The Structural Concrete Alliance will be holding a practical demonstration day on 25 September in Leigh, Lancashire. The free event will offer an opportunity to witness interactive demonstrations of concrete repair, protection, strengthening and sprayed concrete techniques. Following an introductory session, delegates will be divided into groups to tour a range of demonstration stations. Each station features a different display highlighting the key preparation, skills and techniques involved

A blanket ban on pavement parking could lead to a need for thousands of new car parking spaces that towns and cities are simply not equipped to provide, warns road safety final IAM RoadSmart. The House of Commons Transport Committee launched an enquiry into pavement parking and invited comments from interested parties in April, to which IAM RoadSmart has delivered its conclusions. All submissions have now been released for public viewing. One suggestion that has emerged from the enquiry is a b

Airport parking booking specialist ParkVia has appointed three recruits into its marketing team. With plans to strengthen its standing across Europe, ParkVia has appointed its first head of marketing to lead delivery of all digital marketing activities. Ben Fox will have a strategic focus on spearheading online conversion and customer experience. Fox has previously held senior roles at AO.com, JD Sports and Chinese manufacturing company Hisense. Fox said: “As pre-booked parking faces sti

Construction teams working on the new Wembley Pink Coach and Car are working to raise £10,000 for breast cancer. Huber Car Park Systems, which is building the facility, organised a Wear Pink to Work Day in aid of Breast Cancer Now on 27 June. Besides raising cash, the event also sought to raise awareness of breast cancer. The event included an inspirational talk from ‘Breast Cancer Now’, included a charity collection, auction and a raffle of various tickets to Wembley stadium

A team of cyclists from AppyParking raised £800 for the British Heart Foundation by taking part in a London to Brighton bike ride. The team battled wind and rain, as well as the one mile uphill Ditchling Beacon hill climb.

Chipside’s MiPermit team raised over £2,500 for charity by taking part in the Armed Forces Day Sponsored Cycle Ride. The 75-mile cycle ride was organised by Wiltshire Council to raise funds for SSAFA, the armed forces charity. The ride was an official countdown event for the National Armed Forces Day’s in Salisbury, for which MiPermit was a gold sponsor. MiPermit’s chief executive Paul Moorby OBE said: “National Armed Forces Day goal is to give the armed forces co

Parking is changing. Mobility around the world has never been a hotter topic. We now have companies such as Uber, Lyft, Tesla, Google, BMW and many others who have entered the transport industry – and thus inadvertently the parking industry – with the sole purpose of changing the way we get around and connect with our cities’ infrastructure. There are some important questions that we, today’s young parking professionals, have to ask ourselves: As professionals of the

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,

Town Centre Securities (TCS) and its subsidiary CitiPark were commended at the British Property Federation (BPF) Futures Tomorrow’s Leaders Awards. The companies’ head of corporate social responsibility, Charlotte-Daisy Leeming, was a finalist in the Community Engagement category. This recognition follows TCS and CitiPark’s winning the Contributing to the Community Award at the Yorkshire Business Master Awards 2019 in recognition of their charitable work.

The shared mobility charity CoMoUK has appointed Richard Dilks as its new chief executive. Dilks was previously transport programme director at the business group London First, where he led policy and advocacy across a wide range of transport modes. Prior to that he worked as a policy adviser and journalist at the consumer body Which? Dilks said: “It is a huge honour to become CoMoUK’s chief executive at this momentous time for shared mobility. The opportunities for it to deliver th

Parklet campaigner Brenda Puech was named Walking Champion 2019 by Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking. Puech was awarded the Charles Maher Award on 29 March at Living Streets’ National Walking Summit. The award was set up in honour of Charles Maher, a campaigner and supporter of Living Streets. Puech was recognised for transforming a parking space outside her home in east London into a mini-park, or ‘parklet’. When she created the parklet, Hackney Council ask

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

Messagemaker Displays has appointed Lillian Zhang as their new project manager.  Zhang joins Surrey-based Messagemaker Displays from the Chinese-based LED signage specialists Chainzone Technology. One of her main projects was working on the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge, which is the longest sea bridge in the world, stretching across a record distance of 55km. At Messagemaker Displays she will focus on variable message signs (VMS), implementing optical lenses design on the front of these

CitiPark’s parent company, Town Centre Securities (TCS), took home the Contributing to the Community Award at the Yorkshire Business Master Awards 2019. The trophy was presented in recognition of TCS and CitiPark’s charitable work across the region. Charitable donations by TCS and CitiPark in 2017-18 amounted to £144,500, £28,500 of which was raised through events, collections and competitions. The judges were impressed by CitiPark’s plastic recycling scheme and N

If someone had mentioned a career ‘in parking’ to university graduates a decade ago, the chances are they would instinctively envision mundane days spent driving around a borough, enforcing parking restrictions and handing out fines to frustrated drivers. Today the profile of our industry looks very different. In a 2017 article on the complexities of parking, The Guardian reported that Britain is home to more than 30 million cars, which on average spend 95% of their time parked. R

Motorists are not enthusiastic about the idea of driverless cars, with more than half of drivers saying the idea “horrifies” them, according to a consumer survey. Online motor retail specialist BuyaCar.co.uk has tracked consumer attitudes to the concept of autonomous vehicles since April 2017. Its latest figures show that motorists now appear more fearful and sceptical about computer-controlled driving than they were just two years ago. In February the Department for Transport anno

Public sector outsourcing contractor Serco has launched a zero tolerance policy towards any violence, aggression and abuse directed against staff delivering front line local services. The ‘Respect and Protect’ campaign aims to reduce the increasing number of employees on Serco’s Environmental Services contract being subjected to assaults, threats, abusive and insulting behaviour by members of the public. Serco’s employees deliver a range of front line local services acr

Parking technology company Park Assist has announced the results of a five-month long study conducted in collaboration with Brisbane Airport Corporation quantifying the impact of its camera-based smart sensor parking guidance system (PGS) on drivers using the car parks. Dr Poorvi Kaushik, Park Assist’s lead data scientist for the research, believes the study to be the first of its kind in the industry, based on the methodology used and sample size. “In addition to elevating the over

Plans for a multi-storey car park at the Bristol Royal Infirmary have been turned down. The 820-space car park is intended for use by patients, visitors and staff. Of the 820 spaces, 34 would be for disabled use and there would be six electric vehicle charging bays. The car park would also have a 400-space bike hub with changing rooms, bike storage and cycle maintenance areas, and facilities for oversize bikes and battery-assisted bikes. Bristol City Council’s planning committee refused

The North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) Joint Committee has set aside £50,000 funding to enable the implementation of a project designed to make parking around schools safer. The 3PR approach created no parking areas around school entrances. 3PR, which represents the three “Parking Rules of Care, Consideration and Caution”, delivers a positive message about school parking and provides advice and guidance to children, parents and carers on safe and considerate parking practi

Keltic Clothing’s security and parking department has developed traditional and modern looks for civil enforcement officers in a variety of colours. At Parkex 2019 the company will be showcasing the ‘modern parking uniforms’ look and the wide range of colour options available. “This year we are focussed on ‘parking uniforms for the modern world’,” said David Barry, Keltic’s managing director. “We are having lots of colour on the stand with a

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 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

Over 160 people gathered in Manchester for the Traffic + Parking conference. Traffic + Parking was devised by Parking Review, Landor LINKS and programme partner PATROL to build on the legacy of the long-running Parking World event. The day opened with PATROL’s chair Cllr Jamie Macrae and director Louise Hutchinson exploring the wide range of rules and regulations for which local authority parking and traffic teams are now responsible. The range of traffic initiatives is increasing, with l

An online consultation platform that enables residents to suggest and vote on topics of discussion has been used by the London Borough of Newham to gauge opinions on future parking policy. During January and February Newham held a borough-wide conversation called Our Streets, Transport and Parking. The east London council asked local people to comment on matters relating to roads and the public realm via an interactive digital survey and events across the borough. The conversations took place

A local authority in South Wales is trying to encourage shop workers to park further away from retail areas, to enable more customers to park near their shops.A report by Vale of Glamorgan Council explains: “Many town centre parking spaces are occupied by employees working in those centres which could be freed up for shoppers. The council is working with traders to seek to realise the opportunity to free up parking and encouraging High Street businesses to change their parking behaviour to

Following the appointment of Alan Grix as its new managing director, Scheidt & Bachmann UK (S&B UK) has made three further changes to its senior team. Jason Barnes, previously S&B UK’s service director, now becomes operations director. Barnes has been involved in service delivery for over 30 years. Alan Grix said: “Under Jason’s guidance our expansion has been seamless and the wide range of service level agreement (SLA) based site cover. I believe the remote suppor

German parking payment system company Designa has made changes to its senior management team, with chief executive officer Dr Thomas Waibel being joined by two new appointments. Robert Monsberger and Gotthard Mayringer will now also take responsibility for the Kiel-based company as chief sales officer (CSO) and chief financial officer (CFO) respectively.New CSO Robert Monsberger has worked in a directorial positions at Siemens, Efkon, Asseco Solutions AG and Smart Connected Solutions.Monsberger

The developer behind a new village community near Harrogate in Yorkshire has unveiled plans to reopen a historic railway station as a park & ride facility. Flaxby Park has acquired Goldsborough’s former station house and intends to re-launch the site as Flaxby Parkway Station. The parkway will form part of the wider Flaxby Park scheme, which will see new homes developed on a disused golf course. The planning application for the development includes 2,750 homes, two primary schools, a

US technology company Conduent Incorporated has announced the appointment of Rahul Gupta as chief technology and product officer (CTPO). Conduent creates digital platforms and services for businesses and governments to manage interactions with citizens. In the UK it supplies IT systems used for the enforcement and management of parking schemes. Based in Florham Park in New Jersey, USA, Gupta will be responsible for end-to-end product and platform management including implementation, maintenance

APCOA Parking staff supported an Irish children’s hospice by collecting toys. The 2018 Christmas Toy Appeal in aid of the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, which provides palliative care to children with life-limiting conditions and their families across Ireland. Over 60 toys were collected during December along with a donation of €250 (£215). In 2018, LauraLynn provided specialised hospice care to approximately 250 children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

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

The charity that looks after Wimbledon Common in London is using a mobile parking payment system to tap into Gift Aid funding. The Wimbledon and Putney Commons (WPCC) is an area of parkland covering 1,440 acres that cost around £1.5m a year to maintain. WPCC has historically used a pay & display machine to collect fees at its Windmill Car Park. Simon Lee, WPCC chief executive, was keen to find a way to enable visitors to make contributions. A phone parking system was devised in consu

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

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

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

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

Alan Grix has been named as the new managing director of Scheidt & Bachmann (UK). He has been the company’s sales director since 2000. Grix takes over from Martin Hughes, managing director of Scheidt & Bachmann (UK) for the past two decades, who announced that he is leaving the company to pursue new challenges. “I’m delighted to have helped establish and build the Scheidt & Bachmann brand in the UK to its current position,” said Hughes. “I would like to

Parking operator Indigo’s Smart Thinking Awards provided an opportunity to recognise employees who have gone above and beyond their day job. The biennial event, held at Highgate House in Northampton, was compered by Chris Hooper, Indigo’s learning and development business partner. “I am amazed at the lengths Indigo UK employees have gone to embody our values and demonstrate the passion you all have for Indigo. I’m so pleased to be able to meet with the people who carry

Staff at NCP Moorfields car park have raised more than £700 for Liverpool-based national mental health charity Chasing the Stigma by rolling up their sleeves and running a regular fundraising car wash. Since June parking attendants, team leaders and managers at the car park have brandished buckets and sponges on the first Tuesday of every month. Chasing the Stigma is a national mental health charity committed to removing the fear and unnecessary stigma around mental health issues. It wor

Joost van der Willik has been appointed as the new managing director of Nedap Identification Systems, a supplier of traffic and parking management systems. “For many years, Nedap Identification Systems has delivered cutting edge technology in various markets and verticals. I’m excited to team up with a global team of knowledgeable professionals, eager to pursue new heights by further inspiring our partner network and the clients that benefit from our technology on a daily basis.&rdq

German parking and refuelling systems manufacturer Hectronic has appointed two further managing directors to support existing managing Stefan Forster.  Eckhard Fechtig and Frank Gampp have been promoted to the executive level of Hectronic.  Fechtig has been plant manager at the Hectronic in Bonndorf since 2002 and a member of the executive board with power of attorney. Since 2008 he has been a member of the board for Hectronic’s subsidiary in India. Gampp became Hectronic&rsqu

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,

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

Local authority parking teams across the UK were among the local authority services that took to Twitter on 20 November for the seventh annual #OurDay social media marathon. The 24-hour campaign is organised by the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 370 councils in England and Wales. The LGA encouraged councillors and local authority staff to take a couple of minutes out of their day to explain how they keep their communities running as part of the live tweetathon by using the

The International Parking Community used its annual conference to launch its ‘Raising the Bar’ manifesto. The document sets out the organisation’s ambition to push for better parking practices and an improved parking experience to address the negativity, distrust and cynicism felt by some of the motoring public. In his opening address at the conference, IPC chief executive Will Hurley told the 200 delegates at the Hilton Double Tree in Milton Keynes: “We’ve injected

Canterbury City Council sees the digitalisation of services as a path to delivering a better and more responsive service to residents, businesses and visitors. The transformation of parking permits has been a pathfinder exercise that has set the standard for future projects across the Kent council.  Canterbury launched a dedicated digital transformation team in 2016 in a bid to explore the potential for simplifying customer transactions and improving customer service levels. The team has d

Videalert has expanded its software support team with two key appointments. Patrick Coyle has been appointed as senior developer. He will be responsible for supporting and developing the entire Videalert ecosystem. He joins direct from Travis Perkins where he was a solution architect. Prior to this, he was development manager at Civica Education, where he was responsible for the development and infrastructure of a finance solution used by schools, colleges and businesses. Daniel Odesanya has b

Total Car Parks’ employee Ryan Taylor completed a 90-mile Palace to Palace cycle challenge on 7 October, raising around £1,000 for The Prince’s Trust.  Taylor, 26, pedalled from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle. He opted for Ultra route, which includes the Surrey Hills and Leith Hill Place (the alternative Classic route is half this distance). Taylor, a ‘Young Ambassador’ for the charity, spent six months shaping up for the challenge and completed a 60-mile

Employer responsibility has been a hot topic of late, but what does this mean to the employee and what direct impact does this have to his or her working day? Many companies use the term “employer responsibility” loosely and their actions do not support their words. Historically, business has served the needs of its shareholders and aimed to squeeze every bit of profit out of the company, and that has often been at the expense of the employee. However, it could be argued that we are

Greater Manchester has a new way of thinking about the role streets have in creating sustainable, healthy and resilient places. The Streets for All approach is a sub-strategy to our 2040 Strategy.  It begins with a focus on the needs of people and place, rather than prioritising the movement of vehicles alone. A key aim of Streets for All is to set out a more integrated approach to the design and management of Greater Manchester’s streets. This will enable us to address multiple agend

Bristol City Council has identified sites available across the city to test and deliver innovative affordable housing solutions over the next five years. Cllr Paul Smith, cabinet member for housing, made the announcement at the Bristol Housing Festival’s launch at City Hall. Smith also committed the council to investing in six rapid-build, modular homes from ZEDpods. The modular homes will to be put up on a site that would normally be seen as undeliverable in terms of conventional developm

New housing developments seem to be designed around the car, leading to streets dominated by parked cars, suggests a report by Transport for New Homes, a new organisation that aims to bring transport and planning together. The report reveals what Transport for New Homes feels are deep flaws in the planning system which leave new housing developments with inadequate walking, cycling and public transport connections to surrounding areas. With limited facilities locally, residents are for the most

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

Bristol City Council has suggested introducing a workplace parking levy or a congestion charge to fund significant investments in public transport infrastructure. The prospect of new levies on motorists is raised in the Bristol Transport Strategy, which sets out how the city’s council plans to tackle challenges affecting journeys such as traffic congestion, growth in housing and jobs, inequality and health problems caused by inactivity and air pollution. A Congestion Task Group has helped

‘Don’t underestimate true cost of pavement parking’: Living Streets  The cost of pavement parking vastly underestimated by councils, says Living Streets Scotland. The walking charity submitted evidence to the Scottish Parliament on the costs of the Transport (Scotland) Bill. It called for action to bring forward a national footway parking ban. The Transport (Scotland) Bill 2018 set out plans to introduce a national ban on pavement and double parking to make it easier for

A civil enforcement officer was dragged off his moped and assaulted by a gang of youths on a Birmingham street. The attack on CEO Charlie Weston, who works for Birmingham City Council’s contractor NSL, took place in the Alum Rock area of the city on 14 September. Video footage of the assault shows a group of young men abusing and stamping on the CEO, including kicking him in the throat and head.  Following the attack, Weston spent four hours at hospital but was back at work the next

New research from YouGov released to mark the start of International Walk to School Monhas found the Top 10 things British parents of 4 to 11-year-olds find most annoying about the school run. Traffic congestion and pavement parking top the list of things that annoy parents about the school run, according to research conducted for Living Streets, the charity behind the Walk to School campaign,  The YouGov survey of parents of 4 to 11 year olds was released on 1 October to mark the start of

A petition calling for an immediate end to car parking charges at all NHS hospitals was delivered to Number 10 Downing Street last month (10 September). The online petition, launched by Robert Halfon MP and Howard Cox, founder of motoring campaign group FairFuelUK, received over 26,000 signatures. The petition states: “Hospital car parking charges affect the vulnerable, visitors of ill relatives and hardworking NHS staff. The fees are a major cause of social injustice.  “In 2

