working in partnership with parking technology company JustPark to offer motorists the new service, which launched on 21 March. Visitors to council car parks across the district can download the free JustPark app to pay on their smartphones, or pay by text or phone call at no extra cost. People using the app will get free reminders that their parking se

A majority of the public supports the idea of driverless vehicles using town and city streets, as long as they are safe and protected from computer hacking, a study conducted in London has found. The team behind the GATEway (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) Project presented a summary of findings from its three-year research programme last month. The research was conducted by consultant TRL, the University of Greenwich, ideas-hub Commonplace and the Royal College of Art. The project s

Spanish parking system manufacturer has created a parking guidance information system to manage 2,500 bays in a car park in the Canary Islands. The car park serves the Los Alisios shopping mall in Gran Canaria, the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, an African archipelago that is part of Spain. Covering an areas of 60,000m2 and home 120 shops and restaurants, Los Alisios is the biggest mall in Gran Canaria.

Secure cycle parking areas are being rolled out across the Dutch rail system. The Netherlands has a long-standing culture of commuters using cycling as the initial part of their journey, with 400,000 passengers using their bikes to travel to the station every day, according to NS Stations figures. The rail station operator has appointed Siemens to improve cycle parking at 47 railway stations by installing self-service cycle parking solution. These will provide cyclists with a s

Software enabling the implementation of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will be developed for Transport for London by Siemens, which will build on experience gained from working on the city’s Congestion Charge scheme. Over the next 12 months Siemens will carry out work enabling the software to be deployed for service preparation activities leading up to the ULEZ scheme going live on a 24/7/365 basis from April 2019. Paul Cowperthwaite, TfL’s general manager

Parking is a pain. It just doesn’t work. You get in your vehicle, leave your home and head to where you want to be. The route guidance technology in your car focuses on how long it is going to take to drive there and, if you have a very good system, it will be very accurate. But the sat-nav does not usually account for the parking, which is the pain. So at the end of the journey you need to allow 20 to 30 minutes to make sure you can find a parking space, put some money in a meter and the

An app that enables couriers to make deliveries to car boots is being trialled at various locations around the UK. The app has been developed by CarTap, a vehicle technology company, with support from Innovate UK, a public body that helps realise the potential of new technologies, develop ideas and make them a commercial success. The app is being trialled by a vegetable supplier, builders merchant and at a staff car park. CarTap believes that delivery to vehicles offers a range of benefits to

Youth and experience were both honoured at the British Parking Awards 2018, which were held in London on Friday 9 March. The awards ceremony saw a group of six people recognised as the Young Parking Professionals of the Year. The recipients carry out a wide variety of roles, including traffic consultancy, structural engineering, project management within local government, financial control, customer and client relationships. One of the group, structural engineer Andrea Piniella from Stripe Con

Parking apps, sensors, empty space mapping and bay reservation systems are among the technologies competing for recognition in a European transport innovation awards. A jury of international transportation experts has selected the shortlist of nominees of the biennial Intertraffic Amsterdam Innovation Awards. A field of 60 entries has been narrowed down to the final 15, leaving three nominees in each of the five categories: Infrastructure, Parking, Safety, Smart Mobility and Traffic M

The Woolshops shopping centre in Halifax has updated its car parking system.  The West Yorkshire retail destination has more than 40 stores and cafés, offering visitors a mix of fashion and café culture.  Woolshops is a short walk from Halifax railway station and bus station, and has direct access car parking for more than 300 vehicles across two decks. The car park is now managed using an ABACUS pay-on-foot system from Designa.  Jason Gregg, shopping centre manag

Online parking reservation leader ParkCloud, has added a second Polish airport to its portfolio of airport parking providers.  Poland’s fourth largest airport, Katowice International Airport, has added its P2 car park to ParkCloud’s global booking platform, enabling its near 3 million users to reserve a space prior to departing for their journey.  P2 is an open air long-stay car park, located just 300m from both terminals A and B, with free transfers to and from the

Parking reservation provider ParkCloud entered a new market, announcing Canada as the 42nd country where its services are available to online customers. ParkCloud is now offering online parking reservation services to customers  travelling from Toronto Pearson International Airport.  Passengers using the airport’s self-park facilities at both terminal 1 and 3 can now be able to reserve their space before they travel, with 24-hour access a

A Lancashire business that supplies control systems for automatic doors has bought Hertfordshire access control manufacturer APT Security Systems from SWARCO. The deal will give North Valley Metal (NVM), which is based in Nelson, a presence in the south of England and provide a new market for its products. Founded in 1966, NVM makes electric control systems are used in industrial doors, garage doors and automated gate and entrance systems.  Managing director John Seymour took over in 200

The British Parking Awards 2018 attracted around 100 entries from across the country, from which a short list of finalists has been selected. The entries have been assessed by a panel of experts made up of parking managers, transport and parking consultants, representatives from the major parking associations and bodies representing the motoring and freight sectors. The winners will be revealed at a gala lunch to be held in London on 9 March. To see the list of finalists click here The diverse

Trials of an online shopping service that delivers straight to cars is to be run in Barcelona by Spanish car-maker SEAT in partnership with car park operator Saba. Droppit is an app that allows people to place a shopping order at a virtual supermarket and have it delivered directly to their car while it is parked in a car park. Droppit is available for both iOS and Android. The six-month Barcelona pilot will managed by Saba in car parks on Carrer Pau Casals and Carrer Lluís Companys. The

The London Borough of Lambeth has adopted Barbour Logic’s correspondence technologies to create letters replying to drivers who have contacted the authority about penalty charge notices (PCNs) that they have received.  Response Master uses decision-making software to create letters in Plain English. The system takes account of PCN regulations, the council’s specific policies and a range of questions and explanations raised by motorists.  Lambeth is the latest London borou

The British Parking Awards 2018 have attracted around 100 entries from across the country. The annual awards encourage both public and private sector organisations to nominate people and projects that represent the best in parking management, design and innovation. The diverse nature of the parking sector means that the competition encompasses buildings, technology and people. The British Parking Awards spans both the on-street and off-street sides of the parking sector. This year’s entr

Online payments in Central Bedfordshire Council’s pay & display car parks are now being managed by JustPark. The online parking provider took over the contract from current provider RingGo on 16 January. It is now running mobile payments across Dunstable, Flitwick and Leighton Buzzard.  “Moving the service to the JustPark app will see drivers benefit from a range of new features, including being able to search for a vacant parking space in any of the pay & display car p

The Cascades shopping centre in Portsmouth city centre has upgraded its pay-on-foot system, opting to install the WPS ParkAdvance system. The six-level car park has 615 spaces, 32 of which are disabled access. The car park now has five pay stations, three entry terminals and a total of five barriers. Andrew Philip, Cascades’ centre manager, said parking technology and thinking has advanced considerably in recent years. “Parking is no longer considered a simple provision, but rather

Open Parking has appointed Justin Ben-Nathan as business development manager. Open Parking is the operational arm of Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions. Its portfolio includes to hospitals, universities, retail parks, shopping malls, leisure centres, transport hubs, residential and office developments. Ben-Nathan was formerly national sales executive at APCOA Parking, where he previously held a number of business development and commercial management roles working with clients such as Networ

When Cambridge City Council decided to refurbish three of its high use multi-storey car parks it invested a lot of time in planning ways to minimise disruption to the general public, businesses and the city centre as a whole. The planning and pre-risk analysis work paid off with  the project starting on 15 May 2017. It had originally been anticipated that these works would run into late September, but adopting a due diligence approach, clear communications and effective contract management

The three multi-storey car parks serving the Festival Place shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, are being refurbished to make them more attractive to shoppers.  The refurbishment is being carried out by Makers Construction, which won a design & build contract. The car park renovation forms part of a wider refurbishment programme for the centre. The multi-storey car parks required upgrading following signs of delamination and water ingress. The deterioration was creating slip-ha

Nottingham City Council has unveiled the designs of the new Broadmarsh bus station and car park, which will provide 1,397 parking spaces, almost 250 more than in the previous car park. The city council said the development will significantly improve the approach to the city centre from Nottingham Station. The car park includes charging points on each floor for electric cars, with infrastructure in place to increase these as usage of electric cars increases. Solar panels will be installed on the

Newcastle City Council has awarded parking IT company Imperial a new contract that covers the digitisation of permit services.  Imperial has been working with Newcastle for the past decade. The new contract with Imperial is for an initial period of five years, with the option for two further extensions. Craig Mordue, service manager, parking services, said: “The new contract we have now signed with the company will see the introduction of new smartphone technologies fitted with Rialt

Motorists in Manchester can now use the PayByPhone app to pay for their parking session without the need to create an account. PayPyPhone was first rolled out in Manchester in 2011 and now gains an average of 5,000 first-time users in the city each month. PayByPhone is also currently available in 206 on-street locations and 154 car parks in Manchester. A new single screen registration process and a ‘favourite spot’ option now enable drivers can park and pay in less than 30 seconds

Members of the public took part in automated valet parking demonstrations in Greenwich, south-east London, last month. The trial took place at the Smart Mobility Living Lab: London between 11-15 December. It simulated real-world opportunities for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). The Royal College of Art (RCA), Gobotix, DG Cities and TRL collaborated on the trial, which is claimed to be the first of its kind in the UK. It is the latest stage of the GATEway research programme, led by TRL

Europe’s car parking infrastructure is undergoing significant growth. In the past year, four of the largest operators have been put up for sale, while mergers and acquisitions activities are commanding high prices. These are core observations by credit ratings agency S&P Global Ratings in a new report on the sector’s growth potential. However, the ratings agency’s report concludes that, while the current flurry of deals seems promising, the future looks far less certain fo

The winners of the British Parking Awards 2018 will be revealed at a gala ceremony held in London during March by the comedian Lucy Porter. The competition is free to enter and, as is now traditional, the deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday 8 January. According to Time Out, Lucy Porter “is one of the most talented comics on the circuit”. Having had 11 Edinburgh Fringe shows and international tours, Lucy is a well-established and loved comedian. On TV, she has

We are passionate about parking annual reports at Brighton & Hove City Council. We have been producing them since 2008 and were fortunate enough to win the very first PATROL PARC Award, and have been shortlisted for the past eight years, winning the last two awards. Annual reports are an excellent way to communicate key facts about your parking team’s performance and priorities to stakeholders. Annual reports also let you explain how parking services fit into wider traffic management,

The principal objective of PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulation Outside London) is to provide independent adjudication to its member authorities for parking and traffic appeals in England and Wales excluding the London authorities. This is delivered through the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.   With 310 members, PATROL ranks as one of the largest Joint Committees across England and Wales because of the devolved nature of traffic regulations. PATROL has used its economies of scale to invest in

When I was interviewed in 1992 to be the very first parking adjudicator for the new decriminalised enforcement scheme in London, I said that my first objective was to have the best tribunal in the country, and my second was to have no work.  I think the Traffic Penalty Tribunal is now perhaps the most advanced tribunal in the country, something the Courts & Tribunals Service agree with, especially regarding our technology. But we are still busy. When I said I hoped there would be no wor

The economics of parking are very complex because we are at the interface between what is a public service and what is a commercial product. Much of parking is based in the public sector either because it is on the public highway or it is under local authority control. In the public sector there are politics involved, usually with a small ‘p’, but sometimes a capital ‘P’, which does complicate the issue. On the other side, a lot of aspects of how we manage parking are en

Almost 17,500 appeals against parking charges issued on private land were heard by the Independent Appeals Service (IAS) last year. The service provides motorists with independent redress in matters concerning the issue of a private parking charge by members of the International Parking Community’s Approved Operator Scheme. The appeals are adjudicated on by a panel of independent, practicing solicitors and barristers. The lead adjudicator is Bryn Holloway, a barrister, who has just publish

Parking operators are increasingly engaging with motorists in the digital domain, and this is something that their representative bodies will also have to do. This was a key message delivered by the International Parking Community (IPC) at its 2017 annual conference.  IPC chief executive Will Hurley urged delegates to embrace new technologies and new opportunities with confidence. “Recognising responsibilities and securing the insight required to take change in one’s stride are

Phone parking services at Cornwall Council car parks will be provided by JustPark. The council said that the switch to the new provider would save around £140,000, with the savings being reinvested into maintaining the county’s roads and car parks. JustPark took over the running of the service in 131 Cornwall Council pay & display car parks from Monday 4 December.  Current BemroseMobile Phone and Pay users will have until the end of December to register their details with

Chargemaster is to install 150 new electric vehicle charging points across Lancashire following a successful bid by Lancashire County Council to the Department for Transport’s Highway Maintenance Challenge Fund. Chargemaster will provide 18 of its Ultracharge rapid chargers and 66 dual-socket fast chargers, for use with a standard Type 2 public charging cable. The first charging points will be installed in early 2018 and will be operated on POLAR, which Chargemaster says is now the UK&rs

Chargemaster has been awarded a £2m contract by Nottingham City Council to install about 230 electric vehicle charging points across Nottinghamshire and in Derby over the next three years. As part of its Go Ultra Low City status, Nottingham City Council, together with Derby and Nottinghamshire councils, was awarded £6.1m in 2016 from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to help support the uptake of electric vehicles, reducing pollution and improving air quality.  The t

English councils generated a surplus of £819m from their parking operations in the last financial year, according to a study undertaken for the RAC Foundation. The figure for 2016-17 is 10% higher than the £744m made in the previous financial year. It is 40% higher than the £587m made in 2012-13. The RAC Foundation said the £819m total is £37m above what councils themselves had forecast for 2016-17. The findings come from an annual analysis for the RAC Foundation b

The DVLA sold 1,429,703 vehicle keeper records to the private parking firms in the second quarter of 2017-18, the RAC Foundation has revealed. The motoring organisation calculates that this is 1,177% (or almost 13 times) higher than the 111,944 records sold a decade earlier in the second quarter of 2007-8. The information is used by parking companies to pursue vehicle owners for parking charge notices (PCNs) of up to £100 issued to drivers who have infringed parking regulations on privat

Parking system manufacturers Parkeon and Cale have entered into exclusive negotiations that could bring about their merger. Parkeon is based in France, while Cale is a Swedish company. Both companies produce parking payment terminals and management software. The enlarged group would have around 1,300 employees largely based in France, UK, Sweden and North America. It is planned that the Cale and Parkeon brands would both continue

Online parking reservation provider ParkCloud has signed partnership with Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands. ParkCloud will offer pre-bookable onsite parking at Eindhoven Airport’s five car park sites, which are located at various locations around the terminal  Eindhoven is the second largest airport in The Netherlands, handling flights to 75 mainly European destinations through a variety of airlines.  Jaap Verheijen, account manager for parking and mobility servi

A government plan to build a lorry park in Kent to ease traffic congestion caused by Operation Stack has been dropped. The Department for Transport has withdrawn its application to build a £250m lorry park near the M20 at Stanford, near Hythe. The lorry park was due to built at Junction 11 near Folkestone to alleviate disruption caused by Operation Stack and lorry drivers parking near public roads. The plan to create parking for 3,600 lorries had generated opposition from Stanford Paris

The winners of the British Parking Awards 2018 will be revealed on Friday 8 March by the comedian Lucy Porter. Parking Review launched the British Parking Awards in 2002. Now in their 17th year, the annual competition encourages both public and private sector organisations to nominate people and projects that represent the best in parking management, design and innovation. The competition is 

Apprenticeships for the parking industry are being developed by a group of organisations in the sector who are liaising with the Institute of Apprentices. The Parking Apprenticeships are being created within the context of a new government approach that sees large organisations having to pay 0.05% of their annual salary costs into an Apprenticeship Levy since 1 April 2017.  Organisations that will be contributing to the Apprenticeship Levy include private companies, such as private car par

When Jim Hill and John Cannon founded Hill Cannon & Partners in 1967 little did they expect that, over the next 50 years, their business would grow to be recognised as an international leader in the design and development of contemporary car parks. Transforming what were historically seen as functional buildings, from an architectural perspective, to award winning, architecturally significant buildings that shape our urban landscape today. Pioneering car park designers Jim Hill and John Ca

Over 500,000 people attended the Regent Street Motor Show, a free showcase of green and low emission vehicles that takes place in London’s West End on the eve of the London-to-Brighton vintage vehicle run. Battery-powered vehicles spanning more than 110 years were put on show on Regents Street on 4 November. Examples of the newest electric and hybrid vehicles from manufacturers like BMW, Renault, Kia, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai will be on display on Regent Street, which was closed to

A failing waterproof system on a car park resulted in water working its way into the supermarket below. The car park at the Morrison’s store in Herne Bay, Kent, is located on the roof of the retail store itself. The car park is split over two levels providing approximately 80 spaces.  The existing asphalt waterproof wearing surface of the car park had become damaged and split over the years, allowing significant water ingress into the store.  Wm Morrison Supermarkets appointed

Donald Shoup, the renowned parking guru, has been recognised by one the USA’s leading planning academies. The California-based academic has been named Distinguished Educator by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. The award is conferred every two years to honour significant contributions to the field of planning. It recognises scholarly contributions, teaching excellence, public service and contributions that have made a significant difference to planning scholarship, educati

Holiday Extras has acquired Purple Parking’s brand and website after the airport parking specialist went into administration. Purple Parking, which operates off-airport car parks around the UK, called in administrators after being amassing debts in the region of £2m. The deal was completed via a pre-packaged administration sale following Purple Parking’s inability to secure a buyer for the whole business. Duff and Phelps are now the appointed administrators. Established in 1

Over half of UK shoppers say they would never return to a retail site if they had previously had a poor parking experience there, according to car parks operator NCP. When asked why they might postpone or cancel a visit, NCP found that 55% of these “lost customers” were concerned that they would not be able to find a space in which to park.  A further 39% said a concern that either their car or they would be unsafe in the car park would prevent them from visiting, while 42% wo

An NHS trust has teamed up with a procurement company to offer the public sector a comprehensive package of car park development services. Procurement firm Pagabo has developed the four-year framework for the design, build, finance and operation (DBFO) of car park projects. Simon Toplass, chief executive officer of Pagabo, said: “The Total Car Park Solutions Framework offers flexible solutions across the board. As far as we know there is no other framework available for a solution like ou

Car park operator NCP has announced an aggressive three-year expansion plan with the aim of increasing its estate by over 100 new sites. The company is actively seeking to grow its property portfolio from the current number of 500 sites by taking on new leases, as well as operations and management contracts for existing and new car parks across a number of key areas. In addition, NCP said it may expand through the purchase of new and existing car parks and land for the construction of new, who

The Hammerson-owned Central Retail Park in Falkirk has received Park Mark, the Safer Parking Scheme award.  Central Retail Park is the first site run by property management company Workman Retail in Scotland to receive a Park Mark. Harry Devine of Workman Retail said: “As part of our policy for excellent car park management, we are very proud to receive the Park Mark Award for this car park within our retail portfolio. As a service provider that works in partnership with our clients

Residents in Bristol converted street parking bays into public spaces that enabled them to socialise with neighbours. The Street Pockets project was run by sustainable transport charity Sustrans. The project seeks to encourage residents to take the lead in creating better community spaces in what are often congested residential streets where space is at a premium. The street pockets are also designed to encourage passing traffic that the roads are a place where people live and to slow down. S

Norwich City Council is increasing the cost of parking in the city centre, and ending free parking in the evenings and weekends. Charges for parking at other times in both on-street and off-street car parks will also go up. Current car park income for 2017-18 is projected to be £5.65m. Based on the current level of demand for parking, recommended increases would generate additional income of £45,000 for the current financial year and £95,000 extra over a full financial year.

Wrexham County Borough Council has become the first local authority to adopt parking technology company JustPark’s new mobile cashless payments service. JustPark has historically specialised in providing an online booking and payment service for off-street parking, meaning the company has worked with local authorities on pre-booked parking services, but this is its first full mobile payments partnership. JustPark founder and CEO Anthony Eskinazi announced his company’s intention to

Electric vehicle charging points will be installed on petrol station forecourts in London next year. Ecotricity will install 30 charging points at various Motor Fuel Group (MFG) Shell, BP and Texaco branded service stations in the first half of 2018. Jeremy Clarke, MFG’s chief operating officer, said: “We are delighted to be extending our fuel offer to customers.  The growth of the electric and hybrid vehicle market is an important part of the fuel mix going forward. MFG is det

Civil enforcement officers patrolling the streets of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea are now riding electric bikes as an alternative to petrol-powered mopeds. An electric bike, or e-bike, is a bicycle with an integrated electric motor that can be used for propulsion. E-bikes retain the ability to be pedalled by the rider and are therefore not electric motorcycles. NSL, the council’s parking service provider, says switching to e-bikes makes both economic and environmental se

Q: How will self-driving cars change the way in which towns and cities manage parking? Q: How can local authorities create electric vehicle charging facilities that are both environmentally and financially sustainable? Q: Will local authority parking teams be key players in tackling poor air quality caused by vehicle pollution in town and city centres? Q: What are the data protection rules that apply when rolling out cashless payment, virtual permits and other digital parking services? Q: Ho

The need to recognise how quickly technology is evolving, and the way this is changing driver behaviour, emerged as a key theme at 18th European Parking Association (EPA) Congress. The benefits of harmonising standards and protocols across borders was also a recurring motif of the biennial event, which took place in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam from 20-22 September.  The three-day event saw a number of initiatives developed and showcased in the main conference and at a number of break-

Parking app developer AppyParking has launched an Innovation Competition Fund to enable one UK local authority to become a global showcase for frictionless parking payments and intelligent mobility.  The innovation fund winner will receive up to 12,000 surface mounted parking sensors equipped with Bluetooth payment technology. All hardware, installation and project costs will be covered, says Dan Hubert, founder and chief executive of AppyParking. “This solution will allow visitors,

Transport consultant Andrew Potter has launched a new consultancy called Parking Perspectives. It provides enquiring and strategic advice to clients on issues of parking strategy, policy and pricing.  Speaking about the company, Potter said: “Some clients are not specifically seeking a parking solution, but recognise that parking may be a key consideration or constraint to achieving their wider ambitions.  “As the High Street competes with out-of-town retailing and the int

Several UK cities are looking to initiate smart projects and developments to improve the efficiency of local services, enhance sustainability and develop their competitiveness. Smart city initiatives improve the ‘livability’ of a city, helping to attract business and talent to support economic and business growth. A number of cities are now approaching smart transformation through a series of smaller smart projects that help to generate savings and effectively pay for the initial inv

The concept of a loading bay that only operates for the time it is required is set to become a reality. The virtual loading bay concept was developed by Grid Smarter Cities, a British company that is applying innovative web-based solutions to manage poor air quality hotspots across cities, incentivise the use of cleaner delivery vehicles and improve traffic flow in cities. Grid has created the Kerb Virtual Parking Bay Solution (Kerb), a virtual loading bay technology designed by Grid to allow d

Q-Park is offering customers the chance to give their car a full vehicle service while they visit Glasgow city centre. The scheme is being run in partnership with E for Express, which will operate a fully-staffed reception at Q-Park’s Glasgow city centre facility on Waterloo Street. Services need to be booked in advance. Customers arrive and park in the usual way, dropping their ticket and keys in the reception area, which is located on Waterloo Street by the vehicle entrance. An experi

The International Parking Community (IPC) has formalised its partnership with the People’s Parking accreditation scheme for car parks. The accreditation scheme is now being adopted as an IPC standard, and the scheme’s founder, Helen Dolphin will be representing the evolving interests of consumers for the IPC’s steering committee. The scheme highlights car parks that provide spaces for visitors with a disability and parents with children. It also promotes charging points for e

The City of London is planning to create taxi ranks reserved for electric vehicles. The Corporation is keen to encourage the use of electric taxis as cabs are regarded as being the primary source of NO2 pollution from road-based transport in the City. The Corporation of the City of London has offered electric vehicle (EV) charging points in its five car parks for 15 years, but the taxi rank points will be the first EV charging points to be provided on-street in the Square Mile. The ranks, to b

The active enforcement of supermarket parking bays designated for people with disabilities reduces their misuse, reveals a survey conducted by the charity Disabled Motoring UK (DMUK). Overall levels of disabled parking abuse came in at 18.5% across the supermarkets surveyed. Where enforcement was used this figure fell to 15.6% and where no enforcement was evident the overall level of observed abuse rose to 21.5%. The supermarket with the lowest levels of disabled parking abuse was Sainsbury&rs

Parking Review magazine has launched the 2018 edition of the British Parking Awards. Now in their 17th year, the competition encourages both public and private sector organisations to nominate people and projects that represent the best in parking management, design and innovation. The awards encompass both the on-street and off-street sides of the parking sector. The diverse nature of the parking sector means that the competition has categories that cover buildings, technology and people. Bri

The public support fining motorists who abuse parent & child parking bays at supermarkets, a survey suggests. There was also support for use of temporary bans where motorists use parent-and-child parking spaces when they do not have a child in the car. Some 500 people took part in the survey, conducted by online parking marketplace YourParkingSpace. While a third of respondents backed fines of up to £25, a quarter wanted to see fines of more than £25. One-in-ten actually wanted

The Mount Retail Park in Kingston-Upon-Hull has been awarded a Park Mark under the Safer Parking Scheme award for a seventh year running.  The retail park, which is run by AEJ Management, has 560 public parking spaces and 26 disabled spaces. Marc Dias, crime reduction officer at Humberside Police said: “The Mount is really impressive, in that the operator has put in place measures that help to deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour, thereby doing everything they can to pre

Three Cambridge City Council multi-storey car parks reopened at the start of August following the completion of the main elements of a programme of essential improvements. The improvement works at the Grand Arcade, Grafton East and Queen Anne Terrace car parks are part of a £1.2m investment programme. The work was finished ahead of schedule as the expected completion date was in late September. The main contractor on the project was Makers Construction.  The bulk of the works took

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, in Surrey, says that it is both making savings and increasing parking revenue by encouraging use of a cashless phone service instead of pay & display terminals. Last year the council started upgrading or replacing pay stations it its public car parks so they can accept the new 12-sided £1 coin. However, while each car park still has payment machines, the council decided to reduce the overal population of units. It decided not to replace 16 pay

A new car park has been built in the heart of The Hague, capital of the Netherlands. The Museumkwartier car park has been built between the Dutch Parliament and the US Embassy.  The car park was created by Develop Combination PTV, a collaboration between SENS Real Estate and Dura Vermeer Infra. It was built by Dura Vermeer Concrete and Hydraulic Engineering. It is managed by Interparking. Rolf Oostendorp, chief executive of Interparking Netherlands, said the Museumkwartier car park is the

Gatwick Airport, OVO Energy, Oxford City Council, Santander UK and Swansea University are among the latest organisations to become ‘Go Ultra Low Companies’, signing-up to a clean, green motoring future by embracing electric vehicles (EVs). More than 100 other organisations across the country that have already signed up to the UK government-backed initiative, such as Britvic, London Fire Brigade and Microsoft UK. Each has pledged that EVs will make up at least 5% of their vehicle f

Royal Mail is piloting a fleet of electric vans in London. The vehicles, supplied by Oxfordshire-based Arrival, come in sizes of three-and-a-half, six and seven-and-a-half tonnes. They will be based at Royal Mail’s main Mount Pleasant depot in London. Paul Gatti, Royal Mail Fleet’s managing director, said: “We will be putting them through their paces over the next several months to see how they cope with the mail collection demands from our larger sites.” The vehicles f

Millennials living in London are enthusiastic users of the shared economy, according to a survey commissioned by car-share provider DriveNow UK. Some 73% of respondents said they use services and apps such as DriveNow, Airbnb and Uber.

Parking on private land was put in the spotlight by ITV’s Tonight current affairs strand on 10 August. The programme, called The True Cost of Parking, looked at how, with a record 30m cars on Britain’s roads, the services of the private parking industry have spread to shopping centres, supermarkets, railway stations and NHS hospitals. Reporter Fiona Foster’s programme suggested that the millions of parking tickets now being handed out to motorists each year by private parking

Car parks can play an important role in supporting local businesses, and by expanding the kinds of people using them they become both safer places and commercially viable. This is the thinking behind parking operator Indigo’s policy of investing in the ambience of the structures it operates and engaging with local businesses and communities. Indigo UK is an operator of car parks in towns and other retail destinations across the UK. “Parking is often a shopper’s first and last

The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has been using specialist correspondence software to provide drivers contesting parking fines with prompt and clear responses. A team of 85 civil enforcement officers patrols the city and neighbouring towns and local areas. The authority issues over 100,000 penalty charge notices (PCNs) a year for parking, environmental and bus lane contraventions. Where drivers contest a PCN their challenges and representations are handled by an 11-strong back

Shopping centre parking incomes across the UK have remained static, but the cost of providing shoppers’ parking at retail destinations is increasing, and are likely to keep rising due to changes in business rates. These are the key findings in a survey conducted by professional and real estate services company JLL. Besides analysis costs and income, the annual JLL survey of shopping centre car parks also looks at how these destinations are engaging with owners of electric vehicles. The s

A Private Members’ Bill calling for a single code of practice for the private parking sector is to be debated in the House of Commons. The Parking (Code of Practice) Bill, which had its first reading on 19 July, will make provision for a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking. The Bill is sponsored by Sir Greg Knight, Conservative MP for East Yorkshire and is supported by MPs Kevin Brennan, Pete Wishart, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Daniel Zeichner

Stuart Gardner has joined parking system supplier IPS (UK) as regional manager for the South East. Gardner has worked in the parking sector for over 30 years, having served 26 years with ZEAG and more recently four years with Metric Group specialising in the design and implementation of parking systems. IPS (UK) is the British arm of the North American IPS Group. On joining IPS Gardner said: “I am delighted to start with IPS. The technology is game-changing for our sector and I cannot wa

A pair of retail parks in Telford have been presented with the Park Mark award for safety and recognised for being accessible to disabled users with the Disabled Parking Accreditation (DPA). The Telford Forge Retail Park and Wrekin Retail Park are managed by facilities management company AEJ. “The parks attract customers from neighbouring towns with glowing reviews.  It is important for us to continue to maintain these high standards for our customers,” said Jayden Walton, AEJ

The British Parking Association and what it stands for means a lot to me. It is an association that brings together all aspects of our industry, strives to achieve consistent, fair and high standards of service and provides a wealth of knowledge sharing, helping to bring industry providers together.  My role as president is to reach out to our members and stakeholders. Our sector and profession continue to change and evolve and I am delighted by how our association is responding by listeni

Australian investment bank Macquarie is selling UK parking operator National Car Parks (NCP) to a Japanese consortium. Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II (MEIF2) is to sell its 100% interest in NCP to a consortium comprising Park24, a listed Japanese strategic buyer and Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), a government-owned financial institution.  The value of the deal has not been disclosed. MEIF2, which acquired NCP in 2007, said it is divesting itself of the parking company because

Drivers across Britain spend almost two days a year searching for a space, claims a new international parking study by connected car systems company INRIX. It is perhaps that 71% of drivers in the UK think there is not enough parking, according to a new report by INRIX, a supplier of connected car services and transportation analytics. The analysis of parking in the USA, UK and Germany combines data from the INRIX parking database of 100,000 locations across 8,700 cities, with data from surveys

Brighton & Hove City Council was named as the winner of the Best Report at the PATROL Parking Annual Reports by Councils (PARC) Awards, which were presented at the Houses of Parliament last month. The Best Concise Report Award was presented to South Lakeland Borough Council, while Chichester, Devon and Durham were recognised for best practice. The PARC Awards were created by PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London), which represents 309 local authorities in England and Wales

Technological and sociological trends will transform the design and operation of parking services. The car park of the future will be a place where, besides parking, you re-charge your electric car and/or pick up online purchases. Within the next few years, car parks will become places where semi-autonomous cars drop-off their driver and passengers, park themselves and then pick them up again after their shopping trip or leisure experience. The fact that the car of the future will most probably

Essex has emerged as a model of partnership working when it comes to parking management and enforcement. The boroughs and districts have entered into two formal alliances – the North Essex Parking Partnership and South Essex Parking Partnership – in order to pool their knowledge, management and buying power. The partnerships are also committed to the use of in-house frontline staff, coordinating on-street and off-street parking and working across boundaries. However, there was a peri

Whether it’s on-street parking enforcement, congestion in off-street parking facilities, confusion about how to pay, or even just the frustration of trying to find a parking space, this all adds up in the mind of the consumer to a negative experience. Parking is important because parking is an issue that plays on the minds of people when deciding where to visit. A negative experience or perception can lead to more online shopping, more out-of-town retail park visits, and ultimately fewer t

Location has historically been the driving factor when it comes to planning and running car parks, but in the future data and communication will become increasingly important. Over time towns and cities have adopted a fairly similar approach to managing what had been a growing demand for limited parking supply by initially placing time restrictions on spaces and then introducing charges. There are two types of trends that might have an influence on the parking sector: societal and demographical

Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey has introduced electric vehicle (EV) charging points at two of its car parks in Staines-upon-Thames.  The charging points have been supplied by EV network operator POD Point.  Six individual 7kW charging bays have been installed at the Elmsleigh multi-storey car park along with a dual 3.6kW charger, which can charge two cars simultaneously, at the Tothill multi-storey.  Customers need to pay the appropriate parking fee, but the charging sess

Facilities management company Apleona has launched WelPARK Solutions, a standalone business for the retail parking sector. Apleona has been offering parking management as part of its wider facilities management work for several years, running 140 car parks at retail and business sites across the UK and Ireland. The decision to create WelPARK Solutions is a bid to forge a distinct business unit, says its director Andrew Bailey. “There was a tendency to view us as an add-on service, so we

The Merry Hill multi-storey car park provides a total of 1,000 parking spaces for visitors to the West Midlands shopping centre. The car park was refurbished by specialist contractor USL StructureCare, with particular attention being paid to on of the internal levels, which had been closed for several years due to continual and excessive water leakage through the roof. Because the amount of natural sunlight reaching inside car parks is restricted, it was important to USL Struct

Outdoor cinema events have grown in popularity over the past few years, with summer screenings taking place in spaces such as urban parks, city centres and on car park roofs. The latest trend in outdoor cinemagoing seems to be a revival of the drive-in movie.  This year’s Glastonbury Festival featured a drive-in called Cineramageddon. The Cineramageddon auditorium, designed by artist Joe Rush, the drive-in allows festivalgoers to watch films while sitting in 50 ‘mutated’

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is now using a camera system to detect drivers trying to avoid paying for parking by tailgating when leaving its barrier-controlled car parks. Besides representing a loss of revenue, tailgating causes safety issues as drivers seeking to cheat the car park have to race to beat the barrier to avoid payment.  Problems with tailgating in its car parks meant that the airport needed a means of identifying and dealing with car park cheats. It turned to ANPR Internat

A parking guidance system has been installed at a shopping centre at Newtonabbey in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  The new parking signage is part of a redevelopment of the Abbey Centre, which attracts 115,000 visitors every week. The centre has 1,265 free car parking spaces. The centre management decided to introduce dynamic parking guidance as a way to help customers more easily locate available bays. Seven variable message signs (VMS) and seven car parking count sensors were installed by

US company EMX Industries has launched a new loopless vehicle detector that is designed to be less intrusive than an inductive loop and also require less maintenance. The CarSense The CS303-L Logic Interface is designed to enable the user to configure it in a similar fashion as a single or two-channel inductive vehicle detector. The CS303-L Logic Interface expands the application of the CS303 single cut vehicle detector into one-channel, two-channel and directional detection installations. Wh

Nortech’s vehicle detectors can now be set up using a smartphone app. The company’s latest range of vehicle detectors feature a compact diagnostic unit that links to an app to enable setup and loop fault analysis. This means installation engineers no longer need to get on their hands and knees to see a tiny display while reaching for switches and buttons on the detector. The 7-series detectors also have features designed to reduce the need for manual intervention, including automa

Real estate services company JLL has launched a new team that will focus on providing advice on car parks, car dealerships, petrol filling stations and motorway service areas to investors, property owners, operators and funders.  The new JLL Automotive team sits within the company’s wider Alternatives team and will work alongside JLL’s Upstream Sustainability services team. The team is made up of people who have a mix of agency, consultancy, construction, data, research and ope

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says new proposals announced by the Mayor of London for road charging based on elements such as distance travelled and vehicle emissions could be a positive step for freight operators, provided they don’t simply add cost. The organisation, which represents half the UK’s road fleet, says it is interested in distance-based charging as an alternative to broad schemes such as congestion charging and low emission zones. However, the FTA says the pr