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

Nigel Coltman has been appointed new chief executive of Smart Parking Technology in the UK. Coltman joins the Australian-based company from outsourcing contractor NSL.  Coltman will be responsible for implementing Smart Parking’s UK growth strategy. He will work with senior management across the global operation, as well as overseeing the development of existing and new business in both the UK services and technology divisions. Smart Parking’s latest annual report reveals the

Cycling duo raise £40k for air ambulance and fight against motor neurone disease Tim Daniels, sales and marketing director of Videalert, and his friend Rob Sanderson, have raised over £40,000 for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) and the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association.  On 26 August 2013, the HIOWAA Critical Care Team was called to a cycling accident involving Daniels in Owslebury, near Winchester. Daniels had been out on a bike ride with friends

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

Something strange happened on kerbsides and in car parks across the globe on 21 September. Spaces normally used by cars were filled up with chairs, rugs, potted plants and pets. The simultaneous transformation of parking bays into, well, people places in towns and cities around the globe on Friday 21 September was a sign that it was PARK(ing) Day. PARK(ing) Day was launched in 2005 in San Francisco by a design collective called Rebar, which took over a parking bay for a couple of hours to show

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

Total Car Parks lent its support to the West Berkshire Community Hospital Open Day’ on 6 September by offering a day’s free parking on the patient and visitor car park it operates The open day showcased the hospital’s new £5m renal dialysis and cancer care units. Essy Eslamian, managing director of Total Car Parks, said: “The units were built through public donations and provide essential facilities to the community - and we wanted to give something back to them.&

The story of a Jerome Rogers, a 20-year-old man who committed suicide after the escalation of debts associated with two traffic fines, has been dramatised. Killed By My Debt is the latest addition to BBC3’s series of one-off factual dramas that has also included Murdered By My Boyfriend and Murdered For Being Different. The new drama explores the impact of zero hours contracts and the working of the bailiff industry.  In January 2015, when Rogers was 19, he started working as a motor

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

Twenty charities and organisations, along with almost 17,000 members of the public, have urged the government to outlaw dangerous pavement parking. In a letter, Guide Dogs and Living Streets called on the government to take urgent action exactly 1,000 days after ministers first promised to tackle the problem of unsafe pavement parking. The letter, signed by groups representing people with disabilities, older people and a wide-range of road users, challenges the government for repeatedly stalling

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

Gemini Parking Solutions plan to train all its car park managers in First Aid. The decision was reached after Gemini evaluated its customer offering and identified that the level of interaction its car park managers have with people each day is significant.  The company wants its site managers to feel they are fully equipped with up-to-date training and knowledge for a range of circumstances, including medical emergencies. Ryan Jackson, Gemini’s founder and director, said: “As

AppyParking has announced that its new head of marketing is Garry Thornton, who previously worked at Zipcar UK, where he was tasked with changing people’s perceptions of car ownership and bringing the concept of car sharing into the UK mainstream. Thornton will support AppyParking founder Dan Hubert in raising awareness of new smart city solutions that enable cities, fleets and the general public to overcome the friction and inefficiencies of traditional parking solutions. Dan Hubert sai

Stripe Consulting has appointed Harry Smith as technical manager for its life care plan services. Smith will manage Stripe’s in-house team of specialisy engineers and consultants. He previously held engineering roles at GEW (EC) and Zodiac Aeropace. Stripe developed the Reportal online system for managing inspections and long-term maintenance of car park structures.

Britannia Parking has joined forces with a children’s hospice for a new ‘drop before you shop’ initiative. The company has placed a clothing bank for the Julia’s House charity on the ground floor of its multi-storey car park in Weymouth, Dorset, to help make it easier for people to donate. Two parking spaces have been made available next to the clothing bank for motorists to drop off clothes. Town centre shoppers on foot are also invited to donate clothes. Bournemouth-b

An APCOA Parking site in Sheffield has launched a long-term fund raising partnership with a local hospice. Almost £1,000 for patient services has already been provided to St Luke’s Hospice through a free parking day event at The Moor car park. This event allowed people to donate to the hospice instead of paying to park.  The hospice’s branding now appears throughout the car park, which will also host the charity’s Night Strider event on 6 October.  “We a

Videalert sponsored a team taking part in a 700-mile bike ride from Caen to Cannes in France in aid of two UK charities: the Hampshire & IOW Air Ambulance and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The aim is to raise £40,000 that will shared equally between both charities.  Nearly five years ago Tim Daniels, Videalert’s sales director, had a major cycling accident and owes his life to the Hampshire & IOW Air Ambulance. Since then he has dedicated a lot of time to rais

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

The widespread take-up of driverless cars may lead to a reduction in demand for city centre parking, but it is unclear whether they will lead to more or less traffic congestion, a leading transport academic has suggested. David Metz is an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Transport Studies at University College London (UCL). The former chief scientist at the Department for Transport has published a paper entitled Developing Policy for Urban Autonomous Vehicles: Impact on Congestion. Me

The issue of parking within hospitals evokes strong emotions and seems to be constantly in the news. Finding a balance between meeting the cost of delivering a service with providing a customer experience that is sensitive to the environment is not an easy task. When faced with having to upgrade its ageing pay & display systems, Torbay Hospital decided not to go down the camera enforcement route and, instead, opted to implement a new parking regime that uses a mix of barrier and pay & di

A decade has passed since the Welsh Government decided that parking should be free at all NHS hospitals in Wales. Only now has the commitment been met in full, with the abolition of parking charges at the largest hospital, the University Hospital of Wales (UHW). The reason that UHW still charged for parking was because this was an aspect of the hospital’s contract with Indigo, which concluded on 4 June.  Parking on the site is now managed for the Cardiff and Vale University Health Bo

With 34,000 students and a staff of 8,000, the University of Leeds is one of the largest centres of higher education in the UK and the third largest employer in the city. Covering a square mile and just a ten minutes walk from the city centre, the university campus is located next to Leeds General Infirmary. All the university’s facilities are readily accessible from the university due to the central location of the campus, which is served by cycle routes and public transport services. On

The Department for Transport (DfT) has set out its Inclusive Transport Strategy (ITS), which aims to improve accessibility for disabled people across the UK’s transport network. It is hoped that the measures set out in the strategy will make travel fully accessible and inclusive for disabled passengers by 2030. This strategy was produced following the Accessibility Action Plan (AAP) consultation, which received over 1,000 responses from disabled people and passenger groups. In parallel to

The car park serving an inter-war apartment building in Westminster, London has been refurbished. Dorset House is a block of 185 upmarket flats built in Marylebone between 1934-5 to designs by architects TP Bennett and Son, who worked with consulting architect Joseph Emberton, who adopted the Moderne or Art Deco style. The building occupies a complete city block. Its façade features reliefs by the sculptor Eric Gill, while the ground level is given over to shops and restaurants, as well

The City of Paris has teamed up with French car-maker Groupe Renault to develop an electric mobility strategy. The partnership envisages a series of short, medium and long-term actions in favour of the development of connected and autonomous electric vehicles (EVs). Initially, Groupe Renault will roll out a commercial offer of electric mobility for Parisians, Ile-de-France residents and visitors, starting in September 2018. The projects include: electric bicycle offered via Marcel from Gro

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”

Total Car Parks presented the Role Model of the Season Award at the New Era Boys Academy Awards in Leicester on 13 July. The NEBA Academy is a non-profit organisation that seks to develop the skills and talents of boys via a football-based mentoring programme.   NEBA offers one-to-one mentoring and home visits to allow young people and their parents to seek professional advice and support with school work and personal issues, among others. The NEBA Academy Awards recognise members, coach

Tony Segdwick, a pioneering figure in the parking technology sector, has passed away. Sedgwick was a founder of Langdale Systems, a company which developed the first generation of parking enforcement and permit management systems for use by local authorities. He was also an advocate of cashless payment approaches, providing services such as scratch-off parking cards and pre-paid electronic in-car meters. Langdale Systems was acquired by NCP, which then sold the business to IT company Imperial

Rob Jackson has taken over as managing director of Dukes Bailiffs after the civil enforcement agent’s founders Colin and Elaine Naylor decided to take a step back after 25 years. Colin Naylor, chief executive officer, and Elaine, chief financial officer, have grown the company from an office in their home to a business with more than 50 employees. The couple’s twin daughters, marketing manager Laura and bid manager Sarah, are supporting the company’s growth by opening a new Lo

German technology company Hectronic has made changes to the management of its parking business unit. Hectronic, which is based in Bonndorf in the Black Forest, specialises in producing payment and management systems for the parking and refuelling sectors. The restructuring is the result of a strategic orientation designed to help the company better meet future requirements.  Stefan Forster, managing director of Hectronic, said: “We now see ourselves as even better positioned to mee

Valentina Moise, general manager of UK-based parking reservation provider ParkCloud, has been appointed to the board of the Italian Parking Association, AiPark. Moise joins 13 other representatives from Italian car park operators and suppliers to make up the board of councillors. The board oversees the association’s budgets and strategies, as well as tackling issues that face the sector and promote initiatives aimed at developing the parking industry. Moise was the only woman among the 2

Most drivers see many barriers to their early adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), despite the government’s commitment to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, according to the AA. The poll of 10,293 drivers in June 2018 was specially commissioned for the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) annual conference on 12 July.  The vast majority of respondents (85%) say that there are not enough public charging points for EVs. Three-quarters (76%) agree that EVs ca

A majority of people are against a UK-wide pavement parking ban, a survey undertaken by YourParkingSpace suggests. The online parking marketplace undertook the survey in the wake of the Scottish Government’s decision to proceed with a nationwide pavement parking ban. The survey of 500 people reveals that 55% of respondents do not want to stop motorists from being able to park their cars on a pavement. The YourParkingSpace research indicates that 10% of motorists park on a pavement every

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

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

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

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

Nortech’s managing director Stephen Blackler has been climbing mountains in North Africa to raise money for orphaned elephants. Blackler scaled the 4,620-metre peak of Ras Dashen, the highest peak in the Simien mountain range in Ethiopia. He made a similar climb in 2016 of the 4,565-metre Mount Meru in Tanzania’s Arusha National Park. This year’s journey was in aid of Nortech’s nominated charity, The Orphans Project of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. T

A team from Total Car Parks volunteered to help a nighttime charity walk in Colchester. Total Car Parks’ IT and administration departments managed the parking for the Hats and Hairdos Midnight Walk on 23 June. The 900-plus participants raised an estimated £85,000 for the St Helena Hospice, an Essex-based charity that helps people living with terminal illness and their families.  The walkers set off at 10.30pm and could follow either a 3-mile or 7.5-mile route starting and fini

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

Proposals to re-design street layouts across Dublin to provide new bus and cycle lanes will require the removal of on-street parking bays and sections of front gardens. The Irish National Transport Authority (NTA) has published a discussion document - Core Bus Corridors Project - which sets out draft proposals to improve bus journey times and cycling priority along an increasing number of congested corridors in the Dublin region. The project is part of the NTA’s Government funded €2

Demand for housing is far outstripping supply, leading to a severe shortage of suitable accommodation for key workers, young professionals and first-time buyers in towns and cities across the UK. Could the solution be to build homes on existing city centre car parks and hard-standing areas? This is an idea advocated by architect Bill Dunster, who has come up with a housing concept called the ZEDpod.  Dunster wants to provide homes for younger key workers that are close to their workplace a

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

There appears to be overwhelming support for a footway parking ban in Scotland, a report published by Transport Scotland suggests. The Improving Parking in Scotland report considers the views of stakeholders and individuals who answered a series of questions on pavement parking and double parking. Transport Scotland conducted a public consultation on parking between March and August 2017. The consultation found that 83% of people support an all-out ban on footway parking and 70% have experience

Brighton & Hove City Council has approved additional civil enforcement officers (CEOs) to patrol the roads around schools during drop-off and pick-up times. During the last academic year, 45 schools in Brighton & Hove asked the council for enforcement visits to deal with inconsiderate and dangerous parking on school ‘keep clear’ road markings. Three additional CEOs will join the two assigned officers currently patrol streets around schools during morning and afternoon schoo

Edinburgh is to roll out a programme that allows residents to temporarily close their roads to enable children to play safely outside.  The council’s transport and environment committee unanimously approved the extension of play street events across the capital following a pilot scheme launched last year.  The Playing Out evaluation resulted in 90% of residents agreeing that the scheme had been “highly positive”.  The committee agreed to implement Playing Out

The London Assembly Environment Committee has called for a pan-London approach to electric charging points to be spearheaded by the capital’s mayor. There are now 12,000 electric vehicles in London, ten times as many as in 2012, the committee notes in a new report. In is report, Do Londoners Dream of Electric Cars?, the committee expressed a concern that the growth in the number of electric vehicles in London is outstripping the number of charge points, which could limit the number of pe

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

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

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

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

Parking technology provider JustPark has made two new appointments to its local authority team. Simon Powley brings nearly 20 years of parking experience while Ninh Hao has worked extensively with local government. They join commercial relationship manager Gavin Manger, who joined the company last year to support its move in the public sector mobile payments space. Since Autumn 2017 the company has won contracts with Cornwall, South Bedfordshire, Wrexham and Wyre Forest councils. Simon Powley

HUB Parking Technology has appointed Lee Burton as managing director at its UK headquarters in Basingstoke. HUB Parking Technology is a business unit of FAAC Group that develops, manufactures and installs parking revenue control systems and provides after-sales services.  Burton has worked in the parking sector for 17 years, starting with Meteor Parking as business development manager for the security side of the business. He then moved to work in Meteor’s operations and contract ma

Mobile parking payments provider PayByPhone has appointed Andreas Gruber as president and chief executive officer.  Gruber, a former PayByPhone board member, takes up his new roles on 1 June. He said: “I have been deeply involved in the parking business in recent years through my board appointments at PayByPhone and Sunhill Technologies. Parking is today one of the key pain points for drivers around the world.” Lars Henner Santelmann, chief executive of PayByPhone’s pare

The British Parking Association has hired a new head of technology, innovation and research. Julian O’Kelly joins the association from the Office of National Statistics. O’Kelly said: “I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the latest technology and research developments in the sector across the globe, and exploring how we can best advise members on these developments, particularly as they relate to the seven key areas in which the BPA is involved in with its ‘Future of Par

Gatwick Airport is to trial autonomous vehicles to shuttle staff across the airfield. The trial, which will start later this summer, could lead to airfield transport needs being met from a much smaller pool of electric vehicles. Gatwick’s 300 airside vehicles are estimated to be stationary 90% of the time. If the technology is proven in an airfield environment, the project may be the precursor to a range of other autonomous vehicles being used on airport land, including aircraft push-back

Employees at a hospital in Romford, Essex, have been told they must sign up to a carpooling scheme if they want to qualify for a parking permit. As part of a parking permit reallocation at Queen’s Hospital last month, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHR) said that only those who signed up to the Faxi carpooling app would get a permit. So far, more than 328 employees have registered as drivers while 83 have signed up as passengers, said Faxi.  “W

The government may give councils the power to make pavement parking illegal unless they expressly grant permission, potentially landing offenders with fines of £50 or £70. The move would bring the rest of England into line with London, which has had an all-out ban on pavement parking for more than 40 years. Two years ago, the Department for Transport (DfT) suggested that a review of pavement parking would be carried out as part of a reform of measures designed to promote more cyclin

Training and skills development does not have to be dull, in fact it can be fun. That is the mantra at Gemini Parking Solutions, which has recently embarked on using a different kind of training and development programme for staff that it feels gets the best out of employees.  Gemini Parking Solutions has adopted “experiential training” that goes against the grain of traditional classroom-based training and instead uses fun training sessions. The training is provided by the Caf

Universities are being invited to join a forum for sharing knowledge and best practice to improve the quality, resilience and fairness of parking arrangements for students, staff and visitors.  The International Parking Community (IPC) has launched the Education Forum to offer both city centre and campus universities a way to learn from each other’s experiences at quarterly meetings and via a dedicated online platform.  “Having insufficient parking spaces to meet demand i

A new car park was built at the offices of Zurich International on the Isle of Man during the winter. The multi-storey car park was constructed for the insurance company by developer Dandara. It is located on the Isle of Man Business Park, close to the island’s capital Douglas. A selection of waterproofing and wearing course products from Tremco Illbruck were used by Thelwell Flooring from the Wirral to complete the top deck of the car park, which was topped out during the depths of winte

Siemens has appointed Wilke Reints as the company’s new managing director for the Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) business in the UK to succeed Tom MacMorran, who retired at the end of March. Reints (pictured) has spent over 20 years with Siemens. He first joined the company in 1992, moving to the ITS business three years later. He has held a variety of positions, including working in project management for the Athens Olympic Games as well as other large traffic management-related proje

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

The majority of electric vehicles (EVs) drivers tend to charge a home rather than at their workplaces or in public parking area, a survey reveals. Charging network provider NewMotion questioned around 7,000 EV drivers about their vehicle usage and their motivations for going electric.  Only 10% charge their EV at work compared to 65% at home and 27% in public places, which NewMotion suggests an opportunity for companies to provide more charging points, so users can drive their EV to w

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

Alpha Parking will be introducing a new parking management course in September. The training will be in modular form, last around six months and have City & Guilds certification. The course will develop parking management skills, knowledge and personal attributes to raise individual competencies in the parking environment.  It has been designed to be suitable for parking managers in both the public and private sectors who are looking to extend their knowledge and skills. Alpha says the

The Training & Development Academy, launched in partnership by the IPC and TRACE Training, is now delivering half-day and full-day courses across the country as well as skills development programmes. The academy is designed to develop workforce skills and competencies for any parking services provider. Since being launched at the IPC’s annual conference last November, the Training & Development Academy has delivered courses on the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), skills

Hazel Brown, a former civil enforcement officer for Luton Borough Council has died aged 67. She transferred to Luton’s new parking services team in 1998 from Bedfordshire Police, where she had worked for many years as a senior traffic warden. Brown continued to manage her service within Luton Borough Council until her retirement in August 2013. In early 2017 she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and passed away o

ºLeighton Ponting has joined parking payment system manufacturer IPS UK as regional manager for Wales and South West England. Ponting brings a wealth of experience in the parking industry to the growing IPS team, including 12 years working for ASCOM Wireless Solutions, then a succession of roles at access control specialist Nortech Control Solutions, ANPR system provider SEA, parking software developer Imperial Civil Enforcement Systems and traffic management system provider Clearview Inte

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

Residents in Cambridge are fighting the introduction of a new cycleway arguing it will be dangerous for pedestrians and will remove parking spaces. The cycleway scheme, due to be installed later this year, will stretch from the Robin Hood junction on the south-east edge of the city and along Fulbourn Road to Yarrow Road roundabout. The Greater Cambridge Partnership - formerly the City Deal - is funding the project.  Residents have signed a petition raising concerns about safety, access, p

The company that installs chargepoints under the Source London scheme says it has around £75m to invest in the capital. An agreement signed with Tower Hamlets at the end of 2017 means that BluepointLondon is now working with 20 local authorities in the capital. However, the company has so far spent only £25m of the £100m budget it has allocated to transform London’s EV infrastructure and that are currently close to 1,000 charge points stored in a warehouse in Ealing

High-resolution aerial photography is helping Darlington Borough Council produce plans of council owned land in order to promote growth and development in the North East of England authority. Primarily used by the estates and property section of the Economic Growth Group, the Bluesky aerial imagery helps locate and identify previously undeveloped land parcels, producing maps for acquisitions and disposals, right-to-buy and tenancy agreements, way leaves and easements. Used in combination wit

Driveways and empty parking spaces rented out via YourParkingSpace.co.uk made their owners £12m in 2017, reports the online parking portal.  Over 15,000 space owners using the site earned more than £500 each, with London being the capital of driveway rentals, accounting for a third of all bookings. London made up 34% of all earnings, closely followed by Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Manchester. The company said that towns such as Dudley, Wolverhampton, Luton and Stoke-on-Tre

Following earlier volunteer projects in Kenya, Cameroon and Uganda, UK parking professional Clive Hawthorn is returning to Africa in February to help deliver important health messages and support local communities in Rwanda. A keen cricketer and an active volunteer for the Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB) charity, Hawthorn is organising a fortnight visit to the east African country as it continues to recover from years of ethnic conflict and severe community health issues. He will be leading a

As electric cars grow in popularity demand for charging points is also increasing, but a survey of local authorities reveals that the provision of public charging infrastructure is uneven across the UK. The survey was conducted by property consultant JLL and the British Parking Association (BPA). Eighty councils replied, representing over a quarter of the UK’s local authorities. A third (33%) of councils that replied had no electric vehicle charge points within their car park portfolios.

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,

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

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

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has launched the initial phase of a smart parking project covering controlled parking at Al-Rigga and the World Trade Centre areas. The real-time occupancy information of sub-zones in Rigga area is displayed in the RTA app that also allows payment of parking fees without the additional charge for SMS. Parking sensors are being used to provide real-time parking information. The project has been implemented by

West Midlands Ambulance Service tweeted a note telling paramedics attending an emergency not to park their “van” across a driveway. The note was left on an ambulance windscreen by a resident of the Small Heath area of Birmingham. It read: “You may be saving lives, but don’t park your van in a stupid place and block my drive.” The West Midlands Ambulance Service Twitter account said: “Sometimes we just don’t know what to say. This was the note left on an

Over half of drivers in the UK have overpaid for parking by 20 minutes or more, according to research undertaken by app developer EasyPark. The YouGov online study of 1,000 car owners also revealed that not being able to find an available space is one of their biggest parking frustrations (46%). The research indicates that: 29% of people spend more than 10 minutes looking for parking; 28% are forced to travel over 20 minutes from their parking spot to their final destination; 23% of drivers hav

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

A property services company says it has identified around 10,500 car parks in the UK’s towns and cities that could be developed to accommodate over 350,000 homes, enough to house around one million people. “Over the past 15 years several crucial demographic changes have begun to take hold which are having a dramatic impact on the adequate provision of housing in the UK,” said Nick Whitten, JLL’s director of UK research. “A trend towards urban living has disproport

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

Almost a quarter of people in the UK have been affected by a dispute over parking, a survey suggests. An estimated 12m have seen or involved in parking disputes, according to a survey of 500 people conducted by online marketplace YourParkingSpace.co.uk. The survey suggests that parking arguments often escalate from verbal exchanges, with nearly four million people in the UK having been threatened with physical violence. Harr

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

Mobile parking Mobile parking payments provider PayByPhone has appointed Francis Dupuis as president and chief executive officer. US-based Dupuis takes over from Kush Parikh, who steps down after three-and-half-years in the role of president and CEO. During his time at PayByPhone, Parikh led the business back to profitability and was pivotal in its sale to Volkswagen Financial Services.  “With more than 20 years of experience in the software industry and a deep product background, F

Parking information provider Parkopedia has appointed Brian Holt as head of autonomous driving, a new position within the company. Holt, who will be based in Parkopedia’s London office, will be responsible for leading the team developing parking solutions for autonomous cars, including autonomous valet parking. An electronic engineer with machine learning and computer vision expertise, Holt recently led vision and artificial intelligence (AI) research at Samsung, where he was responsible

Universities and colleges face an ever growing demand for access to parking space on their campuses. In order to ensure their limited parking supply is used by staff, students and visitors with the most needs, many further and higher education establishments have introduced paid and permit parking controls, which in turn depend on enforcement to be effective. This is the case at the University of York. A major challenge facing the managers of university campuses is ensuring that their parking c

Peer-to-peer electric vehicle (EV) charging service Chargie has re-launched under the new name Bookmycharge. The start-up decided to change its name after it became aware of a similarly named company called Chargy (www.char.gy), which supplies councils with EV chargepoints for installation onto lampposts. The Bookmycharge service’s core offer is giving EV drivers the ability to book a charge rather than risking heading to an out-of-service or occupied public charging points. Bookmych

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

Locals on the Isle of Skye are calling for urgent action to tackle traffic and parking problems caused by a surge in tourism. Islanders have pointed out that the isle’s narrow single-track roads are crammed and choked with camper vans, tour buses and cars, with litter strewn around stopping places and visitors relieving themselves in the open. Skye is the largest island on the Inner Hebrides and has seen a marked increase in visitors driving vehicles since a road bridge was opened in 1995

John McArdle has joined Grid Smarter Cities, a company that is developing new ways of managing the urban realm, including the provision of virtual loading bays for delivery vehicles. McArdle has worked in parking and traffic management since 1979, when he joined Strathclyde Regional Council’s Traffic Order section. He became parking manager for the Glasgow area, a role he served in until 1992 when he became manager of Westminster City Council’s car parks business unit. In 1995 he b

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

B4 Car Park in Birmingham seeks to make parking an enjoyable experience not only by offering a clean and bright environment, but also service with a human face and a membership scheme that takes the hassle out of paying. The fact that the car park has amassed a brace of awards, including a British Parking Award, European Parking Standard Award, Disabled Parking Accreditation and a Park Mark, indicates that the teams who designed it and manage it are doing something right. The car park is the br

PayByPhone recently ran its annual customer satisfaction survey in Brighton. Looking at the results, it’s clear this method of payment is becoming more and more popular. PayByPhone has seen record transactions this year in Brighton & Hove. With continuous improvements to the app, it has become the most popular way to pay with just over 80% of customers using it.  Ease of use was rated a 7.8/10 and 73% of those surveyed would recommend PayByPhone to a friend or colleague. The mos

The number of vehicles stolen in England and Wales has increased by a shocking 30% in just three years, according to RAC Insurance. A Freedom of Information request showed that a total of 65,783 vehicles were reported stolen in 2013 to 40 police forces in England and Wales, but by 2016 this had risen to 85,688. More vehicles are stolen in London than anywhere else in the UK with 26,496 thefts being reported to the Metropolitan Police Force in 2016, equating to nearly a third of all vehicles s

Police are looking into bogus notices warning people not to park on the streets of a Nottingham suburb. The fake letters, which have been attached to railings and fences, warn drivers that they could be fined for leaving their car on Marham Close in the Sneinton area. The letters claim to have been issued by Nottingham City Council’s traffic department. The notices warn drivers they could be fined £120 or have their vehicles removed by “a toe truck” [sic]. The writer

The first parking bays started changing on the streets of Germany as dawn broke on Friday 15 September. Spaces normally used by cars were being filled up with chairs, rugs, potted plants and pets and being labelled ‘parklets’. Twitter was reporting that bays were being taken over across France, Ireland, Spain, Canada, the USA and beyond. Then came reports of parklets appearing in Britain. The simultaneous explosion of parklets in towns and cities around the globe was a sign that PARK

Roads around three primary schools in Croydon are being temporarily closed roads at the start and end of the day to see if this encourages parents to use cars less. The roads by Heavers Farm and St Chad’s in Selhurst and Woodcote in Coulsdon are now restricted on the morning and afternoon school runs. The schools signed up to the six-month Croydon Council scheme because of their concerns about parking and pedestrian safety. The council said if the trial proves successful, the scheme wi

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

Many local authorities and private parking operators now outsource the processing of penalties issued by their enforcement teams to specialist bureaus such as Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions’ Business Processing Unit (BPU). The unit, which is located in Northampton, processes penalty charge notices (PCNs) and fixed penalty notices (FPNs) on behalf of city, county and district councils. It also processes parking charge notices issued on private land by The Forestry Commission and univ

A rapid on-street charger that can top up an electric vehicle in around 30 minutes, rather than several hours, has been installed by Islington Council. The borough hopes the fast charging time will appeal to motorists, particularly couriers, cabbies and other commercial drivers. Over the course of the next year, 100 roadside charging points are being installed across the north London borough. Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: &l

Drivers are concerned that driverless cars will make people too dependent on technology, a survey has found. In identifying their feelings about automotive technology, the top six issues raised by motorists were negative ones such as being worried about conceding control.  Motorists are three times as likely (44%) to be scared of autonomous vehicles due to the loss of personal control than likely to see the positive opportunities.  Respondents said driverless cars would lead to peopl

Young drivers are the least likely to worry about charging or other perceived barriers to ownership of electric cars. New research shows that drivers aged between 18 and 24 are more likely to own an electric vehicle (EV) than any other age group. The AA-Populus study reveals that those aged 24-34 are the next most likely to own an EV. Drivers aged 55 and above are least likely to do so. Currently 5% of respondents aged 18-24 said they own an EV compared with 4% of 25-34 and 1% of those aged 55 a

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.

A number of homes in a South Wales village could be demolished under plans to improve air quality in an area with one of the UK’s highest pollution levels. 

Parkmobile Group has expanded its UK offices to support international growth of its cashless parking brands: ParkNow, RingGo and Parkmobile.  The addition of more space to its offices in Basingstoke, Hampshire, comes on the back of investment from the group’s shareholder, German car-maker BMW.  The additional 300m2 space will accommodate a 47% growth in headcount, with 44 people joining the Basingstoke office since the start of the year. Most of the new recruits are supporting

Over 80% of the people are open to the idea of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the UK’s roads, according to a report produced by transport researchers TRL and Royal Holloway, University of London. The Attitudes to AVs report shows that many people feel that self-driving cars would help deliver a wide range of environmental, social and economic benefits. “People’s overall openness to the idea of autonomous vehicles was very high, with 81% of respondents agreeing that ‘driver

Most drivers in the UK still prefer to pay for parking by cash, and seven out of 10 admit they would probably drive past a bay that requires payment by phone, according to a survey by the AA. The AA-Populus Driver Poll, carried out last month, found that cash is still the preferred option for those looking to pay for parking. Populus received 16,239 responses from AA members to its online poll, which was conducted between 12-19 July 2017. While drivers seem to prefer paying in cash, aroun

Football fans could be paying more than double the price for parking rather than for cheaper nearby alternatives, claims an online parking marketplace. Research carried out for YourParkingSpace reveals that, for example, Premier League Manchester United offers official parking for £10, whereas three-and-a-half-hours parking a 15-minute walk from Old Trafford is available through YourParkingSpace at a price of £3.  Meanwhile, followers of the newly promoted Brighton and Hove Al

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

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

Crime in England and Wales has seen its largest annual rise in a decade, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The total number of crimes reported to and recorded by the police rose by 10% between April 2016 and March 2017 to almost five million, 458,021 more than the previous year.  Increases in rates of burglary and vehicle theft suggest that the long-term fall in these higher volume offences may be coming to an end.

Campaigners from the charity Guide Dogs went to Downing Street to hand in a petition signed by more than 31,000 people calling on the government to introduce a new law to end problem pavement parking The charity said that cars parked on pavements are dangerous for pedestrians, especially people with sight loss, who are particularly affected as they can be forced into oncoming traffic that they cannot see. It said pavement parking also effects parents with pushchairs, wheelchair users and other

Over 70 members of NHS staff have been told by a court that they have to pay parking charge notices (PCNs) issued at a hospital in Cardiff. The court case involved three people working at University Hospital of Wales (UHW), but the ruling on these lead cases will affect 78 in total. Last month a judge at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre ruled that parking operator Indigo Park Services UK could collect the charges from University Hospital of Wales staff. Indigo holds a contract to manage and maintai

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

The UK’s power networks will have to cope with 90% of the country’s cars being pure electric vehicles by 2050, predicts the National Grid. The company, which runs the UK’s national transmission networks for electricity and gas, makes the prediction in its latest annual Future Energy Scenarios report. Marcus Stewart, head of energy insights at National Grid, says: “Electric vehicles are one of many new technologies that are rapidly transforming the energy sector; technica

Electric cars have been making headlines in recent weeks. This month has seen France announce that it s banning petrol and diesel cars by 2040, Volvo planning to sell only electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2019, and Tesla announcing that its Model 3 mass-market electric car has started rolling off production lines. There have been many subsequent articles in the media about whether the UK’s electricity grid can cope with increasing numbers of EVs. The UK government has set ambitiou

Primary school children in Edinburgh have been creating 20mph-themed artwork to support of the city’s rollout of slower speeds to residential, shopping and city centre streets. As work begins to install signs and lines for the third phase of the project, primary four pupils at Flora Stevenson's Primary School have produced 20mph-themed posters featuring slogans such as "30's dirty - so don't do it; 20's plenty - so do it" and "Go Slow - 20's plenty" to drive home the message that slower s

The Safer Parking Scheme is promoting the Park Mark using an advertising campaign based around camouflage body art. The advertising campaign focuses on the safer parking scheme criteria that are known to reduce crime and the fear of crime in car parks and aims to bring the scheme’s brand into people’s consciousness so that they know what to look for. 

Young people are giving up on the idea of learning to drive, according to research carried out by automotive consumer website HonestJohn.co.uk The number of 17-year olds taking the practical driving test has fallen by more than 100,000 since 2007-08, while the overall number of under-25s in the UK that are learning to drive is down by 20%. East Sussex experienced the largest average drop in young people taking the practical driving test, with a fall of 61%, while the County of Bristol was seco

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

DriveNow won the sustainable transport category at the Sustainable City Awards in London. The car-sharing service was awarded the trophy for its contribution to the reduction of air pollution and easing congestion in the capital. The awards are run by the London Sustainability Exchange and funded by the City of London Corporation. They recognise organisations in London that demonstrate excellence in sustainable development and best practice in environmental management. DriveNow is a joint

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

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

Apprenticeships in the UK have undergone major change. In April the government introduced an Apprenticeship Levy that is designed to encourage more companies to invest in apprenticeship programmes. The new levy is part of a raft of changes that also see employers given more control over the content and delivery of apprenticeships. The new approach also enables employers to design apprenticeships that better reflect their activities and skills needs. This opens up opportunities for parking opera

Excel Parking Services is seeking to improve the customer service skills of its on-site and back office staff by adopting a training programme that is widely used across the retail and hospitality sector. Excel held a ‘Principles of Customer Service’ training course under the auspices of WorldHost last month.  WorldHost was the customer service provider chosen for ‘Gamesmakers’ who interacted with competitors, spectators and visitors during the London 2012 Olympics.