An offer of €2.95bn (£2.57bn) made by a US investment company for Q-Park has been accepted by all the Dutch parking company’s shareholders. KKR Infrastructure has announced that 100% of the shareholders accepted its offer for all shares in the parking company, which operates car parks across ten North-West European countries: the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The €2.95bn offer price represents a multipl

Sustrans Northern Ireland has launched a loyalty scheme designed to encourage more people to cycle to local shops and cafés in East Belfast. The ‘Pedal Perks’ initiative is part of the £3.8m (€4.4m) European

Q-Park’s board has recommended the Dutch parking operator’s shareholders accept a €2.95bn offer from US private equity investor KKR. The offer came as the result of a structured sale process that was initiated last year by Q-Park’s existing shareholders. Q-Park’s shareholders consist mainly of institutional investors, including pension funds and insurance companies. Q-Park’s shareholder committee of Q-Park has entered into an

Nedap won the Intertraffic Parking Solutions Award 2017 for its smart parking solution in the Turkish city of Izmir. Nedap’s SENSIT smart parking sensors monitor the vehicle occupancy of 2,000 individual parking spaces in the streets of Izmir. The system has resulted in improved parking guidance and efficient monitoring of all paid, time restricted and disabled parking zones. Based on real-time information, motorists are guided to available spaces easily. In addition al

The Addenbrooke’s Hospital car park in Cambridge has become the 50th NCP site to be awarded the People’s Parking accreditation.  The Addenbrooke’s Hospital car park received the accreditation because it provides 64 spaces for disabled people and larger bays for parents with young children. It also offers concessionary parking for visitors, outpatients and hospital staff. “NCP is committed to continuously improving our customers’ experience of our sites,&rdquo

The recently upgraded car park at the Lower Precinct shopping centre in Coventry has retained its Park Mark status. Last autumn a Triflex system was installed to waterproof the rooftop as well as the relining of existing pathways to increase visibility and safety. The renovation contributed to the centre securing a Park Mark under the Safer Parking Award for the second year running. The Park Mark was renewed following a risk assessment conducted by the police and the British Parking Association

The next president of the British Parking Association (BPA) will be Peter Lowe of consultant RTA Associates. He will take over the office from Steve Brown at the BPA’s AGM in July. Lowe has been a member of the BPA for many years and is the chair of the BPA Wales Parking and Transport Group, a position he has held since 2010. As an independent parking consultant, he has worked with and advised more than 175 local authorities, equipment suppliers, software companies, enforcement agents, co

Barbour Logic, a developer of parking correspondence software, has appointed Faisal Basharat as customer service manager.  Basharat’s background is in the field of web-based communications and media technologies. He has held a variety of customer service roles with organisations such as Orange, The Independent, Chitter Chatter, Bookatable and CommuniGator.  Fiona Deans, managing director of Barbour Logic, said: “Faisal’s experience in highly competitive technology-l

British Parking Award winner Jade Neville has joined Legion Parking as client account manager. Legion Parking is part of facilities management specialist OCS Group. Neville previously worked for APCOA Parking, where she started as a civil enforcement officer supervisor in 2007 before being promoted to the role of operations manager in 2014. She received the Front Line trophy at the British Parking Awards 2014 in recognition of her work as a ‘hate crime ambassador’, a role that saw

Traffic enforcement and management solutions company Videalert has appointed Jamie Robertson to the new role of operations and projects manager. Robertson will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations, including partner engagement and project management of Videalert installations across the UK.  Robertson has over 15 years’ project management experience. He joins Videalert from Civica Education where, as head of operations, he was responsible for managing support and ser

Croydon Parking Services has adopted a new look for its civil enforcement officers (CEOs), who now patrol the south London borough in two-tone uniforms that feature the council’s corporate purple colour as a key element of their design. The CEOs’ uniforms are not just a fresh colour, they represent a transition to a workwear created by Keltic Clothing made from materials that are more comfortable to wear. The council currently employs a total of 30 CEOs: 10 mobile officers on motorb

The Port of Antwerp, the biggest port of Belgium, is dominated by the Havenhuis, a building in the shape of a ship that is both the workplace for 500 employees as the central meeting point for the Antwerp port community. The Havenhuis has a large underground parking facility, which is used by both employees and visitors.  The port authorities wanted to inform drivers about the number of available parking spaces in real-time and then guide drivers have to be guided to the spaces that are a

Parking payment systems have been upgraded at three hospitals within the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The new pay-on-foot systems have been installed at North Tyneside General Hospital (NTGH) in North Shields, Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) in Cramlington and at the Wansbech General Hospital. The hospitals have been equipped with Designa’s ABACUS parking system comprising ANPR cameras linked to entrance and exit barriers and payment terminals. All t

Q-Park has upgraded pay-on-foot systems at five car parks it operates in Sheffield city centre. The operator has opted to use the the ParkAdvance system produced by WPS. The new systems replace existing WPS BC200 systems at the Charles Street, Castlegate, Sheffield Station, Riverside and Rockingham car parks. ParkAdvance features a new IP-based operating system that enables the parking system to connect with different technologies being deployed in car parks. Q-Park has also selected WPS to s

Three Cambridge City Council car parks are undergoing improvements throughout the summer as part of a £1.2m investment programme.  The car parks being upgraded are The Grand Arcade, Queen Anne Terrace and Grafton East. The Grand Arcade car park, which has not had any major refurbishment works since it opened in 2007, will have a number of improvements. These include the laying of completely new protective deck coatings throughout the upper car park to keep rainwater out and to prote

A well maintained and managed car park is essential to ensure that all users, both vehicles and pedestrians stay safe. A car park is often the first impression a customer will have of your business, so also needs to look good. Regular maintenance is necessary to keep a car park looking good and safe for all users, and the summer months are an ideal time to carry out any routine work. How much depends on the volume of traffic using the car park. Firstly, when you try to assign an order to all t

A director of a leading property company has expressed concerns about the use of ANPR enforcement in retail car parks. Allan Lockhart, property director at New River Retail, told Radio 4’s You and Yours consumer affairs programme that his company tends to “shy away” from using an enforcement-based approach to managing parking at its 45 shopping centres. Lockhart said that limited stay regimes enforced by cameras are not customer friendly. “From our perspective, running

The cost of parking at hospitals hit the headlines during the General Election when Labour announced it would scrap parking fees at NHS sites in England. Whether or not to charge fees is a decision for individual NHS trusts in England. In contrast, hospital parking fees were abolished in Scotland and Wales in 2008, although a number of hospitals still charge where they have contracts with private parking companies. Parking may be charged for in Northern Ireland. Speaking in Worcester on 7 May t

Parking and property professionals have long lived by the mantra ‘location, location, location’. But while location remains important, the era of data analytics and connected cars means information and communication will soon be the most important factors for developers, retailers and parking operators. Parking and places in the era of connected cars will be central themes at Parking & Property 2017. The line-up of speakers includes experts in retail trends, property development

Parking management software provider ZatPark has announced its move into the on-street enforcement sector. Until now the company specialised in providing enforcement, permit and payment technology to the off-street sector, but has now developed an app-based approach for civil parking enforcement (CPE). ZatPark has brought in Michael Cosentino, whose background is in providing enforcement systems to the local authority, to lead its move into the CPE sector (see panel). “The back office ap

There has been dramatic growth in the number of UK residents applying for kerbs to be lowered in order to allow vehicles to access their property.  The research by Direct Line Insurance Group shows that nearly 30,000 dropped kerb applications were approved in 2015. The insurance company said that this has generated almost £3m for councils from application fees in 2015, up almost 68% compared with 2013. In total some 434 councils across the UK were contacted by Direct Line as part of

Park Consult and The People & Places Partnership have come together to form People, Place & Parking Process. The People & Places Partnership are specialists in the field of town centre regeneration while Park Consult has experience in commercial car parking management. The new consultancy will aim to assist councils, business improvement district managers, car parking managers and economic regeneration officers in unlocking the potential of car parking facilities to better contribu

The travails of President Trump, the nuclear ambitions of North Korea, carnage in Syria and the politics of Brexit have all been dominating the headlines for months, so it was a surprise to see one of the world’s most influential business publications, The Economist, devoted a leader article (‘Aparkalypse now’) and a feature piece (‘Sacred spaces’) to parking’s impact on the health and vitality of cities. “Parking can seem like the most humdrum concern

Local authorities in Scotland made a £40.3m surplus from their parking activities in 2015-16, according to analysis conducted for the RAC Foundation. This is 12% higher than in the 2014-15 financial year when £36.1m was reported. Data analysed for the RAC Foundation shows that Scotland’s 32 councils had a combined income from their parking activities – charges and penalty income from on-street and off-street parking – of £79.3m. However, the combined cost

The Bon Accord & St Nicholas Shopping Centre dominates retailing in Aberdeen’s city centre, attracting an annual footfall of 13 million people a year. The pair of centres are anchored by John Lewis and Marks & Spencer and provide 460,000 sq. ft. of retail accommodation for over 75 shop units that are let to retailers including Boots, New Look, Next, River Island, Top Shop/Top Man and Hobbs.? The centres have 1,400 car parking spaces, including the Loch Street and Harriet Street mu

POD Point, a UK based provider of charge points for electric vehicles (EVs), has used a crowdfunding campaign to raise more then £1.8m. POD Point charge points can be used in the home or for public use.  The charge points are connected to the company’s cloud-based management system, which enables recurring revenue from the network.  Erik Fairbairn, founder and chief excutive of POD Point, said: “At POD Point, we believe travel shouldn’t damage the earth so we&

Keltic Clothing showcased two enhancements to its footwear range at Parkex. The ankle support of the Magnum Impact boot features a material called Armourgel, which reduces injuries associated with walking. The boot also now has a Michelin technical sole that offers better grip in wet conditions. Keltic’s director David Barry said that because frontline parking staff (CEOs) do a lot of walking, their feet impact the ground thousands of times every shift. This means their ankles are at risk

The 5-star Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, south Wales, has expanded its parking capacity by 600 spaces through the opening of two new visitor car parks. Both car parks have been equipped with WPS ParkAdvance pay-on-foot parking technology, which is already used at the golf course and hotel’s main underground car park. Celtic Manor consists of three hotels (The Resort Hotel, Manor House Hotel and Coldra Court Hotel), a country inn, luxury lodges, two spas, six restaurants, three champion

Westfield has drawn up plans to replace parts of the multi-storey car park serving its shopping centre in east London with retail units. Proposals to expand Westfield Stratford City would see a new shopping level with space for around 75 news stores and kiosks created under the existing Marks & Spencer store. The plans, submitted to the London Legacy Development Corporation, suggest that Level 10 of the centre’s car park would be removed, while Level 8 would undergo a change of use f

London Borough of Sutton has started a parking machine replacement programme, with over 140 new pay & display machines being installed both on-street and off-street. The south London council has ordered 143 new Metric Elite LS terminals via the ESPO framework.  Most of the on-street terminals will be solar powered as the old mains-powered Metric Accent terminals are phased out. However, 20 new mains powered machines are being installed in high usage areas. In off-street locations, the

A former winner of The Young Parking Professional of the Year Award has been appointed as client account manager at NSL.  Beth Rutherford has joined the outsourcing company following earlier roles as a parking officer and parking quality assurance officer at the London Borough of Ealing.  Rutherford will be mainly based at NSL’s offices in Camden where she will take responsibility for managing the London council’s contract as well as assisting with NSL’s Camden cont

Back in the 18th Century highwaymen such as Dick Turpin regularly robbed mail coaches, now a new generation of highwayman is likely to appear, spurred on by the arrival of automated delivery droids, drones and driverless vans. Autonomous deliveries are already happening. Amazon drones have delivered parcels in Cambridgeshire, droids have carried food and goods in London, and driverless vans are operating in Greenwich. But as technology takes over, a new generation of cyber-criminals will be ben

NSL has launched an academy for apprenticeship training. The NSL Academy aims to help public sector organisations and private companies capitalise on the government’s new apprenticeship levy, which will come into effect in April. The NSL Academy will focus on leadership and management development programmes. Jason Stevens, an organisation development consultant, has joined NSL as programme director for the new operation. “When the new levy is introduced, the onus w

NCP has launched a new commercial and client website, separate to the existing consumer website, to provide information about the products and services it offers business partners. The need for the www.ncpsolutions.co.uk website arose because the company is developing relationships with third party partners and clients across a range of products and services. The website also highlights the markets and sectors in which NCP works, including rail, airport, local authorities, retail and healthcar

Creating a car park in a factory and assembling it on site is a process that has been around for many years, but projects led by HUBER offer proof that prefabrication does not mean creating identikit buildings. HUBER is a German construction company specialising in car park design and build based on the use of a steel-frame building system. The company believes key benefits of using steel frames is that they shorten delivery times and ensure consistent quality. Prefabrication ensures better qua

Parking in the City will be the theme of the 18th European Parking Congress. The congress is the biennial gathering of the European Parking Association (EPA),  which will take place in Rotterdam, Netherlands from 20-22 September 2017.  The EPA Congress brings together participants from more than 30 countries worldwide to discuss future developments and best practices of the European parking industry.  The congress also hosts the presentation of the winners of the European Parki

Some would have us believe that technology has the answer to everything. True, new technologies have opened our eyes to all kinds of new opportunities, new possibilities and new aspirations.  One area that has developed rapidly is the ability of new systems to produce copious amounts of data, often output in real time. But, it’s not outputs that ever make the difference. It’s the way those outputs are applied and exploited to deliver what really matters – the right outcom

North Somerset Council has adopted Metric’s new video screen technology as it upgrades coastal parking machines. New Elite LS terminals sited along the seafront of the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare are fitted with HD video screens, which display both video or static content to motorists using the machines.  The screens provide the council with an opportunity to sell advertising to local businesses, creating an additional revenue stream. Allan Taylor, parking services manager, s

Parkex, the British Parking Association’s annual conference, celebrates its silver jubilee this year. The three-day parking event runs parallel to Traffex at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC). Over 70 companies will be showcasing the latest products and services available to the parking sector in Hall 5 at the NEC between 4-6 April. Companies on show will include payment equipment manufacturers, digital parking solution developers, enforcement IT specialists and traffic

There is a common perception that all a town or city centre needs to do to thrive is to provide ample, free parking. But encouraging people to visit a particular high street or shopping centre is a more complex equation. I recently held a business focus group and workshop to try and identify some of the major challenges facing the town centre. I’m sure many places would be able to identify with the issues that came up. Firstly, I asked: “What is the biggest challenge facing the town

APCOA has appointed Ken Stone as the its new regional manager south. Stone will be responsible for all of APCOA’s southern contracts, including London, as well building client relationships, driving innovation and securing new business. Stone has worked in parking enforcement management roles in both the public and private sectors. He has served with councils in Newham, Camden, Horsham, Lambeth, Barnet and Barking & Dagenham.  Stone said: “After six years of consultancy w

Parking & Property 2017 8 June: 15 Hatfields, London Parking & Property is the only annual event dedicated to off-street parking. Over the past 7 years the conference has provided a forum for debate and sharing best practice among public and private sector car park owners and operators, developers, planners and companies supplying design and equipment services. The conference content is developed by Nigel Williams, managing director of Parking Matters, and Mark Moran, editor of

Parking projects that seek to make the lives of children safer and easier where among the winners at the British Parking Awards 2017, which took place on Friday 10 March. Kent County Council won the Front Line Award for its Responsible Parking Squad initiative. The council has devised a toolkit of materials and techniques that can be used by pupils at secondary schools to tackle the problem of dangerous parking and driving, especially during the school run. The London Borough of Wandsworth rec

The winners of the British Parking Awards 2017 will be revealed at an awards ceremony in London on 10 March. The British Parking Awards were launched by Parking Review magazine in 2002 to recognise achievement and best practice in the design and management of parking. With winners selected by a jury of their peers, the British Parking Parking Awards logo and trophy have become a respected and coveted mark of excellence among parking professionals. Below we provide a guide to the finalists. Par

A guide designed to help local authorities understand the opportunities and challenges presented by rapidly accelerating advances in transport technology has been published by the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) and ITS (UK). The second edition of the Local Authority Guide to Emerging Transport Technology is targeted at local government officers, elected members and their consultants and explains how technology can aid delivery of a range of policy objectives, from reducing em

Parking revenues at Heathrow rose last year, generating around £114m for the UK’s biggest airport. However, Heathrow has made a commitment to maintain car traffic at current levels even as it plans for a dramatic expansion. The airport has 23,000 public parking spaces that are used by business travellers, holidaymakers and people with business at the airport. Parking is treated a retail activity in the airport’s accounts, which showed its range of car park pro

A historic city centre multi-storey car park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne has been reopened by Britannia Parking. The 360-space Dex Garage on New Bridge Street West was built in 1931. The 5-storey steel frame and reinforced concrete structure retains many of its original Art Deco features remaining intact. It was closed by its previous operator on Christmas Eve, but reopened under the management of Britannia on 20 January. Britannia says it is offering the cheapest day rates for parking in the city

The London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley have jointly awarded APCOA a new 10-year parking contract. The new arrangements, which will start in April 2017, will help to further harmonise the procedures and processes of both authorities and produce efficiency savings.  Bromley and Bexley became a shared service in 2013. To date, these authorities have utilised the services of separate contractors to undertake parking enforcement and other related duties while existing contracts ran their ter

All lorry drivers who use satellite navigation systems should be compelled to use commercial models, says the Government Association (LGA). The association also wants central government to enable English councils to take enforcement action where necessary. Villages and rural communities across the country have been affected by a recent spate of lorry smashes, says the association. For example, a historic bridge in Marlow, Bucks, had to be closed for months after a driver reportedly drove a

A growing population and increasing number of cars on the Isle of Wight will need to be tackled with more consistent parking enforcement and pricing measures, new payment systems and measures to better balance the supply and demand of spaces. Isle of Wight Council’s executive has agreed a parking strategy developed by consultant White Young Green, whose recommendations are based on public consultation, spoke to town and parish councils, business associations and transport operators. The c