Dyslexia and autistic tendencies long presented barriers to office work for Simon Hamilton, who found himself working in manual jobs for over 20 years. However, his acute observation skills have enabled the 45-year-old to undertake a career change. He is now reviewing video evidence at Imperial Civil Enforcement’s Business Processing Unit in Northampton. In this role his particular skills and attention to detail are proving to be invaluable. Hamilton grew up in Northamptonshire and after

Ensuring that new recruits and existing employees receive consistent training presents a major challenge for companies that operate on a nationwide basis. This was the situation facing Indigo Park Services UK, which has over 70 contracts for public and private sector clients from Plymouth in the South-West of England to Dundee in the North-East of Scotland. For many years, employee training at Indigo UK had been delivered using a traditional classroom-based approach. However, the company’s

A British housing developer is to offer car-free flats with free Uber taxi rides included in the rent. Moda Living plans to build apartment complexes across the UK with few or no parking spaces, which will free up space for other facilities such as gyms, cinemas and swimming pools. Tenants who forgo a parking space will receive up to £100 in credit each month to spend on Uber taxi journeys. Moda will offer renters a bespoke app to connect with each other, control heating and entertainment

The new apprenticeship levy is presenting a much more dynamic and responsive approach to vocational training and skills development in local authorities. Some local authorities have pounced on the opportunity to extend their internal training capabilities. Others now recognise the new opportunity to capitalise on the practical experience and training expertise of like-minded employers. Either way, the new apprenticeship levy is presenting a much more dynamic and responsive approach to vocationa

The British Parking Association (BPA) has achieved the Investors in People Gold Standard. The BPA has held the IiP Silver Standard since 2013, but decided to aim for the next level when renewal came around. In order to achieve the Gold Standard, the BPA looked at how its leadership worked, how it managed strategy development and recruitment.  “Silver is great, but why wouldn’t you want to do better! Plus, the things you have to put in place in order to achieve Gold improv

The Hay Festival sees thousands of literary fans flock to the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye. Many of the authors and visitors attending the event use the official car park, which is set up in a field adjacent to the festival marquees. The car park is managed by CarParkAt, specialists in event parking. The proceeds from the car park operation are donated to charity. This year, the CarParkAtHay operation raised over £10,243 for Macmillan Cancer Support. The CarParkAt team won a British Parking

Parking technology company Parkeon has appointed Kenny Scouller to the new role of UK off-street sales manager. He joins Parkeon from CAME Parkare, where he was national sales manager and operations manager. At Parkeon Scouller will be responsible for supporting existing customers while developing new business opportunities across multiple sectors, including retail, public administration, health, higher education and transport. Many of Parkeon’s recent parking solutions incorporate ticke

Homeowners in almost 30 towns and cities across the UK made an average of more than £1,000 per year from renting their empty driveway, according to research by online parking marketplace YourParkingSpace.co.uk Driveways in London netted the most money, earning their owners on average a very tidy £2,303 per year, claims YourParkingSpace. “This is up 6% on the previous year, reflecting a growing demand for the service and increased awareness among homeowners of the money earning

Milton Keynes’ residents can now buy visitor parking via the RingGo Resident Visitor Permit (RVP) solution developed by Cobalt Telephone Technologies.  To apply for an RVP, residents must visit the company website (www.myRingGo.co.uk/permits) and complete the form online, uploading proof of residency if required.  However, Milton Keynes is also validating address details using RingGo’s verification solution, rather than asking applicants to upload documents

Steve Brown has joined Dukes Bailiffs as parking services director. He moves to Dukes from rival civil enforcement agent Equita, where he was business development director. At Dukes he will be responsible for expanding the company's market share of unpaid road traffic debt across England. After a career in the army, Brown entered the parking sector in 2003 as parking enforcement manager at Colchester Borough Council, before joining Equita in 2007. 

James Taylor has started his role as UK managing director of DriveNow, the car sharing joint venture of the BMW Group and SIXT SE. Taylor will be replacing Joseph Seal-Driver, who left the business in May to work in the bike-sharing sector. Taylor joined DriveNow UK in March 2015 and was head of marketing before taking up the position of UK managing director. Previous to his time at DriveNow, Taylor has almost 15 years experience in senior marketing, operational and management roles.  &ld

The International Parking Community (IPC) has appointed Charles Clowes as its new chief operating officer. Clowes joins the accredited trade association from National Car Parks (NCP), where he was head of commercial.  The creation of the chief operating officer role will see Will Hurley becoming chief executive of the IPC. Hurley said: “This is an influential and significant role and our search for the right person has taken quite some time. However, our patience has been worthwhile.

The British Parking Association (BPA) has achieved the Investors in People Gold Standard. The BPA has held the IiP Silver Standard since 2013, but decided to aim for the next level when renewal came around. In order to achieve the Gold Standard, the BPA looked at how its leadership worked, how it managed strategy development and recruitment. “Silver is great, but why wouldn’t you want to do better? Plus, the things you have to put in place in order to achieve Gold improve employee

Around two-thirds of UK road users would support a scrappage scheme for older diesel cars, vans and lorries in an effort to get the worst polluting vehicles off our roads, according to a survey by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart. The survey asked respondents to rate the various options put forward in the government’s recent nitrogen dioxide consultation, but found that only 3% of respondents are confident that the proposed measures solve the problem quickly. More than 1,400 pe

Travis Kalanick has resigned as chief executive of the US Uber taxi ride-hailing app after pressure from shareholders. However, Kalanick will remain on the board of the firm. Kalanick’s resignation follows a review of practices at the firm and scandals including complaints of sexual harassment. A number of key executives have left the company in the wake of scandals about sexual abuse and harassment. Uber has also had to take action against others following a review of more than 200 HR c

The world of parking was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, with Caroline Sheppard, chief adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal awarded an OBE, and Anjna Patel, principal officer at Sandwell Council becoming an MBE. The Honours List recognises individuals who have excelled in various endeavours and have brought distinction to British life. This year marks the centenary of the modern day honours system. Honours lists are published twice a year at the Queen’s official

Michael Robinson, Portsmouth City Council’s parking operations manager, has passed away after a battle with cancer.  Robinson joined the city council as deputy parking manager in 2006 after almost two decades working in casino management at The Rank Group. In 2010 he was promoted to parking operations manager following the retirement of his mentor Ken Ellcome. He played a key role in introducing 20mph speed limits across the city centre, building the council’s capacity to tack

A common problem for many disabled motorists is not being able to park at their desired destination, especially at their local supermarket. A frequent complaint is that the disabled bays are all occupied with cars not displaying a Blue Badge. Disabled Motoring UK is currently undertaking the 2017 edition of its Baywatch survey, which assesses levels of abuse of disabled parking spaces at supermarkets. The survey and further information about Baywatch can be found by clicking here The Baywat

A Hackney resident has launched a campaign to turn surplus on-street parking spaces into car-free ‘people parking bays’. Brenda Puech contacted the London Borough of Hackney to request an annual parking permit as she wanted to install a bench, cycle stands and plants in the bay outside her home. Her request was turned down by the authority, which said the permit could only be used for parking a vehicle. Undeterred, Puech organised a ‘direct action’ event on 26 May, tran

Do you ever get that unpleasant blast from someone’s exhaust when you’re on the pavement or crossing the road? Air quality, and the effect of pollution on public health, seem to be dominating the headlines. The state of the environment literally affects every one of us and, of course, the generations who are coming behind us.  Vehicular traffic and the management of its flow and parking is a big factor in the level of noxious and poisonous emissions. Just a quick glance at the

Scott Dubois has been appointed to the new role of vice president of product management at parking guidance system specialist Park Assist.  Dubois was previously general manager of Park Assist’s Asia Pacific branch. Normal 0 false false

Nottingham City Council’s pioneering scheme to transform the city by funding greener transport through a workplace parking levy and Birmingham Big Bikes scheme have shared the 2017 Ashden Award for Clean Air in Towns and Cities. The Ashden Awards are presented to pioneers in sustainable energy and are a globally recognised measure of excellence. Along with 12 other organisations, Nottingham City Council will receive its award on Thursday 15 June at a prestigious ceremony at the Royal

Richard Harris has been appointed director Europe for intelligent transport systems firm HMI Technologies. He was solution director for international transportation and government at Conduent (formerly Xerox). New Zealand-based HMI creates hardware and software products including variable message signs, speed activated signs, speed indication devices, motorway signalling and other electronic signage. Harris has held senior director positions with Xerox, Logica, WSP, AECOM and ICC. When he

The British Parking Association (BPA) has published a ‘Manifesto for Parking’ to ensure parking has a central place in government policy-making after the General Election. The BPA’s chief executive Andrew Pester said: “As the recognised authority in the parking sector, the BPA is driving change and we want commitment from the next government to act to ensure a smarter and more sustainable future for everyone.” The BPA said it wants to see more consistency in the wa

Joseph Seal-Driver has left car-sharing provider DriveNow, where he was UK director, to launch a new bike-sharing scheme. DriveNow is a joint venture of BMW and rental company Sixt.  Seal-Driver said: “When I joined DriveNow five years ago as the first international hire, the Munich team were cramped in one room and planning the second City launch. Since then DriveNow has established itself as a leading car-sharing service, operating from 12 European Cities with over 850,000 custome

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

Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions has recruited Leadley Wilson as its training and systems consultant for northern England and Scotland.  Wilson joins the company from Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, where he worked on the major digital transformation programmes, helping to upskill staff across a range of software, systems and communication technologies.  He is an information and communications technology (ICT) and systems trainer, professionally qualified in Human Resourc

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

Parking is an emotive and potentially sensitive aspect of hospital life, but an NHS trust in the West Midlands is working to take the stress out of finding a space. Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust faced a parking conundrum that is all too familiar for hospital management teams all over the country: not enough car parking spaces to meet the demand from staff and visitors.  The trust is responsible for delivering healthcare services for well over 500,000 local people. It emp

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

Real-time parking information has emerged as the navigation feature most desired by drivers who took part in the INRIX Connected & Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) Consumer Survey. INRIX, which provides connected car services and location analytics, engaged with 5,054 consumers in five countries, including 1,013 in the UK, to understand driver perceptions of connected and autonomous vehicles. INRIX discovered that over half of UK drivers (53%) believe autonomous vehicles will be widely available wit

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

Pupils and teachers across Edinburgh have joined a campaign to discourage inconsiderate parking at school gates.  The ParkSmart initiative, which was launched on 28 April, aims to cut congestion at the beginning and end of the school day while promoting active travel amongst children and their families. The scheme aims to awareness of the hazards caused by drivers parking on yellow zig zag lines, double parking or mounting the pavement. Instead, parents are being encouraged to consider al

Brake, the road safety charity, has launched a new project for primary schools to help children spread road safety messages in their community. Brake’s road safety poster competition aims to inspire and engage children, aged 4-11, about the need for drivers to slow down so kids can walk and cycle to school safely. The competition, supported by the National Fire Chiefs’ Council (NFCC), National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and sponsor Co-op Insurance, will see winning designs

NCP has introduced a new uniform for its frontline staff, who have been an integral part of the design process.  The uniform has been designed to be practical for those wearing them, while enabling them to maintain their professional image.  Lightweight, weatherproof materials have been chosen to be comfortable while offering protection from the elements and special care has gone into ensuring the material is also durable and long-lasting.  Safety has also been a key design elem

NHS trusts in England are making the process of paying for parking by patients and visitors more difficult than it should be, claims the RAC. Data collected by the motoring organisation suggests that four-in-10 hospital trusts in England that charge for parking offer no option to pay by credit or debit card at any of their sites, while a third do not allow drivers to pay-on-exit. The data was collected via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent by the RAC to the 206 hospital trusts in Eng

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

Steve Brown has left civil enforcement agency Equita after 10 years to pursue new opportunities. Brown has been the bailiff company’s business development director since 2007.  Prior to joining Equita he was head of parking services at Colchester Borough Council. He entered the parking sector after a 23 year career in the Army.  After a long illness, in 2015 he underwent a major organ transplant and made a  speedy recovery, enabling him to take up the role of elected presi

Stephanie Harling has joined Bristow & Sutor’s client development management team, where she will work with local government clients in the north west of England. Harling was previously with Callcredit, where she was a client manager for the public sector with responsibility for providing credit and fraud solutions to local and central government.  She has 10 years’ local government experience working within revenues and benefits departments at Craven District Council and

Parking equipment manufacturer WPS has appointed Mike Allen as national service manager. Allen joins WPS from Gilgen Door Systems, where he managed a team of service engineers.  His arrival coincides with WPS’s introduction of software that streams live information on system performance, servicing schedules, and the exact location of replacement parts and spares when needed. “It will help our engineers to be more proactive, productive and efficient and, therefore, giving our

Richard Boultbee has left Metric Group to become executive director of IPS (UK), the British operation of North American parking equipment systems manufacturer IPS Group. Boultbee’s parking career started with a 10-year tenure at Amber Valley Borough Council in Derbyshire, where he was parking and CCTV officer. He joined the sales team at payment systems manufacturer Metric Group in 2003, rising to the role of director of sales and marketing. IPS (UK) is marketing a range of payment solu

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

From automated electric cars to supersonic trains and fare paying rocket ships, Elon Musk has bold visions when it comes to how we will travel. But The Wall Street Journal recently explored how the American technologist is having to get to grips with a far more mundane issue: how to accommodate all the growing number of employees who want to use the staff car parks at his offices and factories in California. “Parking is, like, one of my biggest nightmares. Like, where do we park everyone?

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on how to deliver a more consistent approach to managing parking in Scotland. Transport Scotland’s Improving Parking in Scotland consultation seeks views on how to address the issue of pavement parking, as well as views on how best to manage disabled parking provision, and determining what parking incentives local authorities can provide for the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles.  In May 2015, Sandra White MSP, introduced the Fo

As few as six closely located electric cars charging together at peak time could lead to local brownouts as the National Grid struggles to cope. This is a warning made by environmental think-tank Green Alliance in a report looking how the UK energy market could evolve as more householders and businesses develop the ability to generate their own power. As take-up of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and fully electric vehicles increases, the Green Alliance believes energy supply needs to be controlled to co

Electric vehicle owners are starting to have free smart chargers installed as a result of their participation in the Electric Nation research project, which is exploring how the UK’s local electricity networks can cope with the ever-growing numbers of electric cars. The UK electricity grid has sufficient capacity to deliver power to electric vehicles, but if clusters of EVs develop in local areas and they are all charged at peak times, then some local electricity networks may need reinfor

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 British Parking Association’s chief operating officer Andrew Pester has become the organisation’s chief executive on a full-time basis.  Pester has filled the CEO role on an interim basis since March following the unexpected departure of Patrick Troy, who resigned after being found guilty of a public decency offence. Pester joined the BPA as its first chief operating officer (COO) in 2015 after working in the energy sector, where he held various roles at market regulator O

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will transform the lives of more than seven out of 10 young people by giving them greater freedom of movement, according to new research published by SMMT, the organisation that represents the UK automotive sector. Young people feel their lives are currently restricted by costly or infrequent public transport, as well as prohibitively expensive car insurance. Some 71% of young people say connected and autonomous cars will improve their lives and give the

Back in 2015, together with the Guide Dogs, we worked with Simon Hoare MP to sponsor a Private Member's Bill in Parliament which would prevent people from parking on pavements except in places exempted by the council. At the time, the government agreed that this was a really important issue and asked us to withdraw the Bill so that they could conduct their own research into the best way forward. Following that, we were part of a roundtable chaired by Andrew Jones.  Following that meeting

‘Smarter choices’ have been in the news again recently. The Behavioural Insight Team reported that several ‘low-cost behaviour change interventions’ designed to reduce commuting to Heathrow Airport made no measurable difference. Their comments on evaluation methods (“don’t trust self-reported surveys”) have re-opened a long-running controversy: how do we know any of these measures actually work? ‘Smarter choices’ is a catch-all phrase, encom

The first UK-built domestic vehicle-to-grid unit has been installed in Loughborough, Leicestershire. The vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system will enables the homeowners to use a electric vehicle (EV) to power their home.  The V2G system was developed through the Ebbs and Flows of Energy Systems (EFES) collaborative project. The Loughborough installation will allow the project partners to understand the management and interaction of EVs as battery storage within a domestic property and how this c

Business owners can have a significant impact on the number of drivers converting to electric vehicles (EVs) by giving employees access to charge points at work, says the National Grid. The energy infrastructure operator points to experience at its own headquarters in Warwick. Data from National Grid House shows a three-fold rise in the use of its six EV charge points since they were installed as a viability project in April 2016.  Three stakeholder groups use the charge points: company

Tony Jones will take over sole responsibility for Designa UK following the retirement of managing director Ewan Miller on 1 April. Jones has been the parking payment systems supplier’s sales manager for over eight years and became joint managing director in November 2016. Jones’ career has included being sales manager in companies supplying instrumentation products to the petrochemical, brewing and sugar milling industries. He also had a career in the South African premier football

Parking prangs can set couples on a collision course, it seems. New research has uncovered widely varying levels of honesty from drivers around the country when it comes to owning up to their loved one about accidental damage they have caused to their partner’s car. Drivers in London and the West Midlands were most open with their partners, with nine out of ten admitting they had caused the damage. Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, only one in three of those surveyed in the North

Laws allowing local authorities to ban pavement parking in London should be rolled out across the country to crack down on inconsiderate motorists endangering lives, councils say. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, says all councils need extra flexibility to introduce bans if needed.  The association said pavement parking bans could free up congested pavements and make it safer for pedestrians.  The LGA says pavement

New research indicates that the cost of motoring has risen by more than 10% in the last year.   The study by automotive data experts HPI examines a range of factors from depreciation to fuel costs and repairs to calculate a total cost of ownership on some popular models. Philip Nothard, consumer and retail specialist at hpi said: “The motorist is facing rising taxation and fuel costs due to a weak pound. There are still some great deals to be had on new and used vehi

A community on the Isle of Skye is planning to create a new car park to cope with a growing number of cars belonging to visitors heading to see a dramatic rock formation called the Old Man of Storr. Staffin Community Trust has made an application to purchase local authority-owned land near the Old Man of Storr to create a 100-space car park. Besides the car park, the trust plans to provide public toilets and plant trees. It follows several years of talks between the community and the council,

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

The North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) has filmed a recruitment video that encourages people to take up a career as a civil enforcement officer (CEO). NEPP is a coalition of local authorities undertaking parking enforcement from bass in Braintree, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, Tendring and Uttlesford. By focusing on a young mother who works as a CEO and her interaction with the public, the partnership hopes the video will challenge misconceptions about what par

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

Barbour Logic will be marking a decade of working in the parking sector at Parkex 2017. It is 10 years since the company introduced its correspondence technology to help local authorities reduce risk, ensure consistency and improve efficiencies in answering queries from motorists who have received a penalty charge notice (PCN).  At this year’s Parkex, Barbour Logic will be showcasing the latest developments with its Response Master system.  “Response Master has created ov

When the first traffic wardens took to the streets of London in the 1960s, they were dressed in the black Police uniform of the time, with woollen tunics and trousers, and shiny hats.  Their yellow epaulettes were the only hint of colour, so these monochrome meter maids and masters cut a severe figure against the backdrop of the Swinging Sixties. What a difference half a century makes. With the decriminalisation of parking enforcement, frontline parking staff or civil enforcement officers

There’s no getting away from it: surveillance cameras are everywhere in the UK. A survey by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) carried out three years ago estimated up to 6 million CCTV cameras in the UK. It’s said that in an urban area on a busy day a person could have their image captured by around 300 cameras on 30 different systems. Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the Home Secretary issued the surveillance camera code of practice with 12 guiding principl

Energy company npower has refurbished a multi-storey car park serving offices in Solihull in the West Midlands. The car park was constructed in precast and in-situ concrete with asphalt waterproofing that was suffering from water ingress, resulting in corrosive deposits dropping onto vehicles in the levels below.  The refurbishment was managed for npower by property services company, Cushman and Wakefield.  Following the use of Tremco deck waterproofing solutions on a car park servin

SWARCO Traffic has appointed Tony Logan as sales manager to support the roll-out of its Smart City Messenger mobile variable message signs (VMS). Originally a fire fighter from New Zealand, Logan came to the UK in 1998 to play professional rugby, and took up a position in telecommunications before entering the highways industry. He developed a particular expertise in the VMS market, and has recently led the development and delivery of a range of traffic design, management and operational mainte

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

Public surveillance systems can safeguard the wellbeing of local communities, says contractor NSL, which works for the London Borough of Hackney’s Civil Protection Service. In just a single month, NSL’s public space surveillance team identified and prosecuted six persistent fly-tippers and located a vulnerable missing 14-year-old girl, a prolific drug dealer and a distressed and vulnerable man in response to specific appeals from the local police. In total, the team dealt with near

Derby City Council leader Ranjit Banwait has been caught on camera parking his car on double and single yellow lines outside a school. Residents took photographs of Banwait’s car on various streets surrounding the school. The council leader said in a statement: “The safety of my children is paramount. But as for many parents, finding the right place to park on the school run can be difficult. In such circumstances we all have to make choices and I haven’t always made the right

SEAT’s chief digital officer Fabian Simmer discussed the Spanish car-makers’ the trends in future mobility at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Complete connectivity: Nowadays we are permanently connected to our mobile phone. The trend is to develop new technologies so that users do not lose this connection when they are driving. In the future, the vehicle itself will be connected, allowing us to improve the customer experience and offer new functions and service

Patrick Troy has resigned as chief executive of the British Parking Association (BPA), citing “personal reasons”. He joined the association in 2009 from Transport for London (TfL), where he had been of traffic enforcement from 2001. At TfL he was responsible for bus lane enforcement and moving traffic enforcement on the Red Route nework. Prior to working at TfL, Troy was head of parking services at the London Borough of Sutton, overseeing the introduction of decriminalised parking

Online parking marketplace YourParkingSpace, which enables property owners and businesses to hire out their parking, is reporting a 200% year-on-year increase in rentals. The London-based company says that homeowners and businesses across the UK received over £6m from renting out unused parking spaces through the website in 2016, up from £2m in 2015.

Not indicating clearly has been named as the most inconsiderate driving behaviour on UK roads, according to an RAC Insurance poll of more than 2,100 motorists. Nearly six in 10 (58%) of drivers surveyed said not signalling clearly, or failing to indicate at all, was their top inconsiderate action at the wheel. Next came hoggi

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

Ashford Borough Council in Kent is expanding its uniformed parking patrol and back office teams to enable it to step up enforcement activities aimed at improving road safety and tackling anti-social parking by lorries. The number of civil enforcement officers (CEOs) will increase by four to 12. The CEOs work directly for the coumcil. “Over the past decade, the roles and priorities of the officers have changed and increased. Therefore additional support will help the council deliver a mor

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

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 number of electric cars on the road rose to 1% of the total car market in several European countries, including United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark and Norway. There were 2 million electric vehicles on the road globally, one hundred times more than 2010. NewMotion, an electric vehicle (EV) solutions provider has surveyed early adopters in Europe to gain insight into their behaviour. The company asked over 5,000 of its users across Europe questions about their EV usage,

Car-sharing could make a major contribution to reducing traffic congestion, vehicle emissions and pressure on parking. This is what the various local government agencies the capital believe. In May 2015 Transport for London (TfL), the Greater London Authority and London Councils teamed up with Carplus, a charity promoting car-sharing and a number of car club operators to produce a car club strategy for the capital. The document stated: “An ambitious approach to growing car clubs could ach

Six schemes that will act as testbeds for future technology to tackle air pollution are being backed by the Mayor of London and Transport for London. The Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) have announced £1.4m funding for six ‘Neighbourhoods of the Future’ that will combine green technology and other initiatives to tackle London’s air quality emergency at a local level.

There is growing concern among motorists about both the cost and availability of parking around the UK, says the RAC. The motoring organisation is flagging up concerns about parking that were revealed in its 2016 annual report on motoring. Almost a fifth (18%) of the 1,714 motorists surveyed for the report said the cost of parking is one of their top-four concerns, a 50% increase, compared with one in eight (12%) who said this in 2015.  Concerns about the availability of parking have also

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

The Sustainable Transport & Health Summit is the key event and showcase of 2017 for transport, parking, public health and urban professionals involved in delivering active lifestyles that help make healthier places. The UK government recognises the important role of transport in building healthy places where people want to work and live and has committed to supporting sustainable travel initiatives. The government has made significant funding available for sustainable travel – some &po

A high-rise apartment building being built in the Hertfordshire town of Hemel Hempstead will feature an automated car park and a range of mobility services designed to reduce its carbon footprint. The 16-floor Beacon tower is being developed on Symbio Place by Lumiere Developments (which trades as Corona Properties). It will provide 208 apartments as well as office space. Corona says it aims to create a “vertical village” that uses renewable energy generation and energy conservation

Outsource service provider NSL has appointed Kelly Alderson as its head of human resources. Formerly regional head of HR for Mitie Cleaning & Environmental Services, Alderson has over 15 years of experience in human resource management having worked in facilities management, manufacturing, transport and retailing.

Nick Lester-Davis has retired from his role as corporate director of services at London Councils, the cross-party organisation that represents the capital’s 32 borough councils and the Corporation of London. For almost a decade he has been responsible for the London-wide service delivery in the fields of traffic and transport, grant to voluntary organisations, databases in adult and childrens services and improvement of local services.  Lester-Davis has also been the face of public p

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

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

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

Whilst cars have grown in height, capacity and weight, the fundamental dimensions for both new build and refurbished car parks remain largely unchanged. What may have been an easy car park to access and egress in the Sixties may now be considered as a tight and awkward place to park. The changing shape of cars is just one of many factors that affect the operation and performance of parking structures over time. These include changes in standards for lighting, security and the design and robustn

Makers is continuing to develop its British Parking Award-winning apprenticeship scheme, recruiting three young people interested in careers in construction. The apprenticeships are run by Makers in cooperation with Walsall College.  Edward Smith joins Makers as a site manager apprentice after hearing the company address his sixth form about careers in construction. He was interested in the scheme as he did not want the burden of student loans and liked the ability to ‘earn and learn

Refurbishment contractor Cemplas Waterproofing & Concrete Repairs has expanded its team, hiring Tom Revett as contracts manager, car parks and Graeme Middleton as business development Manager. Both Revett and Middleton both previously worked in the car park refurbishment sector with Makers Construction. Tony Blencowe, Cemplas’ managing director, said: “As we implement the next phase in our strategic growth plan, securing the services of both Tom and Graeme is a big win for us. C

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

#OurDay is a social media event designed to highlight and celebrate the diverse work carried out by local government across the UK. This year’s 24-hour ‘tweetathon’ saw messages posted by council teams running libraries, adult care, lighting, highways and, as we showcase here, parking. #OurDay, which has been taking place for the last four years, seeks to demonstrate the value local government provides to the public, even as councils work in a challenging financial environment

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

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

People living in, working in and visiting a group of historic towns and villages in Dorset can now order parking permits online as and when they need them. Christchurch Borough Council and East Dorset District Council, which operate a joint parking team, have ended the use of paper-based parking permits and opted for a virtual permit solution to manage access to resident, business, visitor and Blue Badge permits in towns such as Chichester and and Wimbourne Minster, which are popular tourist des

A scheme that sees Croydon Council close a residential road so that families can play safely outdoors has been voted the best in London. Croydon introduced Play Streets by making it easier for residents to apply for temporary road closures. More than 50 children and their parents from Love Lane in the Woodside area held their first Play Street event in September 2015. The event enabled residents to enjoy games in the sunshine while the council kept their road temporarily traffic-free. Love La

Tension and conflict over parking spaces provided the drama in the latest run of Parking Wars on ITV. For this third series, the Century Films production team toured the country looking at places where parking restrictions and new payment regimes were causing concern among motorists, local businesses and visitors. The camera crews followed local authority civil enforcement officers (CEOs) as they patrolled the streets in different parts of the country. Reports from Hereford, Romford and Havering

Vienna’s paper parking permits will be replaced by RFID tags following an extensive trial of the technology. The on-street parking permits were developed by city officers in collaboration with system supplier Schreiner PrinTrust. The credit card shaped tag is based on the Windshield Label Global system. The tags will be attached to the vehicle’s windscreen. They feature an embedded driver identification number and can be valid for multiple permits and used in different districts of

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

PARK(ing) Day is an annual event that sees cities around the world convert parking bays into ‘Parklets’, temporary spaces where people can sit, talk, read books, listen to music and play games. This year’s event took place on 16 September, with an estimated 1,000 parklets being created in around 35 countries. PARK(ing) Day was launched in 2005 in San Francisco by an art and design collective called Rebar. Their original intention was to take over a parking bay for a couple of

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

Margaret Leslie, operations manager at Bournemouth Borough Council’s parking services team, passed away on 18 September. She had been living with cancer for a short time and passed away with her family back in her home town of Glasgow.  She started her long parking career as a police traffic warden, becoming a head traffic warden before transferring to Bournemouth Council in 2001 as operations manager. Elaine Smith, deputy parking services manager, said: “Margaret was an incre

Civil enforcement officers working for NSL will act as the eyes and ears of a missing children initiative. Child Rescue Alert was set up by the charity Missing People in partnership with the National Crime Agency and Groupcall to ensure that as many people as possible keep a lookout for missing children.  NSL CEOs have become part of the network of people keeping a look out for missing children featured in Missing People’s alerts.  This initiative follows work by Paul Abbott, a

Motorists are more concerned about parking availability and cost than 12 months ago, according to the RAC. The motoring organisation’s annual report is based on the views of a representative sample of 1,700 drivers from across the UK. The research reveals that the availability of parking has become a greater concern in 2016: 14% of motorists say this is one of their top four concerns this year, compared with 8% in 2015. Around 18% of motorists also say the cost of parking is now

A druid is taking legal action over the introduction of parking charges during the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, claiming they “unfairly target” his religion. Parking at the neolithic monument usually costs £5, but in June English Heritage introduced a £15 fee for parking during special events. The parking charge is designed to encourage people to car share or travel by bus. King Arthur Pendragon believes the £15 fee is illegal and excludes

The use of contactless cards has soared in the UK over the past year, according to market research company Mintel. Some 39% of people have a contactless debit card to make a payment over the past year, up from 28% of people in 2015. Similarly, contactless credit are used by 34% of people, up from 28% in 2015.  For the first time, people in Britain are more likely to make a payment using a contactless card than a cheque book. The research from Mintel reveals that cheq

Airports are like small cities, providing thousands of jobs and opportunities for business to thrive. With over 400 organisations working out of Heathrow and a combined total of 76,000 airport colleagues who work across three shift patterns over a 24-hour period, a substantial amount of transport is needed to service them. To dissuade airport colleagues from travelling to the airport by single occupancy car, and to engage with carbon reduction issues more generally, Heathrow has a sustainable tr

A man has been jailed for 18 months for an attack that resulted in a civil enforcement officer (CEO) breaking his leg. The CEO, who wants to remain anonymous, was left with semi-permanent nerve damage after the assault in Peterborough last September. Shamal Asaad, 30, attacked the CEO after receiving a penalty charge notice (PCN). The motorist had denied grievous bodily harm, but was found guilty at Peterborough Crown Court. He was also given two further sentences three months each for two furt

Q-Park UK has received the People’s Parking accreditation to its portfolio of 67 car parks. The People’s Parking scheme is an accreditation for car parks that provide customers with a range of facilities and services. It aims to allow parkers to easily find the most suitable and convenient parking when travelling. People’s Parking was launched earlier this year by Helen Dolphin, a mobility consultant and a disability rights campaigner. The scheme’s criteria cover issues

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

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

London’s Waltham Forest Council has been working with its parking contractor to tackle environmental crimes such as littering, spitting and dog fouling. These tasks had been performed in-house, but at the end of last year NSL began enforcing low-level crimes, allowing the council’s neighbourhoods officers to focus their time on larger issues such as fly-tipping. For the pilot phase NSL created a team of four environmental enforcement (EE) officers and a team manager. NSL told Parkin

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

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

Nick Jolmers, a pioneer in the field of decriminalised parking enforcement, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Jolmers’ career saw him head up major parking contractors and launch a parking and transport consultancy. He entered the parking sector as managing director of contractor Sureway Parking Services and its consulting arm Capital Parking. Sureway won some of the earliest on-street parking contracts from 1989 onwards, paving the way for decriminalisation of on-street p

The YourParkingSpace.co.uk online marketplace reports that it has seen a surge in holidaymakers opting to rent driveways rather than conventional airport parking services. YourParkingSpace says that bookings of parking spaces within a 10-minute drive of the UK’s biggest airports are up by 160% in 2016 compared with the same period last year. Research conducted by YourParkingSpace showed that the biggest airport parking savings could be achieved at Gatwick airport.  Official car par

Artificial intelligence is to be deployed by the London Borough of Enfield to help customers making online queries about parking permits, planning applications and a range of other services. The ‘virtual agent’, called Amelia, will offer straightforward guidance, freeing up staff to tackle more complex queries. Amelia can analyse natural language, understand context, apply logic, resolve problems and sense emotions, according to IPsoft, the US firm that developed the system. Enfield

Managing station car parks requires providing rail travellers with a hassle-free experience that lets them focus on catching their train. They should also feel confident about leaving their car for hours or days at a time. High Speed 1 (HS1) is the railway between St Pancras International in London and the Channel Tunnel. HS1 connects London to the Continent via high-speed Eurostar services to Paris, Disneyland, Lille, Marseilles, Brussels and beyond. It also links the capital to Kent, with high

Stephen Brown says engaging with the membership will be the central vision of his term as president of the British Parking Association (BPA). In his inaugural address at the House of Commons on 29 June, Brown said he wanted to communicate with members and show them what the BPA could do for them. “I plan to visit every region and country meeting as part of the BPA’s commitment to supporting their needs and aspirations,” he said. Brown joined the Army as a teenager in 1978 and

Car park waterproofing system manufacturer Triflex UK has appointed Jonny Cross as business development manager, with responsibility for its car parks and infrastructure business unit across Scotland.  Cross has worked in the Scottish construction sector for several years with SIG Construction Accessories and, most recently, Fosroc.  Normal 0 false

A ladies rugby team has found a sponsor in the form of parking systems supplier WPS UK. The under-20s team from the Bristol Academy of Sport, part of the South Gloucester and Stroud College (SGS), which was being picked to represent the UK in the Under 20s Rugby World Cup in Japan in April following a surprise win over long-considered favourites, Hartpury.  The team, which plays in Swindon, approached businesses to help fund new kit as well as travel and accommodation for the tournament.