The London Borough of Redbridge has been through a period of self-scrutiny, renewal and reinvention over the past 12 months. Since the arrival of new chief executive Andy Donald a year ago there have been big changes, with a new structure comprising four directorates: People, Place, Resources and Strategy. Parking, traffic management and transport now sit in Place, which is made up of three sections – Regeneration & Property, Housing and Civic Pride.  Civic Pride also covers high

Land Securities is upgrading parking payment systems at two of its shopping centres, Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth and the Lewisham Centre, south-east London. The property company has commissioned APT Skidata to supply new systems at both sites. The car parks at each centre will be equipped with APT Skidata’s Power.Gate control columns, to control entry and exit.  Initially, the control columns at both sites will be fitted with optic scanners that will read e-tickets on smartphones or

Smart parking technology is to be rolled out across Cardiff city centre. A combination of bay sensors and ANPR will monitor parking occupancy levels on-street and in car parks. This information will be used to give drivers in the Welsh capital real-time parking updates via both variable message signs and a smartphone app. Cardiff City Council has commissioned Smart Parking to deploy 3,000 infra-red bay sensors in on-street and off-street locations. ANPR will also be used in city centre car park

APCOA Parking has recognised the achievements of employees at a dinner and awards ceremony. Trophies were presented to 16 members of staff who the parking operator felt have delivered excellent service and often gone beyond the call of duty. The recipients were drawn from across the company’s on-street and off-street teams in the UK and Ireland. They include both front line staff and those working in back office or contract management roles. Many recipients were recognised for engaging w

The long list of entries to the British Parking Awards 2017 has been unveiled. This year the competition has attracted over 90 submissions that are now being assessed by the jury.The British Parking Awards encompass the worlds of traffic management, architecture, enforcement, technology and property.This year there are entries from local authorities, commercial operators, rail companies, universities, retailers, consruction companies, equipment suppliers and many others. To see the 2017 entry li

Britannia Parking has upgraded pay & display machines at West Quay Retail Park in Southampton to enable shoppers to pay using contactless technology. Britannia, which runs the 900 spaces at West Quay Retail Park on behalf of Aviva Life & Pensions UK, has installed 13 Parkeon terminals at the site. All the Strada Rapide Evo 2 terminals accept contactless bank card payments in addition to chip & PIN and coin transactions. Each terminal has also been enabled to accept the new £

The surplus produced from council parking operations in England has reached a record high of just over three-quarters of a billion pounds, analysis by the RAC Foundation has revealed. In the 2015-16 financial year, the 353 local authorities in England generated a combined surplus of £756m from their on-street and off-street parking activities. This is a 9% increase on the 2014-15 figure of £693m, and 34% higher than in 2011-12. The figures are calculated

Medway Council has started carrying out nighttime parking enforcement patrols on business parks in a bid to stop illegal lorry parking. This is to tackle problems of anti-social behaviour and dangerous parking. The Kent council has received reports of drivers parking on-street and in business parks and sleeping overnight in their cabs. On 1 November the hours of enforcement in Medway were extended to 7am - 1am seven days a week. Previously patrols ran from 7.30am – 10pm Monday to Friday,

The evolution of parking enforcement teams into ambassadors for local authorities is explored in a short film produced by the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE). The film, More than Just the Ticket, looks at Warwickshire County Council’s relationship with contractor NSL to promote the benefits of a multi-functional workforce. APSE is a not-for-profit network that promotes improved ways of working across local government, the police, fire services and the public sector. 

Cardiff has ordered new on-street parking terminals that offer contactless payment, including Apple Pay. The Metric Elite LS has been supplied in the authority’s turquoise colour. User instructions are displayed in Welsh and English on the user information screen, adhering to the Welsh Language Commissioners’ guidelines. The machine’s high-definition video screens can display both static and video content, including advertising which raises additional revenue. Richard Boultbe

Transport for London (TfL) is enhancing its traffic enforcement technology and developing a new parking enforcement mobile application.  TfL has awarded SEA a contract to further develop and provide ongoing support of its Digital Traffic Enforcement System (DTES) and to develop and support a Parking Enforcement Solution (PES) app. The combined contracts are worth in excess of £6.5m and include ten years of support for both systems. SEA, a company in the Cohort group, originally deve

Jim Hill, a pioneer of modern car park design, has died at the age of 85. In 1967 he and John Cannon formed the consulting practice Hill Cannon & Partners. In the early 1970s Hill Cannon sought to tackle a common problem in multi-storey car parks: concrete columns sitting between parked cars, making it difficult to open doors and creating poor sight lines. Working with a local contractor, Hill Cannon developed one of the world’s first clear-span, modular structural frames for multi-st

A Costco store in Birmingham has reduce its energy consumption by around 70% by adopting LED lighting in its underground shoppers’ car park.  The car park had around 300 metal halide light fittings. Due to the nature of the car park, fixture replacements would have required extra drilling into the concrete structure, creating a lot of mess and disruption to the car park. Instead, a retrofitting approach was adopted, with Costco’s lighting maintenance contractor Solent Lighting

The multi-storey car park serving a shopping centre in Aberdeen has been refurbished at a cost of £2m. The Loch Street car park provides 1,400 spaces for the Bon Accord centre, which has around 100 stores. The multi-storey car park has four floors, with parking extending on to the roof of the centre, which is beneath it in a small basement parking area. The shopping centre and car park are owned by BMO Real Estate Ventures.  The car park refurbishment was undertaken between March a

The efficient management of the kerbside and roadspace is essential to the health, wealth and vitality of urban centres. These were central themes of Parking World 2016, which took place in London on 24 November.  Over 250 people attended Parking World to listen to a programme featuring over 50 speakers from across UK and Europe. There were presentations by local authorities, academics, consultants, architects, technologists, campaigners and contractors. The programme was devised by Mark

Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet will discuss a report today (22 November) that would give the go ahead for work to begin on an outline business case for a workplace parking scheme. The cabinet is being asked to approve £100,000 to develop the business case for a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) that would help fund major local transport improvements through charging for parking spaces designated by employers for employees. Revenue from a WPL scheme in Oxford could only be used to f

A retail car park in Chelmsford underwent a complete refurbishment in just seven weeks this summer. The 391-space Meadows multi-storey offers short-stay shoppers’ parking in Chelmsford city centre. The Meadows is one of several multi-storey car parks owned and operated by Chelmsford City Council which, as parking asset owners, has taken a pro-active approach to the maintenance and upkeep of their parking structures. The council believes keeping parking assets in prime condition helps attra

A car park created to serve a new shopping area in the United Arab Emirates has taken the board game Monopoly as its inspiration. The underground car park serves City Walk, a new commercial district in Dubai created by developer Meraas Holdings.  Designed by UK architects Benoy, the scheme features high-end retail outlets, restaurants and leisure attractions organised to emulate a city high street.  The UAE’s shopping landscape mainly consists of indoor malls due to the extreme

The London Borough of Lambeth has made tackling environmental crimes such as fly-tipping, littering, spitting, urinating and dog fouling a priority.  The south London council has signed a contract with APCOA UK & Ireland that will see its civil enforcement officers (CEOs) expand their role beyond enforcing parking regulations to become responsible for issuing fines for environmental crimes.  “Managing our streets goes beyond just ticketing illegally parked cars,” said

The British Parking Awards 2017 are open for entries. The annual competition recognises excellence in parking policy, design and management. The awards span the on-street and off-street parking sectors, encompassing the planning, design and management of both structures and operations. There are also categories that recognise the achievements of individuals and teams working in the parking sector. The awards also categories that recognise innovative systems and business approaches. The categor

The efficient management of the kerbside and roadspace is essential to the health, wealth and vitality of urban centres. This will be a central theme of Parking World 2016, which takes place at the Kia Oval in London on 24 November.  There will be sessions on: the provision and regulation of parking in town and city centres; the workplace parking levy concept; fighting Blue Badge fraud; and the development of online parking payment and booking services. To book your place click here (Quot

Since the 1980s, there has been a dispiriting narrative in transport in some UK cities. Bus deregulation in 1986, and the loosening of planning controls permitting new out-of-town shopping developments, was followed by significant growth in car ownership and use. Since then, there has been a tendency in many cities to equate development and progress to increased car use, roads and car-based development. Cuts in government spending have been a further disincentive to promoting or funding public t

One of London’s premiere shopping locations, was converted into a car park last month. On Saturday 5 November the stretch of road between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus was closed to traffic, yet still filled with cars as the Royal Automobile Club staged its 11th annual Regent Street Motor Show. Over 450,000 motoring enthusiasts, shoppers, tourists and Londoners converged on the capital’s ‘Mile of Style’ for a free event that showcased the history and future of moto

Transport for London’s Retiming Deliveries Consortium won the Quiet Cities Collaboration Award at the Noise Abatement Society’s John Connell Awards.  The group, made up of London boroughs, trade associations and retailers, has retimed 80,000 deliveries across 237 premises to reduce congestion and make operations more efficient. Other benefits include a reduction in the risk of collisions, improved air quality and reduced costs. Natalie Chapman, the Freight Transport Associatio

The award winning parking manager Mirsad Bakalovic has been appointed to the newly created position of head of Civic Pride at the London Borough of Redbridge. He was previously head of parking, mobility and transport services at Tower Hamlets council. Bakalovic’s new role at Redbridge is part of a wholesale restructuring of the council, led by new chief executive Andy Donald. The council has built a new framework, with four new directorates - People, Place, Resources and Strategy - which

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Western Isles Council, in creating a north-south electric vehicle (EV) charging network throughout the islands of the Outer Hebrides. Eleven charge points have been positioned on the Isles of Lewis and Harris, North Uist, South Uist and Barra, which make up the majority of the council’s remit. The chargepoints have been supplied by Evolt, which has already installed units the ferry ports throughout the Western Isles.

A range of HGV and bus parking blocks have been launched by Pittman Traffic & Safety Equipment, a supplier of traffic and safety equipment. The blocks are designed reduce the incidence of damage to buildings caused by commercial vehicles in a environments such as warehousing, factories, garages and construction sites. They are available in rubber or steel. Michael Cooke, sales manager at Pittman Traffic: “These easy fit HGV and bus parking blocks will deliver signific

Most parking terminals in Wandsworth will be cashless after a recent upgrade of the London borough’s on-street pay & display stock. The south London council has just installed 177 Parkeon StradaPAL terminals as part of a renewal programme. They replace machines that were up to 17 years old. The new batch follows the installation of 140 StradaPAL machines during 2014.  All the new terminals selected by Wandsworth are solar-powered and are Chip & PIN and contactless card

Chichester District Council is introducing a range of cashless payment options in the historic city’s car parks. The council has introduced new machines that take card payments, including contactless cards. Customers should be able to start paying for parking by phone by the end of the year. The West Sussex local authority has also upgraded its web services, meaning that residents and businesses will be able to pay for their parking permits online. A total 14 new parking machines will be

Car Parking Management (CPM) is providing consumers with the ability to book and pay for parking online for the first time. The management company has teamed up with Parkonomy.com, a website that offers car park search, booking and payment. CPM, which has been in business for 15 years, provides signage, pay & display machines and managing cash collection. It operates around 30 car parks for a range of local authorities, hotels, arts venues and public utilities. All its sites are now covered

Lerwick Port Authority has ordered new parking terminals at the Victoria Pier car park. The new Metric Elite LS replace existing Metric Accent machines, which were installed almost a decade ago. Lerwick is the main port for the Shetland Islands welcoming 30,000 passengers from cruise ships each year, as well as ferries, cargo, fishing vessels, and sailing yachts.  Despite being so far north, the Shetlands do not experience extremes in temperature, though they rarely get above 15°C, ev

The Forestry Commission is to install ticketless parking terminals at over 40 woods and forests across the UK. The commission has awarded a contract to Newpark to install its Fusion pay-on-foot parking system. The Fusion system uses ANPR cameras at the entrance to each car park, automatically raising the barriers and eliminating the need for drivers having to wait for tickets to be dispensed.  A virtual ticket is created upon entry and is used to allow the vehicle to leave by automatically

A 500-space car park forms part of a new retail development in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The £120m Flemingate regeneration project has been created by developer Wykeland Group on a site on the opposite side of the railway tracks to the historic town centre, which is dominated by a 15th century Minster. The shopping centre offers stores such as Debenhams, H&M and River Island, as well as cafés, restaurants, a hotel and cinema. The wider regeneration project also encompasses a c

The initial design of a new retail and leisure development will be served by surface parking for Glenrothes town centre in Scotland. Easy Living Developments has signed up Marks & Spencer as the anchor tenant, along with a Marsdens gastro pub and a Tony Macaroni restaurant. The site, which is currently occupied by a social club, has been earmarked for redevelopment for several years. Tesco had planned to build a store on it, but pulled out of the scheme in 2013. Construction of the new bui

Standards within the parking industry have improved dramatically over the past two decades. Tighter legislation and improved codes of practice have had a major impact. But that’s not all; we shouldn’t lose sight of the determination and efforts of many parking service providers in both the public and private sector to deliver the best possible service for customers. But, whatever standards prevail, there’s no room for complacency.  The industry can be proud of the progres

Parking pay stations are set to have a whole new lease of life, transformed from single function machines into smart terminals that offer a range of public services. Alongside taking payment for parking, the next generation of terminals will enable people to rent bikes, charge their electric cars and even monitor the quality of the air they breathe. This is the vision of Bertrand Barthélemy, chief executive of parking and transport solution provider Parkeon. He envisages the company&rsqu

With the success of digital marketplaces such as Airbnb, as well as businesses that don’t own any of the inventory they sell such as booking.com, Silicon Valley trawled the world for the next industry it could monetise and found it in parking. So it was that, between 2013 and 2015, a staggering US$243m (£170m) was invested in digital-first parking marketplaces, with over half of that sum invested in the last six months.  These investors are making big bets that they can change

Parking consultancy Buchanan Order Management has moved into larger premises to improve facilities for visitors and to accommodate its expanding team. Buchanan Order Management (BOM) outgrew its premises in Thatcham, but decided to remain in the West Berkshire area. Its new premises in Newbury are in a converted period barn, with modern facilities and easy access for staff and visitors. Trevor Clark, director of BOM, said: “One reason for our expansion is the increased demand from authori

Peter Beasley has been appointed as head of compliance and corporate governance at Creative Parking Solutions. Beasley will be responsible for ensuring that all car parks managed by Creative Parking Solutions meet the guidelines and processes set out by the British Parking Association (BPA).  He will monitor aspects of operations such as the way parking charges are handled and the sites’ signage. He will also be responsible for ensuring the background systems are compliant.  C

A dozen car parks in the Lincolnshire towns of Stamford and Grantham have retained their Park Mark status under the Safer Parking Scheme. The car parks are operated by South Kesteven District Council, which was recently awarded the Disabled Parking Accreditation from Disabled Motoring UK. Cllr Nick Craft, executive member for the environment, said: “We’re pleased to announce a further award for our car parks that shows we are maintaining good standards year on year.

The government will host a roundtable debate on parking for heavy goods vehicles, transport minister John Hayes has announced. The discussion, which will include truck stop operators and the freight industry, was promised during a Westminster Hall debate at the Houses of Parliament on 7 September. The debate saw MPs from across the UK share their concerns about the negative impact poor HGV parking has on the haulage industry, local communities and the wider economy.

Q-Park has started refurbishment of Liverpool’s Queen Square car park, a site it acquired from developer Promenade Estates in December 2015. The operator is spending around £750,000 upgrading the 601-space facility. The car park will be given a new entrance area, with upgraded barrier and pay-on-foot systems. New lighting sensor systems will be installed throughout the 14 floors. The car park’s external and internal signage will be redesigned improve way finding. The lobby are

Civil enforcement officers are the front line of the UK’s public parking management regimes. These uniformed staff are tasked with ensuring the kerbside operates efficiently, enabling people and businesses to park or deliver and collect goods where and when they need. While civil enforcement officers (CEOs) will bear the names and insignia of local authorities, many will be employees for contractors, and a good proportion will work for NSL, which fields over 4,000 CEOs in towns and cities

The highways services team at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has been restructured, with the number of staff in the parking services team being scaled down.  The parking department has addressed the need to deliver efficiency savings with help from Barbour Logic.  The West Midlands council implemented Response Master, the company’s plain English parking correspondence software, to generate letters in response to drivers’ penalty charge notice (PCN) challenges. 