Cycles and Segways can be used to enforce parking permit schemes using an ANPR system developed in the Netherlands. Abstract Computing International (ABI) is a Dutch company specialising in mobile ANPR systems for parking enforcement. Its side-scanning SCANaCAR registration plate reading technology has been mounted on cars and vans (ScanAuto), and motorcycles (ScanScooter). ABI has now developed a version that can be deployed on both bicycles and Segways. Th

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

UK access control system manufacturer Nortech Control Systems has promoted Amer Hafiz to the role of technical director. Hafiz joined Nortech in January 2012 as manager of the company’s research and development team. Before joining Nortech, Hafiz held senior positions in the engineering departments of both Sony and Panasonic. Stephen Blackler, managing director of Nortech, said: “Amer has had a major impact on the research and development department since he took over as the manage

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

Nine members of Cobalt Telephone Technologies’ staff  competed in a 10k road race to raise money for charity. The Hook Fun Run raises funds for local organisations and charities in Hampshire. Over the past 24 years it has raised £105,000. This year’s event is expected to donate £5,000 to local schools, sports, arts and young people’s activities. A record 1,100 runners crossed the line on 15 May. Cobalt project manager Katy Willcox managed training for the eve

Westminster City Council Parking Services won the Innovation in Technology prize at the Corporate IT Forum’s Real IT Awards 2016. The council picked up the prize for its use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to help disabled residents in Westminster find a place to park. Westminster provides around 200 individually assigned parking bays for disabled residents close to their homes. The council wanted to find a solution for the problem of other motorists occupying spaces,

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

The developers of AppyParking, a parking information app believe their system can help drivers avoid getting parking tickets by breaching restrictions that apply on Bank Holidays. As a rule parking restrictions are relaxed on Bank Holidays, but this is not the case in London.?Only 10 of the 33 boroughs in London allow parking on Bank Holidays, the rest relax the rules on Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Year’s Day. These rules, however, only cover single yellow lines. T

Be it holidays, music, ordering groceries or settling bills, online transactions are becoming second nature to many of us. Parking transactions are increasingly migrating online, with drivers now able to pre-book airport and town centre spaces, use their mobile phones to pay for parking on-street and at car parks as well as order resident and visitor permits online.  And when a parking session goes wrong, it is common for parking operators to offer motorists the ability to pay fines online

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

All motorists adhering to Traffic Regulation Orders. Just about the right number of parking spaces for everyone. All vehicles powered by water. A road network that eliminates any risk of congestion. That’s not asking for too much is it? Of course, it’s all very well aspiring to a utopian dream, but the reality is that we don’t live in a perfect world. The only thing we can really be sure about is that nothing stands still (and, of course, death and taxes). It’s how we ma

Parking ticket manufacturer Nagels Group is rebranding its activities. Nagels has group companies in the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Canada, US, and Australia. Nagels produces a wide range of paper tickets and plastic cards for use in parking payment systems. Last year Nagels produced 3.5 billion car park tickets, which were supplied to 85 countries in 2015. The company has manufacturing bases in Germany and Canada, as well as a new Australian plant is allowing expa

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.  

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 car was almost swallowed by a huge hole that opened up on a street in south-east London last month. The Vauxhall Zafira had been parked on Woodland Terrace in Charlton in the evening. At around 3.20 in the morning it was discovered by police teetering on the edge of a chasm. The blue people carrier was lifted out of the hole by a crane and Thames Water engineers checked for dam

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

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

The University of York has adopted a virtual permit solution for all departmental visitor parking on its 500-acre parkland campus. This is the latest example of the higher education establishment seeking to manage its parking in a greener and more efficient manner. The virtual permits replace a paper-based system that was not only costly to run and difficult to administer but also caused delays and frustration for visitors. The university has over 30 academic and research departments, more than

A fire brigade has warned that bad parking is preventing it responding to calls rapidly and so endangering life. Humberside Fire and Rescue Service tweeted an image of a blocked fire engine to highlight the problem. The service aims to be at the scene of an emergency in eight minutes, but its crews report bad parking could cost them up to five additional minutes. Normal

A report on the role of car clubs in low-car and car-free developments has been launched by Carplus, the national body that promotes accessible shared transport including car clubs, shared bikes and car sharing.  The report, written by Carplus in collaboration with the University of the West of England (Centre for Transport and Society), draws on ten years’ experience of car clubs in new developments. It sets out how car clubs in new developments can work to reduce parking requiremen

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 London Borough of Tower Hamlets has been cracking down on drivers who persistently disregard parking regulations and evade penalty charge notices (PCNs) in one of the most densely populated boroughs in the capital. The enforcement actions see the council issue its in-house civil enforcement officers with lists of suspect vehicles. Tower Hamlets’ CEOs can then call in removal trucks to seize vehicles. A pilot exercise that took place during December 2015 showed this ap

Off-airport parking company Airparks is now an accredited Living Wage employer. Airparks’ Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at its sites serving Birmingham and Luton airports receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.25, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers. The Living Wage is higher than the national minimum wage of £7.20.

English Heritage is imposing a £15 charge for parking at Stonehenge during this year’s Summer Solstice celebrations. The charge is designed to encourage more people to use public transport or to car-share. This is the first time a charge will have been levied on revellers parking in fields near the Stonehenge visitors’ centre for the event, which attracted 40,000 people last year.  The Summer Solstice, which takes place on 21 June, marks the longest day. The event attract

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was, arguably, the most eagerly awaited sequel of all time. Some 33 years after the original trilogy closed with Return of the Jedi, the new movie promised fans a chance to see Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia in action again. The Force Awakens was a commercial and critical hit, but even those who loved Episode VII had one regret. Holding back Luke’s appearance until the final moments of the film meant that fans were denied the vision of him, Han and

The Women In Parking (WIP)  organisation formally launched its European chapter during Intertraffic Amsterdam. WIP was launched in the United States during 2011 to provide a network that inspires and mentors women working in the sector. WIP now has over 200 members drawn from across the public and private parking sectors. WIP has been keen to expand its activities on the international scene. The European launch follows the creation of an Australian chapter in 2013.  The European cha

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

Operation Blue Bird is a multi-agency response to the misuse of Blue Badges in East Sussex. The project has received support from central government, which is keen to see its innovative ideas shared. There are approximately 13,000 badges on issue in Brighton & Hove and 24,000 badges on issue in East Sussex.  The councils concerns about the misuse of the Blue Badge, depriving entitled badge holders of their parking concessions, had seen the development of an informal partnership develo

Brent’s parking team has undergone some dramatic changes in the past two years. Brent is part of the West London Alliance (WLA), which sees it working in partnership with the London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow. In July 2013 the WLA appointed Serco as its parking management and enforcement contractor. This project was recognised at the British Parking Awards 2014, when the WLA won the Parking Partnerships Award. In October 2014 Gavin Moore was appointed as Brent’s new permanent h

Plymouth City Council’s parking team consists of 45 people who are responsible for the provision of decriminalised parking and car park management.  The parking team, which sits within the street services department, took a pledge in 2015 to donate an amount of their working week to support organisations and individuals who were less fortunate them themselves. This pledge has resulted in a number of events and schemes. One of the first initiatives came about from meeting the Shekina

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

While much of the ways in which people book and pay for parking is being automated, being able to interact with a human being is important for drivers. This makes customer service agents like Charlene Charles, who work in call centres so important. After achieving a First class (Hons) in Finance and Accounting BSc at Brunel University, Charles joined APCOA UK & Ireland in 2010 as a customer service agent for the airport pre-booking contracts. Her duties involved providing a service of inform

The realities of an ageing workforce with dying skills and knowledge led to Makers Construction, a company specialising in the refurbishment of car parks, setting about the task of hiring new site managers. The problem was that the pool of talent was very small and Makers struggled over a number of years to find the quality of site manager it needed.  The solution seemed to be train a new generation of parking experts. Over many years Makers had trained white collar professional trainees,

The demand for affordable housing in towns and cities is increasingly intense. However, the need to assemble suitable plots of land and traditional construction both increases the cost and time taken to deliver homes. One solution could be to create pre-fabricated structures on top of car parks. The use of lightweight structures would require minimal groundworks and enable cars to be parked beneath them. This is the thinking behind the Zedpod, which was unveiled at the Ecobuild exhibition in Lo

Parking charges at hospitals in England have been voted the most disliked of all parking fees in a survey carried out by motoring organisation the RAC. There was also a clear majority in favour of pay-at-exit being the norm at hospitals. Some 64% of motorists said that hospital parking charges were the most unwelcome, way ahead of the next most unpopular which were private parking charges made at some supermarkets, shopping centres and other private car parks; only 12% of those questioned cited

Parking is a bigger concern than crime, distance to work and neighbours when it comes to selling a house, according to a survey by a removals company. Research by Quick Move Now suggests that in a third of cases parking availability is the main motivation for moving to a new property. The north-west emerged as  the area of the country where buyers are most likely to move due to parking concerns, with 34% of households deciding to sell up  because of parking issues.  Danny Luke,

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

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

A frozen lake being used as a car park during a winter festival in the United States made headlines when the vehicles started sinking. When Lake Geneva in Wisconsin freezes it is used as a temporary parking area during Winter Fest, an annual event that includes the US National Snow Sculpting Championship. On 6 February the car park started melting and 15 vehicles sunk into the lake after the ice cracked. Lake Geneva Fire Department called in divers to retrieve the submerged vehicles, ten of th

There seems to be a sub-set of employees of the US tech giant Google who make a point of living on campus, thereby saving not just time but money.  The phenomenon is said to have started in 2004 when Mike Weaver decided to take up residence in the car park of the company’s campus in Mountain View, California. He spent just over a year living in a RV (camper van in English-English), but dining and washing in the office. Once the site security team realised Weaver was a worker they see

Processing clerk Jessica Bruton has been presented with a staff award by Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES). The firm said it received letters from motorists praising her telephone manner and helpful response to enquiries concerning penalty charge notices (PCNs). Bruton is a member of the ICES contact centre team at the company’s business processing unit in Northampton.  She was given the Extra Mile performance award by the company for her approach to dealing with the publi

Plymouth City Council has designated parking bays within two car parks as ‘dementia friendly’ spaces. The council’s parking team consulted with carers who expressed frustration about the difficulties they face in parking. The council has made changes to signage and allocated two designated ‘dementia friendly’ spaces in both Western Approach and Theatre Royal car parks. The spaces are on entry level and close to the ticket machines and pedestrian exits, with the aim

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

Technology firm Park Assist has appointed Peter Dingemans as its general manager in Europe. He will be responsible for sales, servicing and development of the company’s European branch. Dingemans previously worked for Dutch technology company TKH Parking Solutions as its business development director. He was also managing director for Scranton Parking, which is part of the TKH group. He is a board member of the Dutch Parking Association Vexpan and an associate member of

Twenty members of Winchester City Council’s parking team have completed a conflict management for work training programme. The training programme, which is City & Guilds accredited, was provided by Maybo. It assisted the team in: recognising potential conflict flashpoints and risks in their work; identifying simple steps to prevent and reduce conflict and risk for all parties; developing positive relationships and interactions; and defusing and resolving emotive situations. Richard H

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

Pay-on-foot parking system supplier WPS has appointed Philip Howell to a senior business development role.  Howell will be working closely with WPS managing director Simon Jarvis to promote the ParkAdvance system. Howell said: “WPS has come from a brand that was virtually unheard of to one that now everyone is talking about. Having been both a customer and a supplier, I am looking forward to bringing my insights of the parking industry to WPS and playing a key role in its future suc

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

A new secure access control system has been installed at a car park in south-west London. The Riverside West Car Park in Wandsworth provides spaces for 584 cars. It is used by both residents of an apartment development and the general public, who pay via a pay-on-foot system.  With cycling reaching new heights of popularity in London, the new arrangements also cover cycle parking areas. The site’s management has opted for a roller-shutter system for the car park and an electronic ke

Alan Wood has joined enforcement agent Penham Excel as a company director and part-owner after five years as director of development at Whyte & Co. At Penham Excel Wood will primarily focus on business development across all debt types. “I'm looking forward to continuing my development work within local authority recovery with a range of new services to trial in 2016,” said Wood. “My real interest is in giving the High Court and Commercial recovery a bit of a shake up by

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Ceredigion’s head of parking services Katy Spain has returned to her post after a charge of ‘misconduct in public office’ against was dropped. Spain, who was named Young Parking Professional of the Year at the British Parking Awards 2014, faced the charge at a preliminary hearing at Swansea Crown Court in June 2015. At the hearing Judge Keith Thomas was told that Spain allegedly instructed a more junior member of staff to prepare a document to replace one that had gone missin

Parking equipment supplier Cale UK has appointed Christopher Octon as its new managing director. Octon spent 20 years with rival parking and transit system manufacturer Parkeon, holding a range of roles.  His most recent post was as president of Parkeon in North America, a role he held for almost four years. Octon said: “My goals for Cale UK are to ensure we build a customer service focus into our team and ensure we listen and respond to our customers needs. At the same time ensuri

NSL has also appointed Darren Hotchkin as its new head of estates and facilities management. This is a new role within NSL’s General Counsel and Legal team.  Hotchkin will managing a property portfolio comprising over 200 premises. He will be overseeing cleaning contracts, rent negotiations, repair and improvements, property procurement, as well as meeting energy efficiency targets. Hotchkin’s previous role was as head of facilities management and national inspection at Bilfin

NSL has appointed Steve Boughton in the new role of chief operating officer. Boughton was previously at international defence and security group QinetiQ, where he served as the managing director of the firm’s technical advisory business.  NSL’s chief executive Adam Palser said: “Steve has particular experience in delivering critical capability for government and I’m looking forward to working with him to deliver strong and sustainable growth in our target markets.&r

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

NSL has appointed Craig Scott to head up the company’s identity checking business. NSL Checking offers a managed Right to Work, Right to Rent and background screening service including identity document verification/validation plus background, criminal and digital footprint record checks. His role will be to grow the business and build on recent significant contract wins in the retail and garment industries, as well as support the expansion into the rental market, where new legislation co

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

New parking restrictions have been introduced at Durdham Downs and Sneyd Park in Bristol. The Downs consists of 400 acres of protected parkland on the edge of the city that has been increasingly been used by commuters for parking, as more controlled parking zones have been introduced throughout the city.

Austrian traffic technology group SWARCO has announced a series of promotions and appointments as part of a restructuring of the UK’s APT Group. SWARCO purchased 100% of the shares of the APT Group in May 2014. SWARCO has now created a new Parking and E-mobility division comprising APT SkiData, Veri-park, Evolt and APT Security Systems. The restructure follows the retirement of Dermot Murphy, chief executive of the APT Group, after almost 28 years with the business. Murphy will retain a

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

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for the charity Disabled Motoring UK (DMUK), received her MBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace last month. She was recognised for her services to disabled people in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Dolphin is to become an independent mobility consultant at the end of the year having worked DMUK for eight years. During her career she has: helped reform the national Blue Badge scheme; introduced the Disabled Parking Award, a parking stan

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

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

Total Car Parks sponsored the prize for Educational Achiever of the Year at the Prince’s Trust East of England Celebrate Success Awards. The event was held on 11 November at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage and was hosted by TV presenter, Anna Williamson. Essy Eslamian, managing director of Total Car Parks, presented the award to winner Sarah Kluber and congratulated finalists, Elisha Burns and Bethany Anderson. “I can’t express just how proud I am to congratulate the

A new accreditation scheme for parking operations has been launched by the British Parking Association (BPA), with the aim of helping organisations improve the quality of their parking services. The Professionalism in Parking Accreditation (PiPA) was launched at the House of Commons yesterday. The accreditation is for entire organisations rather than specific car parks, meaning all sites belonging to an operator or landowner are covered. The scheme is initially being marketed in the healthcare

The conversion of front gardens into parking is a major contributor to the increasing risk of flooding, warns a draft drainage plan for London. The capital may be at risk from major flooding by 2050 without a radical changes to its sustainable drainage system to support over-capacity sewers, says the first ever London Sustainable Drainage Action Plan, which is now open for consultation. Around 17% of permeable ground surface in London has been lost over the last 40 years, largely due to the tre

Durham County Council and Bath & North East Somerset Council (BANES) emerged as the winners of the PATROL Annual Report Award. Durham won the Best Annual Report Award while BANES won the Most Concise Report Award. The councils received their trophies from Louise Ellman MP, chair of the Transport Select Committee, at the House of Commons on 27 October. The awards are open to any of the 300 or so non-London councils in England and Wales who are members of PATROL. PATROL commissioned an indep

A guide designed to help local authorities better communicate to the public, has been published by PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London). The PATROL Annual Report Toolkit is a 102-page document offers advice on how to produce annual reports that inform and engage residents and businesses, providing information about parking in their area and how services are funded. The toolkit reproduces the annual reports of Durham County Council and Bath & North East Somerset Councils,

The British Parking Association (BPA) has disciplined UK Parking Control (UKPC) in the wake of allegations of evidence tampering by some of its employees. The company remains barred from accessing DVLA data, but the national police fraud team is not pursuing the case. 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. UKPC, which operates more than 1,400 car p

Teresa Farndon, NSL’s IT and risk director, has been elected chair of the British Parking Association’s new Parking and Intelligent Mobility group. The new group will act as a forum in which BPA members and interested parties can examine issues surrounding the future of technology and its impact on the parking profession.  As chair of the group, Farndon will be responsible for reporting to and attending meetings of the BPA’s Public Affairs Board. Farndon has 20 years exp

The inconsistency surrounding pavement parking enforcement is causing problems for large numbers of senior citizens around the country, according to Dr Rachel Lee, Policy & Research Coordinator at Living Streets. She cites a YouGov poll of people aged 65 and over that shows parking on pavements was a problem for 73% of those questioned in their local area. “Vulnerable pedestrians, such as older people, disabled people and parents with infants are especially at risk when forced to walk

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

ITV has been screening a fly-on-the-wall documentary series devoted to the parking sector.  Parking Wars features local authority parking teams, drivers contesting penalties, parking campaigners and adjudicators the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The first episode looked at the work being done by Michael Robinson and his team at Portsmouth City Council to tackle Blue Badge fraud. There was also a sequence showing the tensions at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, where the policy of free hospital

In towns and cities all around the world on Friday 18 September people gathered to talk, read, eat, drink and play music. They did this in thousands of parking bays that were converted into mini urban green spaces as part of PARK(ing) Day. PARK(ing) Day is an annual event which sees cities around the world convert parking bays into ‘Parklets’, small urban parks that become places where people can sit, talk, read books, listen to music and play games. This year’s event marked

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

Peckham’s car parks seem to be good at making headlines, but seldom because of anything to do with cars. The south-east London neighbourhood’s largely disused multi-storey car park has become a popular venue, being home to the Bold Tendencies art gallery, Multi-Story Orchestra and Frank’s Bar, a pop-up venue on the top deck with great views of the city. Now one of the area’s surface car parks is attracting attention on account of its colony of feral cats, who have become