Revenue generation is a difficult topic for the public sector to address and embrace. For our part we firmly believe that, with the inexorable pressure on funding and an ever-growing demand for services, councils should no longer be apologetic or defensive about the selective use of revenue generation in certain service areas. Our own experience on this topic has seen our partnerships generate savings and surplus revenue for local authority partners to reinvest in infrastructure and other frontl

As the people who engage with the public in the real world, civil enforcement officers have become a source of intelligence and inspiration for Adam Palser since he became chief executive of NSL in 2015. He has set out to empower the CEOs to change and develop the business by sharing their experiences and ideas. “Since joining NSL I have been getting to know the sector and I have learned that our CEOs really know the business. Who better to help run a better business?” he asks. Pal

The London Borough of Bexley is installing automated enforcement systems to capture moving traffic contraventions.  The mix of fixed and redeployable cameras will supplement the council’s existing fleet of CCTV cars and enable enforcement to be extended to improve driver compliance.  The contract has been awarded to OpenView Security Solutions, a provider of CCTV solutions, under the ELS framework agreement, which can be accessed by all London boroughs and allows direct and fas

Stephen Rennie, a specialist in low carbon and sustainable transport, has joined electric vehicle (EV) charge point supplier Evolt as business development manager for Scotland. Rennie has spent his career working in the low carbon industry, including eight years with the Energy Saving Trust (EST), where he managed the delivery of grant-funded schemes for the installation of EV charge points. As EST programme manager, during 2014-15 he oversaw the delivery of 16 low carbon transport programmes,

Outsourced service provider NSL plans to double the size of the workforce at its operational centre in Oldham. The principal activities at NSL’s Oldham offices are telephony, correspondence, back office processing and vetting for public and private sector clients.   Its local authority parking clients in the North West include Manchester City Council and Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. When NSL moved into offices in Chadderton in 2012 it had 10 members of staff. The company now

Q-Park has taken over the management of the Pierhead Street car park in Cardiff. The car park has been rebranded as Q-Park Cardiff Bay ahead of a refurbishment programme.  The car park, sometimes referred to as ‘The Wave’ on account of its façade’s distinctive cladding, had been operated by APCOA UK & Ireland. The multi-storey provides 1,238 spaces for residents and office workers in the Cardiff Waterside development. It also has an exclusive parking partnersh

The finishing touches are being made to the car park serving Hammersons’ new Victoria Gate shopping centre in Leeds, which is set to open in the autumn. The £165m retail development will feature 65 stores, including a John Lewis department store as its main anchor outlet. Other retailers include Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, GANT, Hackett and Anthropologie, as well as fine dining restaurant group D&D. The 800-space multi-storey car park has a façade designed to create a

Two London boroughs, Hackney and Islington, have transferred their phone parking services to RingGo during the summer.  Hackney Council transferred its entire operations to RingGo on 10 July, changing 1,500 signs and stickers across the borough in a single day. More than 1,100 temporary signs were posted to give drivers advance notice of the changeover, and 50,000 text and email messages were sent to new and existing users.  Islington Council carried out a phased transfer during Augu

Reading Borough Council is to install real-time sensors across all of its on-street disabled bays as part of a European Union research project called SIMON. SIMON (asSIsted Mobility for Older aNd impaired users) is a project that aims to use ICT services to promote the independent living and social participation of mobility impaired people by giving them information and access to public parking areas and multiple transport modes. The SIMON Mobile app enables disabled citizens to validate their

Gunwharf Quays, a shopping centre in Portsmouth, has been recognised for its secure parking facilities by being awarded the Park Mark award for a 15th consecutive year. Colin Wilding, general manager at Gunwharf Quays, said: “We work hard to ensure our guests and staff feel safe and secure within the centre at all times and this award is testament to the hard work of the car park management team. A Park Mark is awarded to parking facilities that pa

Alphabet, the parent of Google, has ambitions to transform the way in which public transportation and other city services, including parking, are managed.  The international conglomerate has been investing heavily in automated cars, street mapping and cloud computing, so a move into smart city management is not surprising.  Alphabet has established an innovation centre called Sidewalk Labs whose remit is to improve urban infrastructure through technological solutions. Sidewalk Labs i

Parking operations consume a lot of energy. Car parks need to be lit to make customers feel safe. Enforcement patrol vehicles need fuel. Back office computer systems consume power and their processes generate a lot of paper. In the parking sector many organisations are seeking to mitigate or reduce their environmental impact and carbon footprint.  Car park decks now feature solar panels and wind turbines, while energy saving systems manage lighting on their internal decks. Pay stations wil

The multi-storey car park serving The Belfry shopping centre in Redhill, Surrey, has been equipped with a pay-on-foot system linked to ANPR cameras. The Belfry is Redhill’s main shopping hub and its 780-space car park serves both the mall and High Street. Shopping centre manager Andy Nash said: “As the shopping centre was getting busier and busier we recognised the need for an access system with better reliability and service, and that could benefit the centre in the future. We rele

A pop-up restaurant has taken over the rooftop car park of the former BBC Television Centre in West London. The car park has become a roof terrace featuring a hanging pergola which gives the destination its name. The Pergola restaurant has seating for 400 people and will run at the car park until 28 August. The BBC was based at the iconic doughnut shaped Television Centre between 1960 and 2013. The building was a

The latest Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) annual report reveals that revenues fell from £6.02bn to £5.93bn. The drop is being attributed to the scrapping of the paper version of the Vehicle Excise Duty disc in 2014, which resulted in a fall of almost £100m in 2015-16.  The DVLA had predicted that revenues would initially dip during the “transitional period” from the paper disc to the electronic record. The Department for Transport had factored

Brighton & Hove City Council’s has taken the top prize in the annual Parking Annual Reports by Councils (PARC) competition. The resort’s parking team received its accolade at a reception held at the Houses of Parliament on 11 July. The PARC competition is organised by PATROL, the joint committee of local autho

The success of the Leave campaign in the referendum on European Union (EU) membership will have an impact on almost every aspect of life in Britain. The constitutional, political, economic, social, cultural and personal consequences of Brexit will be far-reaching. Central government and national assemblies, local authorities, businesses, academic institutions and individuals are all currently trying to digest what exiting the EU will mean for them. The parking sector will be affected across the

Plymouth City Council has become the first UK local authority to roll out Parkeon’s City Connector scheme, which enables local retailers to offer couponing and discounts via the company’s StradaPAL parking terminals. The transformation of parking terminals into multi-service kiosks provides businesses with a new marketing channel by enabling both motorists and pedestrians to scroll through and print coupons and special offers redeemable in the local area. The Plymouth project cover

Cashless parking specialist RingGo is marketing ‘corsets’ for parking payment machines that are taken out of service rather than being upgraded to accept the new £1 coin, which enters circulation in March 2017.  The corsets were developed as an alternative to traditional meter bags by RingGo’s parent company Cobalt Telephone Technologies.  The corsets wrap around payment machines and carry a printed message panel that encourages motorists to either pay using t

Barry Francis, formerly assistant director for parking services at the London Borough of Ealing, has joined outsourcing service provider NSL as a regional account director. Francis will oversee the management and development of NSL contracts including the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Wandsworth and Camden, and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, as well as London Councils and Royal Parks. The appointment sees Francis return to NSL after an absence of seven years, havi

Brighton & Hove City Council is planning to invest £1.8m upgrading its on-street parking terminals so that over 80% are pay-by-card only. This would see the number of machines that take coins dropping from the current 800 to just 150. The authority plans to procure 320 new pay & display units and update 330 existing P&D units, which would accept Chip & PIN and contactless card payment only. Another 150 machines would accept both cards and the new 12-sided £1 coin, whi

Machine vision technology could provide a cost-effective way of monitoring car park occupancy and on-street parking bays without the need to invest in infrastructure such as sensors. The parking bay monitoring system has been created by product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants working with semiconductor design and manufacturing company Analog Devices. The system combines a low-cost camera with an algorithm running on a low-cost processing platform. The algorithm is able to cal

Online portal Parkonomy.com is now taking bookings and payments at a group of temporary car parks operated across the North West by Hallmark Developments.  Rochdale-based property company Hallmark Developments uses undeveloped land to provide additional parking facilities in sought after locations. Parkonomy.com is now be processing all bookings and payments for the car park online. Parkonomy.com’s sales manager Dave Coates believes there are many more opportunities ahead. “Ha

Southampton City Council is introducing CCTV enforcement of bus lanes in key areas of the city. The fixed bus lane cameras will go live on 20 June  Paul Walker, travel and transport manager at Southampton City Council, said: “This project will enable us to reduce the incidence of vehicles misusing bus lanes. Automating the enforcement of these contraventions will improve driver compliance, allow our public transport services to achieve faster, more reliable journey times and improve

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has retained APCOA UK & Ireland as its parking contractor, expanding the company’s remit to include off-street parking management as well as on-street enforcement. APCOA has worked for the Essex council since 2002. It has been awarded a new seven-year contract said to be worth £6m. The new contract will see the introduction of electric cars and bicycles for civil enforcement officers. The contract encompasses the provision of civil enforcement o

A blogger has used official data to prove that the New York Police Department (NYPD) wrongly ticketed thousands of vehicles that were actually parked legally. Ben Wellington, who has an interest in data, made the discovery after NYPD kept issuing tickets against his car when it was legally parked on a pavement ramp on the street where he lives.  Drivers have been allowed to park in some of these spaces since 2009. The scale of errant parking enforcement by?NYPD became evident when Wellin

Transport in Europe is destined to be one of self-driving cars, cashless systems and smart app solutions, according to new research commissioned for services and technology company Xerox.  The research was conducted among 1,200 people living in 12 cities across the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. When UK residents were asked to consider the future transport landscape of their city, the research revealed that 45% of Londoners predict they won’t be using cash to pay f

Where parking is located and how spaces are managed will be transformed as the way in which we travel to, from and within urban centres changes. As cars and customers become more connected, the era of Intelligent Mobility will see the role and form of parking facilities evolve. Ultimately, the distinctions between on-street and off-street parking will become blurred. These are some of the predictions of Theo Thuis, chief operating officer of Q-Park, a parking management company that operates ac

Irish car park management company Nationwide Controlled Parking Systems has added six multi-storey car parks to its portfolio and rolled out a new software system. The new car parks locations are: Navan Town Centre; Steamboat Quay, Limerick; Exchange Hall, Tallaght; Tallaght Retail Centre; Castle Street and Belfast Met College, Belfast. These six locations add 4,300 car park spaces and 18 staff to the NCPS portfolio. NCPS employs 130 staff across Ireland and manage over 100,000

Economists see the world rather differently from other people. So, while the majority probably believe free parking is a good thing, as an economist I know it is not – except of course when I’m driving, in which case free parking is an excellent idea! Few, if any, of us like to pay for parking. The writers of the sitcom Seinfeld made this point in a very male orientated way. George Costanza to Elaine Benes: “My father didn’t pay for parking, my mother, my brother, nobod

Metric’s new compact parking terminal, the Sprite, will be on show at Parkex 2016. The pay & display machine, which was launched at Intertraffic 2016, is slimmer and shorter than the company’s Elite model. The Sprite can operate in a range of parking modes. It features a touch keypad that can include QWERTY keys for pay-by-plate and ANPR parking modes, as well other types of data capture. The keypad can also be designed with special characters to suit specific language requireme

Parking machines in the Cornish fishing village of Mevagissey have been upgraded to provide an enhanced service to visitors. Cale UK has installed its web-enabled CWT-C payment terminals in the car park operated by the Mevagissey Harbour Trustees.  The CWT-C terminals have been installed in the harbour car park, which is the base for people who spend the day walking around the old village, visiting its shops and restaurants and watching the fisherman unload their catch. The Harbour Trust

Keltic Clothing will be showing its Technical Wear range of uniforms at Parkex. The uniforms are designed for all types of front line personnel, including civil enforcement officers (CEOs), security staff and university patrols, who do what the company describes as “urban trekking”. The use of technical fabrics enables Keltic to create lightweight, water-resistant clothing that is designed to be used in layers, which enables staff to match what they wear to weather conditions.  

Regeneration and development have made the centre of Liverpool an attractive place to work, shop and visit. This is good for the local economy, but has led to increased demands on its road network and transport system. Liverpool City Council is, in particular, seeking to manage increased traffic volumes created by the M62 corridor expansion. The city council wants to manage increased traffic volumes, deliver integrated transport infrastructure for the city and is promoting wider use of public t

Canterbury City Council in Kent is trialling ticketless parking using systems developed by Parkeon. The trial sees Canterbury become the first district in the UK to introduce Parkeon mobile and website payment options alongside the company’s MiniPark automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology.  MiniPark integrates ANPR cameras and barriers on car park entry and exit lanes.  In a first for Parkeon in the UK, the company’s Whoosh! app has been introduced alongside

A man who received a fine for not registering to park in a supermarket car park resorted to drawing a cartoon to prove he was a genuine customer. Teacher Steve Crowley received the £90 parking charge notice (PCN) after a visit to the Lidl store in the Gloucestershire town of Yate. The store had recently introduced a new parking system, managed by Athena ANPR. Shoppers receive 90 minutes free parking as long as they register their vehicles with the checkout staff. Crowley had not register

Heathrow Airport is equipping its Terminal 3 car park with a parking bay monitoring system that will guide drivers to available parking bays. Highlight Parking will be installing its Highlight Bay Monitoring and Baywatch Car Finder systems in the multi-storey, which provides around 1,500 short-stay parking spaces.  Highlight Bay Monitoring senses whether or not a bay is occupied and relays this information to drivers via indicator lights above the bays. The Baywatch Car Finder system ena

A desire to provide a consistent parking experience across two nearby shopping centre car parks in a South Wales town has prompted Queensbury Real Estates to specify the same pay-on-foot system at both sites. Queensbury opted to use the WPS ParkAdvance pay-on-foot system at the Kingsway and Friars Walk centres in Newport.  The Kingsway centre is a 1960s scheme that Queensbury acquired in 2014. It is served by 1,050 parking spaces. Nearby is Friars Walk, a retail and leisure complex that op

The Friars Walk shopping centre and car park in Newport, Gwent have been recognised at the National Roofing Awards. The Vertical Cladding Award was presented to Met-Clad Contracts for seamlessly integrating glazing and cladding across the mall and car park. The multi-storey has been clad using a mix of gold coloured aluminium rain screen and perforated metal mesh. The shopping centre has been faced with a mix of red glaze terracotta and black granite rain screen tiles over composite wall panel

The way in which retailers operate their car parks needs to change, says British Land, a leading property company. David Tudor-Morgan, British Land’s head of retail property development, told delegates at Parking & Property 2016 that the model used to manage much retail parking was “somewhat broken”. “When you issue a parking ticket you have failed,” he said. Tudor-Morgan said there was no benefit in making parking difficult to access or in penalising motorist

Plans to build more apartment buildings, retail areas and workplaces around Wembley Stadium have triggered concerns about traffic congestion. Brent Council approved a £2.5bn masterplan for Wembley Park on 11 May despite a strongly worded objection by the Football Association (FA).

A consensus is emerging for a single standards setting body for parking on private land, claims the British Parking Association following its Parking Summit, which was held in London on 11 May. The summit was called to facilitate a proper debate about the management parking on private land and to discuss the government’s response to its consultation regarding off-street parking issued in March 2015. Local go

Big data, mobile communications and social media will change both the automobile and the way in which we use them in the 21st Century, says a new report published by the British Parking Association (BPA). 20:20: Our vision for the future of parking summaries research commissioned by the BPA to explore the future of parking and intelligent mobility. The BPA intends the document to

The Co-op has used surplus land in a public car park to create a supermarket in Wrexham, Wales. The Co-op worked with NewRiver Retail, owner of the Red Lion pub on Marford Hill, to create the store. The Co-op and NewRiver have shared the £1m investment in the project, which will create 20 jobs. Craig Emery, manager if the new store, said: “As a community retailer, and a co-operative, we are confident that the store will become a real asset to the community, playing a real part in l

Parking and property experts from across Europe will meet in London on 12 May to discuss the changing relationship between motorists, their vehicles, and how they park. The annual Parking & Property event will also explore how retailers and shopping centre owners are making parking facilities a positive part of the shopping experience by creating more attractive facilities and using parking as part of their marketing and loyalty programmes. Over the past six years Parking & Property ha

Parkeon says that all payment systems made from 1 April will incorporate new coin selectors in readiness for the release of the new £1 coin, which will enter circulation in March 2017.  Parkeon has been working with both the Treasury and The Royal Mint throughout the consultation process of replacing the current £1 coin after 33 years; in circulation.  Parkeon has created a dedicated production department at its Bristol service centre. Paul Wright, UK parking service man

Security firm G4S cannot set its parking fines against its tax bill, a tax tribunal has ruled. G4S Cash Solutions aimed to reduce its corporation tax bill by around £580,000, but the first-tier tribunal has ruled in favour of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in rejecting the bid. G4S incurred parking fines usually while delivering consignments of cash over the pavement. The firm claimed these were a business expense and so could be used to reduce its profits for tax purposes.  Judge

Civil enforcement agent Bristow & Sutor has appointed Adrian Lardner as its head of sales and marketing. Lardner was previously sales and marketing director at Ross & Roberts, a civil enforcement agency owned by Capita. Lardner has over 20 years’ experience in local government of managing revenues and benefits at Torbay Council. Andrew Rose, managing director of Bristow & Sutor, said: “Adrian has been known to us for a number of years and will complement our team and f

The implementation team at Cobalt Telephone Technologies (CTT) were very busy last month, rolling out seven RingGo phone parking schemes in 15 days. The five-strong unit managed six local authority launches and one private operator extension in early April.  “While we have great expertise in this area, setting up new cashless parking operations is rarely straightforward,” says Cobalt’s newly appointed director of professional services, Dave Mitchell.  “All tar

Annual reports produced by eight local authorities have been short listed for the PARC Awards organised by PATROL, the joint committee of local authorities undertaking civil parking enforcement outside London. Around 50 reports were considered for this year’s awards and the winners will be announced in the summer. They are competing for two trophies: Outstanding Overall Report and Outstanding Shorter Report. This year's shortlisted councils are: 

APCOA Parking Group has appointed Philippe Op de Beeck as its new chief executive officer. He takes over the role from Ralf Bender, who has spent the past few years steering the pan-European group back to profitability.  Since a restructuring in 2014 that saw creditors agree to reduce their debts, APCOA has seen improvements in revenues, profitability and cash flow. In 2015, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation)  grew by about 7% to €59m (£46m) while EB

Parking and property experts from across Europe will meet in London on 12 May to discuss the changing relationship between drivers and their vehicles in the era of online commerce, connected cars and Intelligent Mobility. The annual Parking & Property event will also explore how retailers are making parking a positive part of the shopping experience. The day’s content has been developed by Nigel Williams, managing director of Parking Matters, and Mark Moran, editor of Parkin

Emma Anthony manages parking in the historic coastal town of Conwy in North Wales. She is responsible for both on-street enforcement and the operation of over 40 car parks for Conwy County Borough Council. Anthony’s career has seen her rise from the front line to manager in under 10 years. She joined Conway as parking attendant in July 2006 and progressed through a number of roles: civil enforcement officer supervisor, parking policy operations manager and then acting parking manager. She

John McArdle is a well-known face in the parking industry, having popped up in a number of places since first being appointed as parking manager for Glasgow in 1987. He was working in Strathclyde Regional Council’s traffic section where he had responsibility for the Traffic Order when he was appointed parking manager and placed in charge of the newly established parking unit. This role saw him pull together services previously delivered by a range of departments to reduce costs and improve

Delivering cash to banks and shops is a hazardous task. Cash delivery trucks are armoured because the threat of robbery is real. However, the real danger comes when delivery teams leave the vehicles. In 2014 there were 140 attacks on staff working for G4S Cash Solutions staff, with some staff being taken to hospital with serious injuries.  G4S’s route planners and controllers thus work to ensure the cash and valuables in transit (CVIT) trucks arrive at their destinations, but most bu

Merry Hill is a major regional shopping complex in the West Midlands owned by intu Properties and Queensland Investment Corporation. Every year over 23.5 million people are attracted to intu Merry Hill’s 220 stores, 40 places to eat, cinema and other attractions. The vast majority of shoppers arrive and depart via its 8,000 parking spaces. One problematic area was the Purple Car Park, a three-level multi-storey. Some steel support beams, soffits and columns had become severely corroded ov

Nedap is launching MOOV, a vehicle control system designed for cities, car parks and industrial estates, on the international market. Nedap MOOV was developed for the Dutch market, where the product is applied in more than 40 cities to regulate the volume and the flow of traffic in city centers and shopping areas. In these cities, managed vehicle entrances to the city center are created to control which vehicles are granted access.

Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council has been paid £50,000 for trialling an ANPR-based payment monitoring system in several car parks. The Staffordshire local authority is facilitating the trial of a system that enables drivers who have registered their details to be billed for their parking without using phones or machines. BemroseMobile, a cashless parking system supplier, has made the payment to facilitate a 12-month trial.  The council told Parking Review that the payment will

Bournemouth Borough Council has upgraded the payment system at one of its busiest multi-storey car parks, Richmond Gardens. The council has replaced existing pay & display systems with one that offers drivers the ability to use contactless bankcards at the entry and exit of the facility, negating the need to visit pay stations. Richmond Gardens has 935 spaces, including 12 disabled spaces, over five floors. The council has installed ParkAdvance system from WPS.  When a customer uses

The best of British parking was celebrated today when comedian Hal Cruttenden revealed the winners of the 15th British Parking Awards at the Lancaster London Hotel. Over 500 people from across the worlds of car park design, construction, management and technology attended the event. The awards showcased excellence in the design of parking facilities, exceptional customer service and innovative thinking. This year projects that deliver real benefit to local communities made a particular impa

An accreditation scheme that recognises how parking operators look after their customers has been launched by mobility rights campaigner Helen Dolphin MBE. The People’s Parking initiative seeks to recognise how car parks also cater for the needs of people with disabilities, parents with children, people who drive electric vehicles and those who drive commercial vehicles or camper vans.  Car parks applying for People’s Parking accreditation will need to prove they are: well man

Civil enforcement officers working in an east London borough secretly recorded their line manager and a council officer stressing the need to improve the number of tickets they issued. The CEOs’ audio and video footage were handed to the BBC, which was investigating allegations that the council was turning a ‘blind eye’ to misleading signs that could result in motorists being issued with penalty charge notices (PCNs) even when they had paid to park. Inside Out’s programm

Calls to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and minimise risks continue to resonate through town halls across the country. This has speeded up the inexorable move towards the digitisation of public services. Increased automation and new self-serve capabilities are developments that are saving money on the one hand and improving service accessibility and performance on the other. However, besides changing the way the public interacts with local government services, digitisation generates data &n

CCTV technology has moved on rapidly over the last few years. A significant improvement in digital cameras means that the latest generation of ANPR systems are now light years ahead of previous solutions in terms of  performance and functionality. Previous generations of ‘single-point’ ANPR systems used small PCs, analogue cameras and basic software to generate evidence packs when number plates not on a ‘whitelist’ are detected. Analogue ANPR can be used only in simp

A public-private partnership is seeking to transform the quality of parking, transport and public realm management in Lincolnshire towns such as Cleethorpes and Grimsby. The partnership began in July 2010 when North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) outsourced various services to Balfour Beatty Workplace, which was subsequently acquired by Cofely, a GDF-Suez owned business. NELC and Cofely formed what is now called the North East Lincolnshire Regeneration Partnership, with about 300 council staf

The car park serving a Manchester shopping centre has been upgraded.  Crown Point North is a 19,705m² retail park consisting of 30 units including several high street retailers such as TK Maxx, Marks & Spencer, Boots, River Island, Tesco and BHS. Located just off the motorway network at Denton, three miles east of Manchester city centre, Crown Point is served by a 798-space car park. The centre is managed for the British Land Company by estate managers Savills, which commissione

A 169-space parking deck has been built to serve a mixed-use development in Cheshire. The Square in Hale Barns features a supermarket for Booths, an independent food retail operating in the North of England. There are also five prime retail spaces and 24 apartments for sale. The car park is a split-level structure built by main contractor Eric Wright Construction. The contractor commissioned waterproofing specialist Stirling Lloyd Construction to waterproof the 1,400m² structure using its

The London Borough of Barnet is using ANPR cameras to enforce moving traffic regulations and school parking restrictions.  The north London council has awarded OpenView Security Solutions the contract to supply and maintain CCTV cameras and software for the unattended enforcement of moving traffic contraventions.  OpenView is deploying the Videalert-based ANPR platform, which will initially be used to enforce a range of moving traffic contraventions at more than 20 locations, as well

Four councils in Surrey have adopted the RingGo phone parking service under a cashless parking framework agreement managed by Elmbridge Borough Council. The other councils are Guildford Borough Council, Runnymede Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council. All four councils had been clients of Bemrose Mobile. In November last year Elmbridge, Guildford and Waverley suspended use of Bemrose Mobile’s Phone and Pay service, citing undisclosed contractual reasons. Runnymede’s two-year

All cashless parking across South West Trains’ network of stations will be offered by RingGo. Since the original roll-out in 2008, the rail network has been split between RingGo and PayByPhone. In all, 117 SWT stations will now offer phone parking. RingGo was already offered at 61 station car parks while the changeover sees a further 31 car parks transfer to RingGo as well as 26 new station car parks that have not previously taken cashless payments.   James Vickers, commercial &

NSL has appointed Yusuf Siddiqui as account director for south London, covering boroughs such as Lambeth,?Lewisham and Kingston upon Thames. Siddiqui’s background is in the delivery of outsourced services for private sector companies, local and central government and the NHS.  He has previously held senior sales and operational roles with companies such as Iron Mountain, Mitie Environmental, Initial Facilities Healthcare and MediHome.  Mark Hoskin, NSL’s executive direct

Jim Short has joined the senior management team at parking payment services supplier WPS as senior business development manager. This is the second senior hire in recent months for WPS – Philip Howell joined the company at the end of 2015, also in a senior business development position. Short has over 20 years’ experience in sales, of which the last seven have been specifically focused on the parking industry. He has previously worked as senior account executive for the parking acco

Liverpool City Region (LCR) has completed the installation of 28 of electric vehicle (EV) charge points. They constitute the first phase of Recharge, the combined authority’s scheme to encourage the public and the local authorities to simultaneously decrease their carbon footprints. Merseytravel, the executive body that provides professional, strategic and operational transport advice to the LCR is responsible for coordinating Recharge bids and projects. 

Parkonomy, a car park search engine, has signed a tie-up with NCP, which operates over 550 car parks nationwide. The partnership represents the largest expansion for Parkonomy since its launch in January 2015. Parkonomy’s website acts as a car park search engine into which customers can enter either their current location, a car park’s name or unique location number.  After determining the duration of their parking session, customers can then choose from a range of payment opt

An app that refunds parking fees for shoppers and encourages local spend, has been launched in south London. The MoreForMe app has been developed by Better Cities, a London-based smart city technology company, working in partnership with Lewisham Council. MoreForMe has been launched in Deptford with Blackheath Village to follow. Normal 0

The finalists of the British Parking Awards 2016 have been revealed by Parking Review magazine, which has organised the competition since 2002.  To see the list click here The winners will be revealed by the actor and comedian Hal Cruttenden at a gala lunch to be held at the Lancaster London London on Friday 4 March. The finalists come from across the public and private parking sectors, and encompass on-street and off-street parking operations. Besides the competitive categories, there

A number of hospital trusts in England make more than £3m a year from parking fees, according to research by the Press Association (PA).  The news agency sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to trusts across England. Ninety trusts responded to FOI requests, of which half said that they are making at least £1m a year. Seven NHS trusts earned more than £3m in 2014-15 from charges, another eight made more than £2m a year and a further 33 earned more than £

Kim Challis, regional managing director of APCOA UK & Ireland, has strengthened her team with the addition Steve O’Brien as director of transformation and Graham Smith as technical services project manager.  Steve O’Brien joins APCOA with 15 years’ experience of working for organisations including G4S, British Gas, Virgin and The Hotel Collection. As APCOA’s director of transformation he will be responsible for streamlining internal processes, introducing automa

A growing number of parking organisations have women in senior management roles, but more needs to be done to encourage women to aspire to the top roles. Inspiring and mentoring women in the sector is the primary focus of an organisation called Women In Parking (WIP). The organisation was founded in the United States during 2011 to serve as the lead association dedicated of female parking professionals by providing networking, leadership, and career outreach opportunities to its members. 

Uniformed staff patrolling the streets can be ambassadors for local authorities. Recent surveys show how the presence and conduct of uniformed officers can help maintain public confidence in the quality of local services being provided.  A survey of attitudes conducted last year by market-leading research company Ipsos MORI indicates that, despite suggestions that there has been no noticeable decline in local services after five years of spending cuts, public confidence in front line servi

The parking industry has come a long way in recent years – new technologies, new working practices and a focus on compliance, rather than punishment, all amount to significant progress that is helping to improve the public’s perception of, and confidence in, parking services. Such progress has been achieved by promoting professional standards and competencies – especially at the frontline of service delivery. Today’s civil enforcement officers (CEOs) are benefitting from

The traditional image of the parking attendant is of someone wearing a woollen serge uniform and peak cap. This military-styling was for many years the norm for police traffic wardens and later the civil enforcement officers (CEOs) who patrol our streets.  In recent years there have been moves to soften the authoritarian lines of some old fashioned uniforms. However, the adoption of lightweight shirts, jumpers, fleeces, bomber jackets and even baseball caps has not always worked. Not only

Training is central to ensuring that people working in parking have the knowledge and skills to ensure they can implement policies, procedures and interact with the public in a professional manner. A challenge facing all parking operators is the fact that their staff will inevitably have a variable range of experience, qualifications and aptitudes. The ideal solution is to develop a structured approach that maps the skillsets of individuals and plans their progress in a manner that complements

The first driverless cars to be tested on the streets of London will be a development of automated passenger shuttles used at Heathrow Airport. The GATEway group has yet to unveil the exact design but confirmed that the adapted vehicles will not run on dedicated tracks. The pods will be tested by GATEway, the Greenwich Automated Transport Environment project. The

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE

Irish phone parking provider parkbytext is now working with a parking operator in New England, USA. Unified Parking Partners has rolled out the parkbytext service in Portland, Maine. Its customers can now pay for parking at 17 locations by SMS, App, the parkbytext, by phoning to its customer care team or online. Jim Moore, chief executive of Dublin-based parkbytext, said: “Our dedicated IT team has developed time zone capability in our proprietary system, which is enabling our conti

Over 80 entries are competing in the British Parking Awards 2016, the annual competition organised by Parking Review magazine.  The entries come from across the public and private parking sectors, and encompasses on-street and off-street parking operations. The competition has categories devoted to the built environment and parking technology, but also recognises achievements by individuals and teams working in parking. Besides the competitive categories, there will be special awards suc

Over 2.63 million new cars were registered in the UK firing 2015. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said this was the first time that the 2.6 million mark had been passed and only the fourth time that the market has surpassed 2.5 million vehicles in a full year. The SMMT said the picture over the past four years has been one of growth. The market has posted increases in all bar one of the past 46 months. Last year ended with the biggest ever December sales,

Imagine, for a moment, a time when your residents and visitors are able to trade with your local community, visit local landmarks, shops and attractions without fear of inadvertently falling foul of local regulations.  Envisage that when genuine mistakes do occur, visitors and residents are left with a positive feeling about local services and how they are managed. If we dare to dream of a world where no penalties are needed, it might actually happen. The delivery of core services, and pa

Car park owners and operators around the world are waking up to a new potential in the estates they control. From Miami to Bordeaux, from Peckham to Blackpool, new approaches to the design and use of this building type are giving our cities a new lease of life. Last September London Fashion Week spurned Somerset House in favour of the Brewer Street car park off Oxford Street. The £28bn British fashion industry had found an unexpected building type in which to demonstrate its wares to the

Shoppers in Royal Leamington Spa over the festive season may have thought the Warwickshire town was heaven on earth thanks to the help of a group of ‘Parking Angels’. The flock of four Parking Angels was recruited by the town’s Business Improvement District (BID) to help shoppers find car parking spaces, to provide change for parking meters, offer maps and advice and add a little bit of cheer for shoppers. BID Leamington angels were decked out in white puffer jackets, sparkly

Some 70% of councils provide a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ online parking services, according to a new survey. The survey was carried out by Socitm (the Society of Information Technology Management), the representative body for ICT professionals in local government. Socitm assesses different online services via its Better Connected initiative. Its Better Connected survey on parking reveals that the majority of councils tested handle the task ‘pay parking fine’ wel

Following trials, the London Borough of Redbridge is to extend the use of unattended CCTV to enforce moving traffic regulations at problem locations. The east London council has awarded a contract to OpenView Security Solutions that will see it use the Videalert Digital Video Platform, which combines ANPR technology with video analytics. The Videalert platform will enforce moving traffic contraventions such as bus lanes, banned turns and box junctions. The Videalert solution automates the cons

The British Parking Awards have established a reputation for selecting witty and engaging hosts. Next year's ceremony, which takes place in London on Friday 4 March 2016, will be compered by the comedian Hal Cruttenden. Cruttenden is a familiar face on TV, with appearances on Have I Got News for you, The Royal Variety Performance, Live at the Apollo, Would I Lie To You?, Sunday Night at the Palladium, The Great British Bake Off: Extra Slice, Mock The Week, Celebrity Squares and Pointless Celebr

The PATROL Joint Committee has reduced its charges to local authorities undertaking civil parking and bus lane enforcement in England, outside London, and in Wales. PATROL ensures drivers issued with PCNs have access to an independent appeals service, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. PATROL has reviewed the basis on which it shares its expenses between member authorities across over 300 councils local authorities for the second time in 12 months.  It has lowered the cost to local authorities

Stacey Chaplin has joined parking IT specialist Barbour Logic as customer service manager. Chaplin was previously parking strategy manager at North East Lincolnshire Council. That role saw her work for outsourcing specialist Cofely UK, which has formed a partnership with the council. As parking strategy manager she ran both on-street and off-street parking provision and provided advice concerning civil parking enforcement and transport strategy. She joined NE Lincolnshire in 2008 as a develop

Card transactions may now be the dominant mode of making payments for everyday items, but cash is still vital to the life of towns and cities. Shops, bars, cafés, market stalls and all manner of businesses depend on a ready supply of coins and banknotes. Maintaining the flow of money is the job of companies such as G4S Cash Solutions (UK), which operates a fleet of armoured vans that deliver coins and banknotes to high streets across the country.  Driving an armoured truck loaded wi

Increasing use of phone parking has enabled Camden Council to remove over 500 pay & display machines in the past year. Over the last 12 months the north London council has removed 70% of its on-street parking machines. The reduction in pay station use comes on the back of increased cashless parking usage, according to Cobalt Telephone Technologies, parent company for RingGo.  The council sees reducing the use of parking terminals as a way of cutting costs. Nicolina Cooper, head of park

The Castle Mall car park in Norwich has been refurbished by Makers Construction. The 710-space car park, which was built in 1989, is a reinforced concrete structure that has been protected over the years with a range of surface treatments.  Epoxy resin-based coatings had originally been applied to the eight parking decks – including driving aisles and ramps – to protect against the ingress of contaminants such as de-icing salts brought in by vehicles.  The walls, columns

Increased automation, more extensive self-service, greater use of business intelligence and the introduction of real-time communications are keystones of Leeds City Council’s digitisation programme. The council’s parking team are seeking to apply these values to all areas of enforcement, including on-street and off-street enforcement, bus lane enforcement and permit management.   Following a highly competitive tender, the UK’s second largest metropolitan authority awarded

MEP Bill Etheridge has described Birmingham’s annual parking revenue of more than £13m ‘obscene’. The UKIP MEP for the West Midlands submitted a freedom of information (FOI) request to Birmingham City Council, which revealed that it received £13,204,170 in parking income through fees and charges in 2014/15, with £3,216,213 spent on repairs and maintenance. The FOI also revealed the breakdown in charges, with £4,300,810 generated through on-street parkin

The British Parking Awards shine a spotlight on the most imaginative, inspiring and innovative projects, people and ideas in the parking sector. The awards were launched by Parking Review magazine in 2002 with the aim of recognising the best examples of car park management, enforcement, design and teamwork. Since then they have gone on to become the most sought after accolades in the sector, with over 100 enrries being received on average every year. The deadline for entries to the 2016 awards

APCOA Parking (UK) raised over £2,200 for a hospice in Kingston-upon-Hull by allowing drivers to park in a car park free for one week. The multi-storey at King William House on Lowgate accommodates 600 cars and is mainly used by commuters and people visiting the town. Between 2-6 November, the car park’s pay stations were turned off and drivers were invited to make a contribution to the Dove House Hospice instead. A text number for donations was advertised, while bucket collectors t

Parking systems supplied by APT Skidata now have a remote ticket reading capability due to an upgrade of their barcode scanners. The latest batch of barcode scanners being installed in ticket reading column solutions are Access-IS units that have a contactless reading capability. Access-IS develops image processing systems, RFID and NFC technology, barcode reading and specialist keyboards. The Reading-based company works in over 70 countries around the globe

Cambridge City Council has upgraded car park management and people access management technologies at its Grand Arcade multi-storey, which serves a major retail development in the city centre. Following a lengthy tender process, the council appointed APT Skidata to provide both the hardware, including barriers and payment stations, and the software needed to integrate the car

The Supreme Court has rejected motorist Barry Beavis’ appeal against a parking charge issued on private land by enforcement firm ParkingEye. The panel of judges found 6-1 in favour of the parking company over the motorist. Beavis, a chip shop owner from Billericay, Essex, had argued that the levying of an £85 charge for an hour’s overstay in a free car park was disproportionate and unlawful. But, in a written ruling, the Supreme Court justices found that the £85 charged

A grassed car park has been opened within the walls of a long neglected walled garden at Plymouth’s Royal William Yard, a former Royal Navy victualling depot. The 140-space car park has been designed by Will Hoare of Dartington-based Gillespie Yunnie Architects designed. The regeneration of the Plymouth landmark has been led by developers, Urban Splash. The area is now home to cafés, bars, restaurants, museum, art galleries, offices and residential properties. The car park is situ

Oxford Street is the retail heart of London. While the street itself is open only to buses and taxis, and most shoppers arrive by public transport, there are those who choose or need to drive to the area. A public car park close to the heart of Oxford Street is the underground facility located in Cavendish Square, just behind the landmark John Lewis department store. The Cavendish Square car park one of a group of 13 Westminster City Council sites that Q-Park took over in 2011. Since then Q-Par

The multi-storey car park serving the intu Derby shopping centre is undergoing a major refurbishment. Intu Derby, formerly known as The Eagle Centre and then Westfield Derby, is a large indoor shopping mall in the city centre. The centre contains around 200 stores, including Next, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Sainsbury’s, Showcase Cinema de Lux and restaurants.  USL StructureCare has been engaged to refurbish the main multi-storey car park, which sits above the centre and adja

The Merry Hill shopping centre in the West Midlands is served by almost 10,00 parking spaces. Some 900 of these spaces are provided in the Purple Car Park, which is currently undergoing a major refurbishment. USL StructureCare has been appointed by Merry Hill’s owner intu to carry out the renovation with the aim of having it back in operation in time for the Christmas shopping peak. The Purple Car Park is a three-level multi-storey built in the late 1980s. It is located adjacent to Merry

Two multi-storey car parks belonging to Exeter City Council now feature solar panels mounted on ‘carports’ on their roofs. The solar carports on the Mary Arches and John Lewis car parks became operational at the end of October. The initiative was delivered by Devon firm Sungift Energy (PR September). Rachel Sutton, Exeter’s lead councillor for city development, said: “It’s great that Exeter is leading the way in green technology. The solar panels will provide a gr

As a full-time professional photographer, I find myself in many odd places, always on the look out for the next commission. So, it wasn’t that surprising to be at Henley Royal Regatta, dressed in shorts and flip-flops, drinking a beer, to end up in a stand-up meeting, face to face with a brand manager from NCP. Hardly an ideal meeting but we did, however, spend an enjoyable time discussing the branding issues for the nation’s largest car park operator.  We talked about the car

Fashion and homeware retailer Next is using parking bay sensors linked to variable message signs to give customers real-time information on the availability and location of empty parking bays at its new flagship store in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.  The store, which is set to act as a template for future Next outlets, is served by a two level car park providing 158 spaces. The retailer was keen to ensure shoppers could easily find parking bays upon arrival at the store, so turned to tra

Parking control and management systems have been upgraded at the Telford Shopping Centre in Shropshire. The 50-acre shopping centre, which was opened in 1973, has around 160 stores and a footfall of over 300,000 per week.  The centre is run for its owners Hark & Apollo by property management company DTZ, which is responsible for the site’s 3,750 parking spaces. The contract for the new payment systems was awarded, after competitive tender, to APT Skidata. The deal will see APT S

Dutch speed gate manufacturer Alldoorco has entered the UK market, where it will be represented by Miras Parking and Security. Mike Davies of Miras said: “Speed gates do ‘exactly what they say on the tin’, they are very fast acting automatic bi-fold gates that provide total control of all vehicles, and pedestrians, entering and leaving the car park. They operate as fast as barriers and bollards giving enhanced security and control, and can be easily linked to any parking reven

Winchester City Council was the first local authority outside of the capital to adopt decriminalised parking enforcement back in 1996. The council's head of parking and CCTV, Richard Hein, emphasises that the authority is still very committed to fair enforcement and encouraging compliance. “The council's boundaries extend far beyond the city itself, it serves the interests of around 120,000 residents,” said Hein. “The local economy is dependent not just on business but also on

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is introducing unattended camera enforcement at eight locations across the borough for moving traffic offences including restricted access, banned turn and bus lane contraventions.  The council will be making use of its existing Videalert Digital Video Platform. Richmond upon Thames originally selected Videalert because it supports attended, unattended and mobile CCTV enforcement.  Jim Marshall, Richmond’s head of parking services, sai

Coventry City Council is installing new variable message signs (VMS) to provide drivers with parking guidance in strategic routes into the city centre. The council is creating a network of 16 matrix information signs around the ring road, four large matrix signs in the city. The signs are being supplied by SWARCO Traffic, which won the contract under competitive tender. Carl Dyer, technical director for SWARCO Traffic, said: “The 12 parking guidance signs nearest the centre will feature t

Parking sensors linked to smartphone apps will be deployed across public parking bays in Minsk, Belarus, as part of a bid by the city’s council to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Telensa, a provider of wireless networking technology, is to provide a smart parking solution for the Belarusian capital. Over 3,000 on-street parking spaces across the capital will be fitted with sensors that will monitor occupancy.  The solution uses Telensa wireless technology. Small battery-pow

The States of Jersey has published a tender for alternative payment systems for its public car parks. The Channel Island authority is asking companies wishing to tender for the project to assess the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) documents on its e-portal: www.channelislandtenders.com  The council will only accept PQQ submissions via the portal.  Normal 0

The British Parking Association (BPA) says it has disciplined UK Parking Control (UKPC) in the wake of allegations of evidence tampering by some of its employees. The allegations are that staff working for UKPC have been altering timestamps on digital cameras to make it appear that cars left in privately owned car parks it patrols have overstayed. The association has also announced revisions to the code of practice for private parking operators. It has banned the use of incentive schemes that e

NCP has been awarded a 10-year deal to manage and market parking at Grand Central, Birmingham’s new retail and transport hub, which opened in September. The car park is for shoppers and travellers using Birmingham’s Grand Central Station. NCP says the contract represents a new model for retail car parks as it has secured the site on a fixed-rate basis, with an undertaking that the focus for all parties will be on the quality of the service delivered over the profits that the car par

APCOA Parking (UK) has signed new combined parking and security contracts with two NHS Trusts in Bedfordshire. Bedford Hospital NHS Trust has awarded APCOA a five-year parking and security services’ contract, following a competitive tender process. APCOA now manages parking serving the hospital’s north and south wing, as well as 24-hour on-site security.  APCOA said it will be installing ANPR infrastructure for staff parking areas and introducing a new electronic staff permit

Q-Park UK hosted Sheffield’s first open air pop-up cinema on the roof of its Castlegate car park last month. The Village Screen showed The Full Monty, Back to the Future and Dirty Dancing over three nights from Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 September. The audience sat in deck chairs and listened to the movies via headphones. There were also food and drink stands.  Moviegoers could pre-book their evening’s parking online or through the Q-Park Rewards loyalty app. John Denton, hea

An end to free parking and provision of more spaces will enable a Norfolk market town to cope with rising pressure on spaces caused by an increase in commuter train services, a study commissioned by the town council has recommended. The rural town of Downham Market sits on the edge of the Fens between King’s Lynn, Norwich and Cambridge. Downham’s high street and town centre retail areas serve a large hinterland, meaning there is already high demand for parking from local residents a

Hornton Street is at the heart of civic life in the busy central London borough of Kensington & Chelsea, which is home to many world class museums, venues, department stores and events. The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) built the car park in the 1970s beneath the red brick library and conference centre, which stand adjacent to the 1905 Town Hall. It is also located close to the upmarket retail area of Kensington High Street, which is home to the Art Deco Barkers’ dep

At a time when the government is cutting spending on the Welfare State, it is hard to argue for free car parking at NHS hospitals as this would inevitably have a knock-on impact on revenue streams and, in turn, the subsequent investment they can make in healthcare provision. This is not, however, a licence to charge patients, visitors, staff and contractors unreasonable sums for parking in hospital car parks. The government has made this clear by issuing guidance notes for parking at NHS hospita

Parking involves selling space and time. In the beginning, off-street parking space was sold by men sitting at barriers and on-street by clockwork meters. Over time a raft of new technologies, including pay & display ticket machines and networked pay-on-foot systems with automated barriers, became the norm. In the past decade cashless payment options have spread from card reading machines to virtual systems such as phone parking, which itself is evolving as phones become smarter and a wide

An online interactive guidance facility to help motorists with their parking appeals has gone live in two south London boroughs. The shared Bromley and Bexley Parking Service is ‘beta-testing’ the system, which has been developed by Barbour Logic.   Response Master Self Serve enables motorists appealing against a penalty charge notice (PCN) to know in advance the likely outcome of their appeal with a full explanation. Where appropriate, it also explains the type of evidence req

Portsmouth City Council has awarded Videalert a contract to deploy its latest civil enforcement platform for use in bus lanes. The DfT Manufacturer Certified platform is a hosted service that does not require hardware or software to be installed on customer premises. It will enable the council to introduce unattended enforcement at a number of bus lane locations which are experiening high levels of contravention. Michael Robinson, parking services manager at Portsmouth City Council, said: &ldq

Hear that, the hissing sound? Don’t be alarmed, that’s just me beginning to let off some steam through the valve of writing for Parking Review after reading some very bad news. I am digesting the revelation that a private parking management company has admitted – after initially issuing vehement denials – that photographic evidence on parking tickets issued by attendants had been tampered with. From where I sit looks a bit like the parking world has been in close proximit

The relationship between the car and the city very much at the heart of this year’s Parking World event, which takes place at the KIA Oval. Over the past 11 years the annual conference and exhibition, programmed by the Parking Review team, has taken a wide-ranging and thought-provoking approach that recognises parking is variously a key transport policy and traffic management tool, a public service and a business activity. Parking World is the backbone of a major ‘Intelligent City M

Police fraud experts are investigating allegations that photographic evidence was altered in order to unfairly issue parking charge notices (PCNs) in a privately operated car park. The company is also being investigated by the British Parking Association (BPA), of which it is a member. Motorists receiving PCNs while parking at the Tritton Road Retail Park in Lincoln say that timestamps have been altered on photos taken by attendants working for UK Parking Control (UKPC)

Nearly a quarter-of-a-million fewer penalty charge notices (PCNs) for parking and traffic contraventions were issued by London boroughs and Transport for London (TfL) last year. Figures from London Councils reveal that authorities issued 4,746,219 PCNs in 2014/15, which is a drop of 243,704, or nearly 5%, from 2013/14 (4,989,923). The number of appeals lodged with the independent appeals body London Tribunals fell by more than 20% – nearly 11,000 fewer – and the number of appeals lo

APCOA Parking (UK) has been named in the top 5% of the Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) Approved Contractor Scheme. This year APCOA achieved its highest ever score, 150 points. APCOA’s security activities are licensable under the SIA. These include security guarding and CCTV public surveillance at several hospitals. The company was assessed by the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB), a certification body affiliated to the SIA. A full criteria assessment conducte

Clothes and handbag designer Anya Hindmarch is launching her autumn collection in a multi-storey car park in the West End of London. Part of the Selfridges’ car park is being transformed into a showroom inspired by the British motorway system. The pop-up shop, which opens on 11 September, has been inspired by the M25, the motorway that encircles London. Hindmarch said: “There is something about being on the M25, with a clear road and the combination of lights, reflective surfaces a

Credit card company MasterCard has teamed up with parking equipment manufacturer Parkeon to launch a system that allows local businesses to offer coupons and offers via parking pay stations. The City Connector ‘hyperlocal’  couponing service was launched in the US city of Las Vegas in June. The solution is powered by MasterCard’s Enterprise Offers Platform, which turns traditional parking meters into connected devices through which local authorities and businesses can en

APCOA Parking (UK) has been awarded a two-year contract extension to provide security and parking services for Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. APCOA took over the security operations and car park management at the hospital in September 2013 as part of a two-phase service implementation. Around six months later APCOA assumed responsibility for parking enforcement across the campus. The Trust has now extended APCOA’s security and parking management contract, m

The London Borough of Harrow has been increasing its provision of services online, building on its experience of enabling web appeals against penalty charge notice (PCNs).  The online PCNs service was launched in 2010 and now handles 84,000 submissions annually. The council estimates that offering online appeals delivers a cost saving of £90,000 every year. Over the past three years the council’s MyHarrow portal has added other council services including waste collection and p

Solar panels on frames are being installed on the roof deck of a multi-storey car park in Exeter. The use of the carport-style structures means vehicles can still use the top deck of the Mary Arches site. Exeter City Council has awarded the contract to local company SunGift, a specialist in solar energy solutions, following a competitive tender that attracted regional and national bidders. The frames will hold over 540 solar panels, which will generate 285,227kWh per year, saving around 150 to

Over the past 30 years Nick Lester-Davis has established himself as a leading authority in the world of parking. With an encyclopedic knowledge of all matters parking related, he would take some beating as a Mastermind contestant on his chosen subject. But, by his own admission, Lester-Davis’ entry into the world of parking was “entirely accidental” and a case of being in the right place at the right time. And though he has, in more recent years, assumed a broad remit as corpor

The role of parking in sustainable transport policy will be a theme running through the three days of the European Parking Congress, which takes place in Berlin between 23-25 September. The congress is the biennial gathering of the European Parking Association (EPA), a network of national parking organisations which shares best practice and discusses parking policy.  London Council’s director of services, Nick Lester-Davis, is the long-serving president. The 17th EPA Congress program

Letter to Marcus Jones MP: Car parking policy – the Cardigan experience Dear Marcus, I thought I would follow up the media interest in the case of Cardigan where, due to vandalism of parking machines in local car parks, it was reported that many of the shops in Cardigan’s town centre benefited from the temporary availability of free parking. I thought it might be helpful, given your review of off-street parking policy, for me to ma

Local government spending on parking has fallen by around 8%, according to new data released by the Local Government Association. The LGA has created an online tool that tracks the changes in spending that have taken place in core services such as parking over the past five years. The LGA’s Future Funding interactive tool enables users to check the changes in spending on services. It reveals that spending on parking has decreased 8% from £811m in 2010/11 to £749m in 2013/14. T

Diplomatic missions and international organisations in the UK amassed 5,307 parking fines, totalling £536,289. This figure is dwarfed by 12 years worth of unpaid Congestion Charge fees amounted to over £87m.  Foreign secretary Philip Hammond provided the details in a written statement to Parliament on 16 July. The value of unpaid Congestion Charge dent incurred by diplomatic missions and international organisations in London between its introduction in February 2003 and 31 Dec

Motorists can now pay for parking in Cambridge by phone for the first time. Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council teamed up to introduce the RingGo cashless mobile phone parking payment service on 1 July. While it has been possible to pay online for park & ride and some other services, the city has not offered phone parking. The partnership adopted between the county and city council means that the new payment service is available for both on-street parking and in pay &a

All card payment transactions across the National Car Parks portfolio will now be handled by ADVAM. NCP is the largest car park operator in the UK, with a portfolio of over 500 car parks in cities, at airports and rail stations. The new contract represents a streamlining in the way NCP processes the 18 million car transactions it generates each year.  Previously NCP used four separate PSPs (payment service providers) to manage payment processing across their portfolio. This approach preve

There is no such thing as a free parking space: someone has to pay for it. This is true everywhere: in town centres, at the beach and in the countryside. Some car parks may be free at the point of use but someone is paying for their upkeep and maintenance. If they are patrolled to keep them safe someone is paying for that too. So-called free parking is subsidised in some way, either by council tax payers or business ratepayers or a combination of both. We expect local authorities up and down th

Like many airports, Heathrow can resemble a massive car park with runways attached. There is no doubting that public parking spaces the airport operates make a substantial contribution to its revenues - £52m in the first six months of this year, according to the latest report from the airport’s operating company, Heathrow (SP) Ltd. The airport’s 23,000 on-site parking spaces provide business travellers and tourists with a range of services in a variety of surface and multi-sto

The British Parking Association has identified areas of research relating to parking from the UK and Europe where it believes further study would improve professionalism and service delivery. The BPA commissioned Dr Adam Snow, a social science researcher at Keele University, to gather existing academic research relating to parking from the UK and Europe, identify areas where further research would be beneficial, and suggest both short and longer term research projects. The BPA has selected six

Parking and facilities management company CP Plus is investing in ANPR technology provider Ranger Services. The companies say the deal will see them work together to deliver technology and services that play to both their strengths and benefit the existing and potential client base. Grahame Rose, director of development at CP Plus, said: “We have worked closely with Ranger for a number of years now and when we were looking to invest in technology and services that are beneficial to our bu

A London local authority parking partnership has helped a South Yorkshire council clear a build up of drivers’ correspondence. Bromley and Bexley’s Shared Parking Service assisted Sheffield City Council with a short-term backlog of challenges and representations. Ben Stephens, head of Bromley and Bexley Shared Parking Service, said: “Having combined the work of two services previously to form a shared service, we were keen to work with colleagues within local government again,

Delivery companies are winning 72% of parking appeals in London, according to figures released by the Freight Transport Association (FTA).  A survey of FTA members gathered information on parking fine hot spots, CCTV and penalty charge notice (PCN) appeals. High streets were identified as the main hotspot for the issuing of PCNs, with the borough of Bromley topping the list.  The most frequent reason for a ticket being issued was “stopped where prohibited” – parking

APCOA Parking (UK) has been awarded a two-year contract extension by Maidstone and Swale borough councils, which have operates a joint parking enforcement regime since 2011.  APCOA has been Maidstone’s contractor since 2004. Under the joint contract, civil enforcement officers (CEOs) patrol the Kent boroughs on foot, on bike and in patrol vehicles. As part of the new contract APCOA is looking to introduce two-way communication via the CEOs’ handheld computers to enable the liv

The enforcement of private parking has started attracting the interest of consumer affairs and investigative television programmes. Recent months have seen several programmes look into how private land is regulated under the Protection of Freedoms Act, which banned clamping without lawful authority but made it easier to issue tickets by making vehicle keepers liable for parking charge notices. Two of the programmes, Channel 4’s Dispatches and BBC One’s Watchdog, employed undercover

The Independent Parking Committee IIPC) appeared on the BBC One consumer affairs programme Watchdog in an edition that looked at parking on private land. The 28 May edition of the show examined cases of people who felt their appeals against parking charge notices issued on private land had not been properly listened to. The cases included that of Mr and Mrs Smith from Kent, an elderly couple who were issued with a £95 PCN for not displaying the appropriate form at a shopping centre, which

Keith Hanshaw has been appointed as managing director of Project Centre, NSL’s technical design consultancy. Hanshaw joined Project Centre in November 2014 as regional director. He was previously chief officer at the London Borough of Waltham Forest, where he was responsible for public realm schemes. His 25-year career in local government also saw him work for Medway Councils and the London boroughs of Camden and Newham. Hanshaw said: “I’m very much looking forward to taking

There are parts of the world where people have always lived without cars because no road access is possible or none has been provided. Some of these are historic areas or entire settlements, like Venice. In the 1990s, beginning in Germany and Austria, another movement with utopian ideals began to promote the idea of ‘carfree’ new developments. Several of these have been built across various European countries, and were the original reason for my European travels. In Britain the term

Heathrow Airport’s revamped Terminal 4 (T4) car park will be equipped with bay monitoring and car location systems used at the new Terminal 2 car park. The 900-space T4 multi-storey is to be equipped with Highlight Parking Systems’ Highlight bay monitoring system and Baywatch car location system. The contract was awarded by APCOA Parking (UK) on behalf of Heathrow Airport (HAL).  