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

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

Employees from safety barrier manufacturer A-SAFE raised £3,700 for cancer research by taking part in 12-mile obstacle course last month. The Tough Mudder extended over rough terrain and woodland and includes a host of fiendish obstacles along the way, including the Ring of Fire, Skidmarked, Electroshock Therapy and enticingly named Arctic Enema. Yorkshire’s Triathlon World Champion and Olympic medal winner Jonathan Brownlee was on hand to offer encouragement. A-SAFE was raising f

Xerox has launched a performance management system that uses data analytics to help parking managers handle workloads and patrol routes. CitySight automates manual processes by providing a logging mechanism that analyses the daily activities of civil enforcement officers (CEOs), such as time worked, patrols, public interaction and penalty charge notices issued. Xerox says supervisors can use the insights gleaned from the data to manage time and resources in a way that improves the flow of traff

Major sporting events are a magnet for spectators, and their cars. When Portsmouth hosted the America’s Cup World Series sailing competition at the end of July it had to plan for the fact that many thousands of visitors would arrive by car. The focal points of the event on land were the ‘race village’ and a ‘fanzone’ for paying guests and VIPs who watched the races from a 1,500-seat VIP grandstand erected near the Southsea bandstand. Most people, however, headed to

NSL has donated over £800 to a community group in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, where the company is the council’s parking enforcement contactor. The Redcoat Active community group was set up by resident Abdul Hannan to encourage men over the age of 40 to do exercise. The cost of traditional gyms was proving barrier for residents so Hannan decided to set up a low cost alternative. The Redcoats Community Centre hosts the group’s sessions, which mainly involve free aerob

Staff from management company Creative Parking Solutions raised around £400 for cancer research when they took part in a fun run in London in June. The Pretty Muddy Run, which took place in Victoria Park on 21 June, as a 5km muddy obstacle course where women of any ability and age can climb, jog and walk all over cancer. The rule was they had to wear pink. The idea to take part in the run came from Leyla*, trainee solicitor at the firm. “I thought it might be worth having such expe

Residents in the picturesque city of Wells have taken to writing notes to drivers who have been deemed guilty of thoughtless parking. A motorist who parked across the entry to the Somerset city’s Bishop’s Barn, received a note that read: “Attention dipstick. How do I get my pram through this pathway?” Another note stated: “Idiot! What about wheelchairs and mobility scooters?” A correspondence has started at the Rose and Crown pub after its landlord left a n

A local authority parking team is using a blog written from the perspective of a civil enforcement officer as a way to educate motorists and give a fresh perspective on both local and national parking concerns. The blog is written in the name of a fictional civil enforcement officer “Anna Tendant” (a knowing pun). The blog was launched by the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) six months ago and has had over 2,000 views.  To see the blog click here The council says the bl

Managing multiple small-scale inner city car parks is a challenge for operators. The University of Sheffield has implemented a Park Mark-inspired investment programme that has improved availability, security, cleanliness and fear of crime. Reputation is key for the research university. It is one of the original red brick universities in the United Kingdom, a member of the Russell Group and received a royal charter in 1905. In 2014 the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey ranked the u

Andrew Pester has taken up his role as the new chief operating officer of the British Parking Association. The COO is a new role that will work alongside chief executive Patrick Troy and company secretary Jane Hack in supporting the BPA's board of directors. Pester, who joined the BPA on 6 July, most recently worked in the energy sector, having spent several years working at Ofgem, the energy regulator. He has over 15 years experience in a range of regulatory, public sector, commercial and mana

Angela Reeves has left PayByPhone to join the UK division of rival Parkmobile as an account manager supporting the RingGo cashless parking service.   Reeves has had a long career in the parking technology sector, and had been with PayByPhone (previously Verrus) since September 2003. While at PayByPhone, Reeves played a key role in winning and supporting the first ever phone parking tender for Westminster City Council in 2008, a contract which saw the authority lead the market by removing m

The British Parking Association has announced its intention to develop a new professionalism accreditation for the parking sector. The ambitions for the Professionalism in Parking Accreditation (PiPA) are set out in the 2015-16 edition of the association’s Master Plan for Parking. The new Master Plan for Parking sets out the BPA’s priorities for what it must do to achieve success in the parking community and has separate versions for the UK, Wales, Scotland and I

Bath & North East Somerset Council is using social media and a new training scheme to recruit staff to the parking services team that patrols the World Heritage city’s streets as well as market towns and rural areas. The council’s approach to recruiting more civil enforcement officers (CEOs) includes the development of a sector-based ‘Work Academy’ in partnership with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and Bath College. The academy scheme involves offering 10

Philip Hammer, Cambridgeshire County Council’s parking operations manager, has been elected as president of the British Parking Association (BPA). The election took place after president-elect Steve Brown of Equita decided to stand down after a recent illness. Hammer will be inaugurated at a reception held at the House of Commons on 29 June. The event sees the BPA launch the new editions of its Parking Master Plans for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Hammer became a BPA council me

Parking information provider Parkopedia has appointed Marty Zacharias as senior director, business development a new position based in Detroit, home of the US car industry. Working out of Parkopedia’s new Detroit office, Zacharias will be global account manager for many current Parkopedia’s automotive clients, including Chrysler, Ford, GM and Nissan. He will promote Parkopedia services to other car-makers, suppliers and content aggregators.  An automotive engineer who has work

A team of cyclists from Videalert and Imtech Traffic & Infra have so far raised more than £11,000 for Hampshire Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA).  Pulled together by Tim Daniels of Videalert, the Helicopter Heroes team was sponsored to ride from London to Paris in four days. The 230-mile journey was completed at the end of May with the aid of a support vehicle sponsored by Imtech Traffic & Infra. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance receives no government funding so

Parking booking service ParkJockey provided a complimentary shuttle bus service for people attending a fundraising event for the Gurkhas attended by The Queen, the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry.  In addition to providing the free two-way shuttle, ParkJockey also donated to the trust all the £500 in profit it made taking online bookings relating the event. The Gurkha Welfare Trust hosted a pageant at London’s Royal Hospital Chelsea on 9 June in commemoration of 200 years of

Parking payment systems manufacturer Parkeon is supporting Chloe Stoneman, a young athlete who is part of the GB underwater hockey team competing in the CMAS World Championships in Spain in August. Underwater hockey is an amateur sport with no central funding. This means Plymouth-based Chloe Stoneman, 16, needs to raise £1,500 to cover match fees, kit and travel expenses.  Parkeon, whose UK headquarters are based in Plymouth, has donated £500 to the teenager. “I have bee

IDeaS Revenue Solutions has appointed Jim Short as senior account executive in its car parking division. He will be promoting the company’s Car Park Revenue Management, an automated, dynamic pricing system that is particularly aimed at the airport parking market. Short was previously technology sales manager EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) at Smart Parking, where he worked for two years. He was also UK business manager for Xerox Parking Service, which supplies barrier revenue contro

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Mike Darlison as contact manager for its parking enforcement services contract with Lincolnshire County Council. Darlison has worked in both the public and private sector, most recently as the regional director of 1Life Management Solutions, where he had responsibility for over 20 leisure sites in the north and midlands of England. At APCOA he will work with the county council and district authorities to raise compliance levels and educate members of the public

Mark Holdsworth has joined cashless payment specialist ADVAM (UK) as business development manager for its ticketless parking and transport solutions. Following the launch of ADVAM’s updated ticketless solutions earlier this year, Holdworth has been appointed to focus on the customer development of the ParkCharge, StaffPark and GroundTransport solutions. Holdsworth will be working with local government, parking operators and ground transport managers. Holdsworth was previously principal

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal has appointed barrister Stephen Knapp as its deputy chief adjudicator. Knapp has been an adjudicator at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for 15 years, as well as working as a judge for the Special Educational Needs Tribunal. Knapp’s appointment follows an internal restructuring of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) designed to support the changing scope of work and the needs of its adjudicators. Recent months have seen TPT start hearing appeals relating to the ne

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

APCOA Parking Group has appointed Kim Challis as regional managing director for the UK and Ireland. Challis was has held a number of senior executive and board positions with G4S, most recently as regional managing director for its facilities management division. Ralf Bender, APCOA Parking Group’s chief executive, said: “Kim is a dynamic and very astute businesswoman, who has a proven-track record in delivering positive outcomes across a diverse range of commercial and public sector

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for the charity Disabled Motoring UK, was made an MBE for her services to disabled people in this year’s Queens Birthday Honours. She has worked at the organisation for eight years and, in that time, has: helped reform the national Blue Badge scheme; introduced a parking standard that recognises car parks which provide excellent facilities for disabled people – the DPA; worked with the UK petroleum industries authority to make getting

After buying their home, the biggest investment most people will make is in their car. After running a household, finding a place to park the car is often the biggest headache for many residents. There is a perception among many homeowners, housebuilders and politicians that there are not enough parking spaces on residential developments. However, evidence has been collected and presented by a research project that indicates that on suburban housing estates, at least, there is, in fact, a surplu

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

Airport parking teams at Gatwick and Stansted supported Friends of the Earth Great British Bee Count organised by Friends of the Earth.  During May airport parking company I Love Meet and Greet spotted bees and registered their count on the Friends of the Earth website. The company also planted flowers rich in nectar and pollen in fields near to its HQ. Sarah Anglim, managing director at I Love Meet and Greet, explains: “We very much wanted to do our bit for the British bees. Our te

The Multi-Story Orchestra is a group of musicians who stage concerts at a largely disused car park in Peckham, south London. Last month the orchestra, which is led by conductor Christopher Stark and composer Kate Whitely, accepted an invite to perform in a car park in Ipswich as part of Suffolk’s Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts. The Sunday concert in Suffolk County Council’s car park was part of a day of activities run by the orchestra. As in Peckham, children were at the h

Stirling Lloyd, manufacturer of the Decseal waterproofing system for car parks, has appointed Anne Tattersall as its marketing director. She will be tasked with refreshing the company’s marketing strategy and driving sales growth at home and in export markets. Tattersall joins from AkzoNobel where she worked for 12 years, the last three as marketing director for professional brands.  She was responsible for the Dulux Trade’s professional paint brand in the commercial contracto

APCOA Parking Ireland provided the charity Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind with free parking during a fundraising weekend in Galway.  The Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind’s ‘Assistance Dog Programme’ had been chosen as the beneficiary charity for the Maynooth Students for Charity Annual Cycle 2015, which runs from Maynooth and Galway. APCOA provided event co-ordinators, guide dog trainers and their canine companions with free spaces at the Market Street and Mercy Secondary

A team of cyclists representing enforcement technology providers Videalert and Imtech Traffic & Infra set out from Trafalgar Square in London on 26 May at the start of a four-day ride to Paris. The team is named Helicopter Heroes and is undertaking the 230-mile journey ride to raise money for Hampshire Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA). The helicopter is based at Thruxton Airfield near Andover and its head office is located in Southampton. The Air Ambulance receives no government fundin

A social media channel that seeks to show parking people are ordinary human beings has received the support of one of the sector’s leading operators. The project’s aim is to counter the all too often negative portrayal of parking staff. The Human of Parking initiative has been launched on Twitter – @HumansOfParking.  The account’s content is being provided by attendants and civil enforcement officers (CEOs), who are providing insights into their experiences, ambiti

An amateur gardener has seen his idea for a front garden design that combines plantings with a parking space created at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Nurse Sean Murray took top prize in BBC2’s The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge. His idea ties in with a campaign by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to showcase ways to incorporate plants, flowers and grass alongside cars in front gardens.  RHS estimates that more than seven million front gardens in the UK contain concrete

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

Operator MET Parking is equipping all its parking attendants with body cameras in order to deter assaults on them. The Edesix bodycams have already helped identify a person who threatened an attendant with a baseball bat.  The man was arrested and accepted a police caution for affray. MET Parking told Parking Review: “Unfortunately within our car parks, there are occasions where our uniformed officers face potential physical attacks while merely carrying out their duties.  &l

NSL has created a central Radio Operations Centre, known as the ROC, to manage radio communications with 1,100 civil enforcement officers (CEOs) working across 13 London boroughs. The ROC, which is housed at NSL’s headquarters in west London, replaces 13 separate radio control rooms. The company says the new facility increases call capacity and so enhances the safety, efficiency and assistance provided to both CEOs and members of the public.  The previous analogue and push-button sys

The growing numbers of people renting out their driveways, spare rooms and spare time using online marketplaces are enthusiastic members of what is known as the ‘sharing economy’. The emergence of new, often informal, marketplaces poses challenges not just for established retailers, hoteliers and car park providers, but also for the government. While there are important issues around consumer protection, tax and safety regulations to be considered, the general attitude of central gov

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

Taking the car remains a popular option for many British holidaymakers, with almost a third planning to head abroad by car, according to the Car Holiday Report 2015, a survey commissioned by ferry company Stena Line.  The Car Holiday Report is based on a survey of over 1,000 people. This year, 28% of British holidaymakers will take a holiday by car.  France is the country that most of British holidaymakers, 42%, are planning to visit. This is followed by the Italy and Germany, with 20

Three men have been found guilty of assaulting a civil enforcement officer (CEO) in the London borough of Camden after video footage of the incident was shown in court.  Builders Shaun Ritchie, Kevin Lee Ritchie and Loon Cuong Chu were filmed on a passer-by’s mobile phone attacking the NSL CEO. They were found guilty of assault by Highbury Magistrates. The CEO told the Ham & High newspaper: “I had issued a ticket to the van when one of the men started arguing and hit me on

A civil enforcement officer resigned after seeing footage that showed her issuing a penalty charge notice to a taxi involved in an accident.  Black cab driver Mohamed Arif used his mobile phone to film the CEO, who worked for NSL in Manchester, as she prepared to issue the PCN. The footage was taken on 18 April after the taxi had been in a collision with a car in Manchester city centre. Arif can be heard saying to the CEO: “You do realise I have had a road traffic accident.” A

Malcolm Daughtrey has joined the Independent Parking Committee (IPC) in the new role of business development manager.  “My role within IPC is to deliver a marketing and business development strategy to enable it to be at the forefront of providing a quality service to its members,” said Daughtrey. “Using my experience gained over many years within the parking sector will help build IPC and grow its membership as an accredited organisation.” After nine years as a po

With 52 floors providing over 200 apartments 181-metre high One St George Wharf in London is one of the tallest residential towers in Europe. The development, overlooking the River Thames at Vauxhall, is served by a basement car park with space for 200 cars across two levels.  Developer St George wanted the car park to have an attractive aesthetic that reflected the project’s luxury status. The developer’s in-house project design team and contractor Makers Construction worked w

NSL staff raised a total of £6,000 for charity Macmillan Cancer Support via sporting challenges, baking cakes and holding coffee mornings. The cancer charity was the parking contractor’s 2014 charity of the year. For 2015 NSL has chosen Alzheimer’s Society, following a company-wide vote. NSL’s commercial director, Graham Williams, handed a £6,000 cheque to Lindsay Cape, area fundraising manager, at Macmillan.  Williams said: “NSL has really enjoyed sup

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

Civil enforcement officers at APCOA Parking (UK) paid respects to their late supervisor Eddie Wallis at Lincoln crematorium on 10 April.  Six uniformed CEOs from APCOA’s Lincolnshire contract acted as pallbearers for their colleague, who collapsed from a heart attack while at work on 12 March, aged 63.  APCOA senior CEO Gary Burdeau had been on hand to call the ambulance and contacted the Wallis family. Despite receiving cardiology treatment at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester,

Makers Construction’s apprentice scheme were a winner at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Committed to Excellence in the East Midlands Awards, which were held at the Belfry in Nottingham last month. The refurbishment specialist is funding a five-year programme that mixes on-the-job learning, higher education at Walsall College and personal mentoring. Kevin Bradley, chair of the CIOB judging panel, said: “Makers Construction’s apprenticeship scheme is a model for the

A minicab driver has been jailed for nine months after he head-butted a civil enforcement officer in a dispute over where he had parked his car. The assault happened on 11 June 2014 after the CEO, employed by VINCI Park UK in the City of London, asked Tamim Ahmed, who had parked without displaying a ticket, to move his car as there was another vehicle waiting to park.  The self-employed cab driver told the CEO that someone had gone to get a ticket and was waiting for them to return. The C

Debt recovery company Marston was awarded the Learning & Development Impact Award and the Best Use of Credit Technology Award at the 2015 Chartered Institute of Credit Management Awards. The awards were presented by magician Paul Daniels and his assistant Debbie McGee.

Maximum parking limits should be scrapped for new developments in outer London, says a new report from GLA Conservative Assembly member Steve O’Connell. He says that the limits should be removed from the London Plan, the Mayor’s planning document, with outer London boroughs given the power to set their own levels.  O’Connell also urged Transport for London to “refrain” from reducing parking levels in outer London developments as pre-planning and planning stage

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

The east London borough of Tower Hamlets is taking a customer focused approach to parking that seeks to meet needs of residents and businesses, visitors to the borough, shoppers, disabled drivers and the emergency services. Parking & Mobility Services sits under the council’s Public Realm in Communities, Localities and Culture directorate. It has 150 members of staff organised into five teams: design and development; mobility; appeals and permits; parking business; and enforcement. Th

Music and laughter are a hallmark of the British Parking Awards, which celebrate innovation and achievement in this often beleaguered service sector. The 2015 awards event was no exception. Over 500 people attended the gala lunch, which took place at the Lancaster London. The event, which is the highlight of the parking social calendar, started with a reception accompanied by jazz trio Silk Street, followed by a 4-star lunch. This year’s ceremony was hosted by Ade Adepitan, the TV travel

John Heard has joined New Zealand-based Smart Parking as chief technical officer (CTO). Working at the company’s Auckland offices, he will lead the firm’s technology and product delivery. He started his career as a scientist at New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, before joining Sun Microsystem in the UK, as group director of engineering. He was also responsible for the strategic direction of Sun’s US-based Java Systems division. Roly Rogers, Smart’s

APCOA Parking (UK) customer service advisors at a Northamptonshire Hospital raised over £100 for Comic Relief on Red Nose Day. The team at Kettering General Hospital wore red noses when patrolling the hospital campus in the week running up the telethon on 13 March. Pictured are Donna Goodman, Daniel Spencer and Susan Knight.