Traffic and parking enforcement solutions provider Videalert has launched a “Civil Enforcement as a Service” (CEaaS) solution using the company’s DfT Manufacturer Certified hosted platform. Videalert says the CEaaS approach enables councils to alter the process of specifying, procuring and deploying CCTV-based enforcement systems. For example, it introduces the ability to purchase CCTV traffic services on demand. “CEaaS enables councils to dramatically change the econom

During the General Election campaign, Prime Minister David Cameron said local authorities should introduce free parking in market towns and be less aggressive towards motorists. The Tory leader told a meeting in Birmingham that parking charges were a factor in driving shoppers away from the high street. “I love our high streets,” said the Prime Minister, “they are part of what makes us British. We want town centres to be vibrant, exciting places to go and shop and meet. That

Past performance is a poor indicator of the future. This is a warning usually written in small print on adverts for financial services. It is also something that parking professionals would be well advised to bear in mind. As I approach the age of 60, I have spent half my life in parking. Looking back at what was probably ‘The Golden Age of Parking’ I remember a time (not so long ago) when there was a general shortage of parking spaces and the operators’ main preoccupation was

Shopping centre operator Intu has submitted a detailed planning application for the transformation of the Broadmarsh shopping centre to Nottingham City Council. Into wants to create a new southern gateway from Nottingham’s mainline station. There will be improved pedestrian routes through the shopping centre and surrounding streets. The proposals form part of a £150m investment by Intu and the council which includes the refurbishment of the Broadmarsh multi-storey car park and bus

Shopping centre operator Hammerson is trialling ‘print@home’ parking tickets at Highcross Leicester following an upgrade of parking systems at the city centre site. The print@home trial allows drivers to book their parking in advance and print out barcoded tickets that are scanned by the payment systems. The shopping centre, which features a car park above the mall, was opened as The Shires in 1991 and extended in 1994. The Shires was renamed in 2008 when a further large extension a

Demand responsive pricing for parking adjusts the tariff paid to park based on demand. At times and locations that demand is high, the price to park is increased and, where there is high availability, the price is reduced. The principal modern-day advocate of this idea, Professor Donald Shoup from UCLA, calls it ‘performance pricing’. The idea stems from the work by Nobel Prize winning economist William Vickrey back in 1954. Shoup gave new life to the idea in his seminal 1997 paper t

Donald Shoup, one of the greatest influencers in modern parking thought, retired last month. He steps out of the limelight knowing that he has changed the course of policy and thinking on how we approach parking and, in particular, how we use economic principles to manage it. Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning, Donald Shoup, described as a “parking rock star”[1], has been teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for over 41 years. However, it is for his exp

As more people depend on accessing travel, driving and parking information online, the availability of data is becoming crucial. The websites and apps which travellers use to plan and book their journeys are only as good as the information that feeds them, which means that access to up-to-date and accurate data is becoming more important than ever. Ideally, the information that motoring, parking and public transport apps and websites are using should be freely available, or ‘open’ a

The enforcement of parking on private land, the ‘Sharing Economy’, ‘Connected Cars’ the benchmarking of accessible parking bays and Life Care Plans are just some of the many themes being discussed at Parking & Property 2015.  The annual conference is the only UK event focussed purely on the off-street parking sector. The event is programmed by Mark Moran, editor of Parking Review, and Nigel Williams, managing director of the Parking Matters consultancy. A centr

Total Car Parks has won its first NHS contract. The company will manage the patient and visitor car park at the West Berkshire Community Hospital in Thatcham. The hospital is part of the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. In-house staff previously patrolled the car park, on London Road. It has 158 parking spaces, including 16 disabled bays and a designated area for motorcycles. Total Car Parks has installed three new Metric Elite pay & display machines and also offers customers the

A Greater Manchester council has won a business-friendly award for its plans to introduce free car parking across its boundaries. Rochdale Borough Council’s scheme, which offers three hours’ free parking at all its car parks, started on 1 May.  The council was presented with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Business Buddy Award. Rochdale Council’s decision to rescind car parking charges – which will cost the authority around £100,000 in lost revenue &

The 62nd edition of London Fashion Week will take place in a car park in the heart of Soho.  NCP’s Art Deco Brewer Street multi-storey will host the British Fashion Council (BFC) event in September. Brewer Street’s central London location fulfils BFC’s goal of hosting LFW in a West End space close to major retail spaces.  Two floors of Brewer Street Car Park will host catwalk shows in the BFC Show Space and the Designer Showrooms, with over 100 designers exhibiting t

USL StructureCare has upgraded the multi-storey car park serving the Middleton shopping centre in Greater Manchester. The Middleton Centre, which is located north of Manchester, is managed by CBRE. Its anchor tenants include Wilkinsons, WH Smith and Boots. Waterproofing on the 378-space car park’s exposed decks had begun to deteriorate and needed replacing. Following a competitive tender process, USL StructureCare was asked to ‘value engineer’ its proposals, the objective bei

National Car Parks will be extending an equipment upgrade programme to include all its pay-on-foot car parks. The operator, which has completed 63 system upgrades so far, has announced that another 120 sites will receive new systems. The programme will cost around £19m by the time it is completed in 2018. The system upgrade will enable NCP to offer online booking, ANPR and barcode scanning across its estate. “The benefits to NCP customers are already being seen,” said John Ha

Metric Group used Parkex 2015 to showcase a parking management system to enable supermarket chain Tesco to ensure only genuine customers benefit from free parking. The latest version of VivoPark was developed in consultation with Tesco. VivoPark won the Parking Technology category at the British Parking Awards 2015 and has now been shortlisted in the Retail Week Awards. Tesco opted for Metric’s VivoPark system following extensive evaluation and a trial period. The retailer wanted a syste

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Marc Chapman as procurement manager for the UK and Ireland. He joins the parking company from American healthcare firm Johnson and Johnson Medical, where he worked for four years in a procurement role, with responsibility for the UK, Ireland and Nordic region.  Prior to that, Chapman was a senior buyer for Foster Wheeler Energy and a purchasing manager for Newsquest Media Group. He is bi-lingual in English and German. At APCOA he will be responsible for a

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a case brought against private parking operator ParkingEye by a motorist who argued that levying an £85 charge for an hour’s overstay in a free car park was disproportionate and unlawful. Barry Beavis, the motorist, was issued with the parking charge notice (PCN) after he overstayed a two-hour limit at a retail park in Chelmsford in April 2013. ParkingEye, which is owed by Capita, argued the charges were justified to discourage people from over-sta

The enforcement of parking on private land, the ‘Sharing Economy’, ‘Connected Cars’ the benchmarking of accessible parking bays and Life Care Plans are just some of the many themes being discussed at Parking & Property 2015.  The annual conference is the only UK event focussed purely on the off-street parking sector. The event is programmed by Mark Moran, editor of Parking Review, and Nigel Williams, managing director of the Parking Matters consultancy. A centr

Parking can be a challenging profession, never more so than for those on the front line, who engage with drivers, customers, and the general public as part of their day to day activities; not to mention doing all this whilst coping with the peculiarities of our ever changing British weather. NCP’s customer service assistants (CSAs) are the first point of contact for customers; providing assistance, advice, enforcement and community engagement, as well as being the public ‘face’

The London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley have created a shared parking service with the aim of improving customer experience by sharing best practice, streamlining management and improving back office IT functions. Neighbours in south-east London, Bromley and Bexley’s parking operations were carrying out the same functions with similar results. The councils realised that they were incurring duplicated costs and contracts. “A shared parking service made sense,” says Ben Stephe

Retailers recognise the benefit in providing ‘free’ parking for their customers as this is seen as a value added experience for their clientele. However, free parking is open to abuse, and attempts to regulate or enforce it can be both costly and contentious. Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, worked with parking equipment supplier Metric Group to find a solution built around the use of ANPR and a validation process. The retailer and parking company have devised a system that e

Britain’s largest parking operator NCP is upgrading lighting across its estate, replacing old light fittings with 66,000 energy efficient LED units. Operating over 150,000 parking spaces across 500 sites means NCP clocks up a significant energy bill simply powering the lighting across its estate. But wanting to reduce its energy bills was only part of the story when NCP decided to rethink its lighting strategy, with sustainability uppermost in its mind. The company’s key objectives w

London Councils has surveyed town centre businesses and, while many retailers believe that parking and parking charges are a major reason for town centre declines, the reality is very different. For most customers the important issues are range of shops and the shopping environment. Parking charges come a very long way down at the bottom of the list. And, as access by car to town centres is usually the third most important mode (after buses and walking) parking changes will really not be a gam

I am concerned that having two separate government departments responsible for parking on-street and of-street could result in an even less coherent parking policy and service delivery than presently and as a result will make managing parking and congestion even more difficult. It has been noted for many years that Department for Transport (DfT) has not been the most proactive of government departments in terms of developing ideas or driving forward parking strategy, on the other hand the Depar

Leighton Ponting is to spearhead the business development of Open Parking, a new parking management company set up by Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES). Ponting has worked in parking for nearly 10 years and was previously a regional business development manager at ICES. Most recently he spent a year in business development at the Clearview Traffic Group.   He now takes responsibility for all business development activities for Open Parking where he will be working closely with t

April sees the parking, traffic and highways sectors converge on the NEC in Birmingham for the Parkex and Traffex exhibitions. The Parkex strand, which is free to attend, will feature 120 suppliers showcasing parking products, services and technology.  Now in its 17th year, Parkex is organised by Brintex on behalf of the British Parking Association (BPA). This year Parkex runs alongside Traffex, which is also free to attend. Traffex features around 400 exhibitors from the integrated world

Two projects that seek to educate parents on how to park in a considerate manner around schools were among the winners of the British Parking Awards 2015. The South East Parking Group and Kent County Council received a Special Jury Prize for its Safer Parking Project, while Cambridgeshire County Council Road Safety won the Parking in the Community Award. Both initiatives have engaged directly with school children, teachers and parents in a bid to reduce the risk posed by dangerous parking. Oth

Chichester District Council is upgrading the payment system at the Avenue de Chartres car park in Chichester. The 900-space car park faces the historic town’s medieval wall and cathedral. It was built in 1991 at a cost of £5.2m to designs by architect Birds Portchmouth Russum. The council has awarded Metric Group a contract to supply a new Amano pay-on-foot system. The Xparc system will comprise two entries, two exits, ANPR cameras and five pay stations.

Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council is replacing ageing pay & display machines with new terminals. The Cumbrian local authority installed 22 mains-powered, coin-only Parkeon Strada Transfer machines. “Motorists simply want to put their money into the terminals and get a ticket without any hassle or problems,” said Caren Hindle, parking services manager at Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council. “As a result of our recent investment in new terminals, the parking operation is work

Excel Parking Services has decided to leave the British Parking Association’s Approved Operator Scheme (AOS) and join rival trade body the Independent Parking Committee (IPC). The operator is following the lead of its sister company Vehicle Control Services (VCS), which moved to the IPC last September. This means that Excel and VCS will now access vehicle keeper data as members of the IPC’s Accredited Operator Scheme rather than the BPA’s AOS. The companies will also direct d

Changes in shoppers’ behaviour is leading retailers to close scores of stores, mothball newly built locations and not pursue the development of planned sites. Last month Tesco announced that it would close 43 unprofitable stores. In total, 18 Express, 12 Metro, seven superstores and six Homeplus stores are shutting their doors. Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said the decision to close the stores was "exceptionally difficult". "Our priority is to explain what this announcement means for

Siemens has won contracts to supply rapid charging systems to two electric vehicle (EV) charging networks run by Charge Your Car (CYC), one in the south and one in the north of England. Launched in 2010 in the North East of England, CYC is now being expanded in to a national network. The network has over 2,000 free-to-use or pay-to-use charge points. The latest deal will see almost 40 Siemens multi-standard EV chargers will be installed in South Tyneside and Dorset over the coming months. They

Inverclyde Council in Scotland has selected solar-powered pay & display machines made by Parkeon for use in Greenock town centre. The council is installing 10 Strada Transfer machines for use in off-street car parks that had previously been free. They are coin-only, solar-powered units. A council spokesman said: “Greenock town centre and the wider Inverclyde area is growing year-on-year with visitor numbers. Not only are more people coming to enjoy our visitor facilities, cruise ship

Relationship management is one of the fundamental aspects of a parking manager’s role. Their role requires them to deal with a diverse range of people, including customers, the public, clients and landowners, as well as their own staff. Being able to successfully manage engagement across this spectrum is one of the most challenging aspects of this position. Parking managers who can engage and communicate clearly with each of the groups they deal with are ultimately those that go on to enjo

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Bradley Holcombe to the position of area operations manager for its contract with Network Rail. Holcombe joins APCOA’s Commercial Parking Services’ team from NCP, where he was responsible for a portfolio of five multi-storey car parks and one open surface facility in Birmingham city centre. Prior to that, Holcombe worked was a retail store manager for Maplin Electronics. As part of his new role, Holcombe will be responsible for seven parking locatio

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Michael Dryk as its new contract manager for its Park & Guard (enforcement services) operation in the London Borough of Redbridge. Dryk takes up the role with 18 years’ experience working for various local authorities at senior management level. During this period, he has worked at Westminster, Camden, Luton and Lambeth councils, the latter two as parking operations and services manager. The client at Redbridge is parking services manager Cameron Find

Transport for London (TfL) has retained NCP to manage its 61 London Underground station car parks. The contract includes car park development, technology, operational management, facilities management and maintenance. NCP has managed London Underground’s car parks since 2002. The company says that occupancy has grown by 18% over the last five years and two new car parks have been added to the portfolio, at Morden and Chesham. Derek Hulyer, NCP’s head of rail said: “Since the

English Cities Fund (ECf) and National Car Parks (NCP) have launched a £12m multi-storey car park for the New Bailey scheme in Salford, Greater Manchester. The 620-space car park, which opened on 9 December, was funded by Legal & General and has been let to NCP on a 35-year lease.  The car park is located adjacent to Salford Central railway station and sits alongside ECf’s One New Bailey office development, which features a 143-bed Premier Inn hotel that opened in September

Innovative thinking and a commitment to best practice are very much in evidence in the 100-plus entries we have received for this year’s British Parking Awards. The challenge facing the jury over the next two months will be whittling down this impressive list of entries into a short list which will be debated at length. The winners, to be revealed by Paralympian and TV presenter Ade Adepitan in London on 6 March, will represent the best of the best in British parking today. To see the fu

Brewer and pub company McMullens has introduced an ANPR system at a pub in north London in the wake of parking disputes which culminated  in the death of a woman.  Regulars at the The Lord Kitchener Pub, located on New Barnet High Street, were finding it increasingly difficult to park at the pub as its free parking was being increasingly used by residents visiting nearby shops and restaurants on the high street. The lack of spaces was leading to double and triple parking. One such d

APCOA Parking (UK) staff fronted a council initiative to increase the number of visits to St Helens town centre. Throughout December, APCOA’s civil enforcement officers promoted St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council’s free Saturday parking offer in the run up to Christmas. The concession, which was launched in the Merseyside town in August 2014, meant that drivers could park at any one of the 15 council-owned ground-level and multi-storey car parks. The free parking is available a

English councils generated a “profit” of £667m from on and off-street parking operations in 2013-14, according to a new report from the RAC Foundation. This is 12% higher than the £594m raised in 2012-13, says the report’s author David Leibling. Although not all councils made a large surplus,

Ade Adepitan, television presenter and Paralympic wheelchair basketball player, will present the British Parking Awards, which take place at the Lancaster Hotel in London on Friday 6 March. Having survived polio as a youngster, Ade Adepitan has gone on to compete as a wheelchair basketball player on an international level and has since built up a wealth of broadcasting experience. An instantly recognisable face, Ade traverses the world for BBC World’s The Travel Show and is a reporter on

Q-Park has launched a smartphone application that combines loyalty for parking, retail and restaurants. The app enables drivers to pre-book parking, receive promotions from local retailers and restaurants and offers drivers free parking on their sixth visit to one of around 50 Q-Park sites. The app also has a navigation system to Q-Park car parks in the area.  The app was developed by Corethree, a mobile-ticketing technology provider.  Corethree adapted Q-Park’s online pre-boo

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Johanna Mead as contract manager for its Hillingdon enforcement services’ contract.  Mead re-joins APCOA from Horsham District Council, where she managed all aspects of on-street and off-street parking enforcement. Mead worked as an assistant contract manager for APCOA’s enforcement services’ contract in Brent from May 2010 until July 2013. APCOA Parking (UK) chief executive Henk de Bruin said: “Johanna is a self-motivated and pro-a

Maynooth University in North Kildare, Ireland, has extended its existing four-year relationship with APCOA Parking Ireland until, potentially, September 2017. As part of the new contract, APCOA will continue to provide parking management services in accordance with the university’s mobility and traffic management plan. APCOA will also supply, installation and maintenance of pay and display machines.  Formerly the National University of Ireland Maynooth, the campus has a population o

With a global reputation for fine whisky production and 3,000 miles of spectacular coastal scenery to attract tourists, Argyll & Bute Council covers the second largest area of any Scottish local authority. Parking enforcement is a vital element of managing traffic flow and access to the major commercial and tourism centres in the region. In May, Argyll & Bute Council adopted decriminalised enforcement following acceptance of the authority’s proposed enforcement model by the Scotti

As anyone who has been in the same job for 25 years will readily admit, silver jubilees trigger mixed emotions. In my case, I have celebrated a quarter of a century working at Euro Car Parks (ECP). On the one hand, 25 years does feel like a very long time, yet on the other, it seems to have gone by in a flash. I know there are people out there who will identify with this, including the editor of Parking Review! I remember the ‘old days’ at ECP when we operated car parks with parking