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

Total Car Parks attendant Alan Ketteon celebrated his 83rd birthday on 17 February with cakes, cards and congratulations from colleagues in Manchester. Essy Eslamian, Total Car Parks managing director, said: “Alan is an invaluable member of the Total Car Parks’ family. The fact he is working at Rochdale Road at the age of 83 just shows how much he truly loves his role there. His positivity is something that our customers notice and appreciate.”

A conference venue in East Sussex donates the proceeds from its car park to good causes and actually encourages drivers to pass on unused time on pay & display tickets. The Hastings Centre, at The Ridge in East Sussex, is a business, leisure and conference venue with its own 160-space car park. The venue invests profits it generates back into the local community, primarily through employing people who have been out of work for some time. It also makes donations to local charities. Centre m

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

There was a time when £500,000 bought you a nice flat in London. Now this sort of money just about buys a parking bay in the swankier parts of the capital.  A price tag of £480,000 has been attached to a three-car space in South Kensington. If a buyer can be found it would beat the previous record for a parking spot by £100,000 – and that was £400,000 paid for a two-car underground bay near the Royal Albert Hall, also in Kensington. The price of the parking b

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

The head of the train drivers’ union has accused train operating companies (TOCs) of driving up the cost of parking for passengers.  Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF said: “Every year the TOCs put up the price of parking, way ahead of inflation. It’s almost as if they want to drive people off the railways and onto the roads. The truth, of course, is that they are not in the business of running a public service, but of making as much profit as possible.” He s

Nursing staff have collected thousands of signatures on a petition calling for more parking provision at the soon to be opened £842m South Glasgow Hospitals campus. The facility on the site of the Southern General will have parking for 3,500 vehicles. It will be home to several specialist services with up to 10,000 NHS staff based there when it comes into operation. The South Glasgow University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children are expected to be operational by mid-June.

Civil enforcement officers in Birmingham have been given a 20% rise under the city council’s policy that all new contracts must guarantee that staff are paid at least the National Living Wage.  Last month the council retained parking enforcement firm NSL, signing a new five-year contract. NSL’s patrol staff have seen their salary increase from £6.50 to £7.85 an hour. Under the terms of Birmingham’s Business Charter for Social Responsibility, NSL will develop r

VINCI Park UK has appointed Phil Burns as its head of business development. Burns has worked in the parking sector for over 14 years, holding senior positions at the London Borough of Hillingdon, Aylesbury Vale District Council, the London Borough of Ealing and Transport for London. Most recently he has worked in the private sector, being a business development manager at APCOA Parking (UK). Phillip Herring, managing director of VINCI Park UK, said: “Phil has excellent experience and bri

When TV presenter and Paralympian Ade Adepitan takes to the stage at the Lancaster London Hotel on Friday 6 March the air of anticipation will be intense. The sense of drama at the annual lunch is utterly real because the winners are kept secret until the day of the event.  The awards were launched in 2002 by Parking Review magazine because we wanted to recognise achievement and excellence across the parking sector.  The categories are designed to reflect the fact that the simple wor

A campaign has been launched to prevent the view from a south London car park being blocked by future tower block developments. An online petition is urging the London Borough of Southwark not to allow any high-rise buildings adjacent to the multi-storey car park in Peckham. During the spring and summer the car park’s upper floors host the Bold Tendencies art exhibitions and Multi-Story Orchestra music events, while the roof deck is a pop-up café-bar called Frank’s. The coun

The short list for the British Parking Awards 2015 has been published. The winners of the annual competition will be revealed by Ade Adepitan, the Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and TV presenter, at the Lancaster Hotel in London on Friday 6 March. The awards, which have been organised by Parking Review since 2002, recognise excellence and achievement in the parking sector. To see the short list click here The competition encompasses many aspects of the parking sector, with categ

The British Parking Association (BPA) has made a commitment to raising skills standards of individuals by developing new qualifications. It is just over a year since the BPA launched a suite of qualifications for parking enforcement and notice processing staff in partnership with an awarding body called WAMITAB (the Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board). Since 1 January 2014, approved training centres have been able to offer two BPA WAMITAB parking qualifications.  There i

Many parking providers now recognise the importance of engaging with motorists as customers. Interactions take place in person, over the phone, online and via letters. Each such encounter provides an opportunity to create a positive impression, to resolve problems and generate future business. There are a range of customer service courses on the market, but now one has been developed specifically for the parking sector by training provider Alpha Parking working in partnership with City & Gu

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

Car parking is not always seen as an industry that has been first to embrace the training and development techniques and tools that are commonplace elsewhere. However, the team at NCP has been adopting a range of training and skills development approaches, and developing a number of its own as part of a shared training and development vision whichaims to instil its brand values in staff.  The company says that this is vital if the industry is to continue to raise its standards. NCP’

Parking is a service sector that employs thousands of people, with those working on the front line wearing uniforms that need to be smart, comfortable and, especially in a traffic environment, safe and visible. Stretching back to the era of traffic wardens, there has long been a tradition of kitting parking patrol staff in police style uniforms that convey a sense of authority. However, over the years there have been examples of parking companies and councils that have adopted a softer look to c

When communities secretary Eric Pickles abolished Labour’s (already weakened) national parking standards in 2011, he cloaked his announcement in the language of localism: “We’re getting out of the way and it’s up to councils to set the right parking policy for their area.” But, of course, politicians only “get out of the way” when they believe this will move things in their preferred direction. Three years later, the Coalition’s intellectual heavyw

Mandy Ainsworth has left the parking sector to join the NHS South CSU (commissioning support unit) as performance lead. This represents a return to Ainsworth’s roots; she joined Worthing’s parking team in 2007 having spent eight years as monitoring manager at Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust. At Worthing she was handed the task of implementing parking enforcement. In 2008 her remit was extended to manage Worthing’s car parks and its contract with NCP. Later that sam

Westminster City Council has promoted Kieran Fitsall to the role of head of service improvement and transformation (city management and communities). Fitsall was previously the council’s service development manager for parking. During that period he oversaw the introduction of new sensor-based street parking management, the ParkRight app and parking marshals who are tasked with advising rather than penalising motorists. He joined the city council parking team in 1995 as a policy & co

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. Now

An NSL employee working on behalf DVLA rescued a driver who crashed their car in South Wales last month. Dale Wood was on patrol on Tredegar Road in Bridgend when he noticed an untaxed vehicle on 8 December.   The motorist realised his vehicle had been noted and sped off. The driver lost control of the car, which skidded off the road, flipping over three times. Wood rushed to the motorist’s assistance, opened the car door and pulled the driver out. He then called the emergency servi

Hammersmith & Fulham’s parking projects and policy manager Naveed Ahmed is to join the strategy planning division at Transport for London (TfL). In his new role he will focus on clean air initiatives, walking, cycling and sustainable transport.  Ahmed joined the London borough in 2004 as a graduate, and took a year’s sabbatical in 2007 to complete an MSc at the London School of Economics, with a particular focus on transport planning. He went on to design an intelligent va

Total Car Parks has been expanding its administration team. In November Theresa Magson joined as new business administrator and Laura Garner as junior administrator. They join a team comprising Ryan Taylor, Leigh Cunningham and Cheryl Anten. The company is a supporter of both the Prince’s Trust, which is how Total came to employ Ryan Taylor last year. Following a period of unemployment, Taylor found himself involved in the Prince’s Trust ‘Team Programme’, a free 12-week

Cameron Findlay has moved from West Suffolk Parking Services to become parking manager at the London Borough of Redbridge. At West Suffolk he was responsible for off-street car parks, residential parking schemes and seasonal park & ride in Bury St Edmunds. Findlay was named Parking Person of the Year at the British Parking Awards 2013.  The award recognised initiatives such as creating a ‘Low Emission Vehicle Car Park’, which catered exclusively for drivers of greener veh

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

When Nottingham’s workplace parking levy (WPL) was launched in April 2012, it had a good many detractors among the city’s business community. Firms complained the scheme would erode their profit margins. Nottingham’s biggest company, Boots, threatened to move its 3,000 parking spaces outside the city to avoid paying the levy. But more than two years on, most of the misgivings about the scheme appear to have subsided. And, importantly, the WPL is fulfilling its core purpose of

Catching a flight can be stressful, and many people who park their cars at airports are often distracted. Occasionally people will inadvertently leave car windows partially or fully open, leaving their interiors exposed to the elements. It has been customary at many airports for parking staff to tape plastic to open windows. But the Ground Transportation Customer Service Team at Bristol Airport felt this was both fiddly work and did not look professional, so set about looking for a smarter solu

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

Gary McFarlane, an entrepreneur who has developed parking systems, was named in the Power 100 List of Britain’s Most Influential People with a Disability or Impairment. McFarlane is listed in the Business, Finance and IT section. It recognises his work co-founding the assist-Mi service, an app which offers disabled people the ability to request assistance directly on their smartphone from participating service providers with the click of a button. McFarlane set up assist-Mi with North Ea

Pluss Future Clean is seeking car park owners and operators who can partner it in creating valet parking schemes that help people back into work. Pluss Future Clean development manager Rod Burnett told last month’s Parking World 2014 event that there are now Future Clean valet services in 16 car parks across the country, but the social enterprise is particularly seeking partners in Essex and South East of England, the London boroughs of Dagenham and Barking, Manchester, Hull, Glasgow and

Charlie Leaper has stood down from his role as managing director of Smart Parking’s UK technology business for personal reasons. Technology sales manager Jim Short is now leading sales of sensors and related systems.  Earlier this year Smart Parking divided its UK operation into two business units, one offering technology and the other management services. Susan Taylor is UK managing director for Smart Parking’s management services business, while Leaper became managing direct

The Nagels Group, which prints parking payment machine tickets, has announced that Lee Minter has rejoined the company in the role of director - international operations.  Minter had filled the role in 2011 before becoming a director of rival Syndicate Secure Print. Nagels chief executive officer Derek Skelton said: “We welcome Lee back into the Nagels fold. Lee’s 25 years of experience of the parking and ticketing industry will be of great benefit to the group and our custome

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

Harry Clarke has for many years been a familiar face within the parking sector spreading the word about the myriad benefits of phone parking payment technology. Since setting up Cobalt Telephone Technologies nearly 20 years ago, he has ensured that the firm’s RingGo phone payment service has kept pace with the evolving smartphone market. In 2012 the firm was acquired by Netherlands-based Parkmobile Group, with the two phone parking brands being operated in parallel in the UK, under a data

Imagine there were roadworks outside your house. Suddenly, there’s nowhere to park and you have friends coming to visit. Would you wait for them to turn up late, having spent an hour touring the area to find somewhere to leave their car? Or would you contact them, apologise profusely for the situation and assure them that you will move your own car off your driveway so that they can have your space? If you didn’t have that option, then you might suggest postponing the visit. I was r

My wife keeps telling me it’s time to call it a day and to embrace retirement by doing all those things she has planned for me to do. However, all her best laid plans were postponed in June 2013 when Unity Recruitment called to see if I was interested in a parking management role at the London Borough of Croydon.  After a 10-year absence I found myself back at the authority working in Parking Services as enforcement and infrastructure manager, responsible for enforcement on and off-s

When it appeared 25 years ago, the first edition of Parking Review stated the new title would be a quarterly, but I must admit that back in late 1989 it was not certain that the theme of parking cars would sustain a regular publication. But the reaction to issue 1 was so positive that issue 2 appeared in January 1990 and the magazine was soon established as a bi-monthly, then ten times year, and, before long it was a monthly. Things did not stop there. As early as 1990 we produced a supplement

Parking World 2014 covered a great deal of territory. The tenth Parking Review autumn conference presented delegates with a programme that encompassed themes affecting both on-street and off-street operations and the private and public sectors, including sessions on customer service, the economics of parking and rethinking parking as urban space.  The day commenced with an impassioned talk on the importance of putting people at the heart of parking operations by Jill Fraser, chief executiv

It is often said the car is second only to a house in a person’s major life purchases. A Knightsbridge house has gone on sale for £16.5m. Besides a swimming pool, spa, wine cellar and home cinema it features a glass wall in the study offering a view of the garage. The four-bedroom Park Lodge is being sold by James Forbes, partner at estate agent Strutt & Parke, who has seen a number of homes refurbished to include high-end garages. “People who are buying these properties

Transport planning and engineering consultant JMP has appointed James Chequer as an associate in its Bristol office. Chequer, who joins JMP from Transport Planning Associates, has over 14 years experience in transport planning consultancy, providing private and public sector clients with highway and transport advice particularly relating to the development planning process.  He has worked on transportation and development planning issues in sectors including residential, leisure, health,

Debt recovery company Marston Holdings has promoted Fatima Rhazouani to the role of group client services director for central government and the Traffic Management Act 2004. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB

A parking deck serving a private residential development in St John’s Wood, north-west London has been re-waterproofed. Cavendish House is located on Wellington Road that runs alongside Lord’s Cricket Ground. The property features an asphalt covered parking deck and a number of lock-up garages. Urbanworthy Property Manage-ment, which looks after the apartment building and adjoining properties, appointed contractor Cemplas to carry out the works. Tremco’s MMA Rapid Cure Flexi

Staff at NSL have raised over £1,300 for cancer charity Macmillan by holding a series of coffee mornings and taking part in fun runs. Civil enforcement officers throughout the UK took part, with Manchester raising £553.50, Oldham raised £83, Tameside £95; High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire £93.50 and Wirral raised £88. Staff at NSL’s head office in London raised over £100 through the sale of a range of baked goods. Parking staff working for Birming

APCOA Parking (UK)’s enforcement services contract in Southwark has raised over £250 for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity appeal.  Civil enforcement officers (CEOs) and school crossing patrol (SCP) officers from across the London Borough of Southwark took part in the nationwide coffee morning, and to remember their colleague, Christine Foot, who recently lost her long battle with cancer. The fundraising initiative was the brainchild of Bryan Devlin, contract manager for AP

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Shane Farrell to be contract manager for its combined parking and security operation at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton. Farrell, whose career spans nearly 20 years, joined APCOA from Lodge Security, where he worked as a security manager and assistant area manager for the Irish clothing giant Primark. During his three-and-a-half years on-site with the retailer, Farrell managed a number of sites with a combined asset value of over one billion pounds. These ran

Press and television coverage of parking often demonises parking staff as ‘pirates’ and ‘cowboys’, creating a hostile climate that makes abuse and even violent assaults on parking staff more likely.  Politicians and the press have to stop demonising the parking sector as this creates a hostile climate for front line staff, a gathering of politicians was told last month. The use of inflammatory language vilifying and demeaning parking patrol officers by those with a

High streets around the country are losing their distinctive characters, with independent family businesses being replaced by bookmakers, convenience stores, takeaways and charity shops. And, in the wake of a long recession, shop vacancies continue to rise in many regions. Yet, while many town centres are losing their retail appeal, others are thriving, observes Richard Jenkings, public sector consultant at Experian, an information services company that collects data on retail trends and activi

A plethora of articles have recently been published in the national press berating parking operators, calling them ‘cowboys’, talking about ‘rip-off’ parking charges and, most insidious of all, publishing photographs of the homes and cars of some of the owners and ex-employees of certain operators.  This has been a real old-fashioned witch-hunt with no attempt to provide balance or even pay lip-service to impartiality. In the September issue of Parking Review, Neil

Robot cars, smartphone apps and trend analysis software will all be discussed at Parking World this month. However, the human side of parking will also be very evident at Parking Review’s annual conference, with discussions of how to make hospital parking less stressful and how to influence parents in order to make the school run safer. This is the tenth annual autumn event run by Parking Review, whose editor Mark Moran has programmed the conference. The event offers plenty of scope to ne

Parking bays around the world are being turned into gardens, bike clinics, performance spaces, art installations and even health clinics. Created as part of the annual PARK(ing) Day celebration every September, these transformations last only one day but show what urban life would be like if the car did not dominate the urban streetscape. PARK(ing) Day is an annual event that happens on the third Friday of September where artists, designers and citizens transform both metered parking spots and

Two Northern Irish traffic attendants (TAs) helped extinguish a car fire on the streets of Derry/LondonDerry on 1 September.  TAs Tommy Robinson and Davy Thompson both work for NSL as part of its contract with the Roads Service Northern Ireland.  Robinson was on Pump Street when he spotted that a motorist had opened his car bonnet to a plume of smoke. Flames rapidly engulfed the front of the vehicle, so he ran into a shop borrowed a fire extinguisher and put out the blaze. Davy, who

Transport for London (TfL) staff have amassed parking penalties costing almost £170,000 over the past four years, a political blog has revealed. Politics.co.uk used a Freedom of Information request to obtain the information. TfL told the website it is working to reduce the number of fines collected by their employees. “The majority of penalty charge and enforcement notices were issued to TfL vehicles parked outside stations and in bus lanes while staff members carried out work,&rdq

A collection of studies and essays on parking policy from around the world has been published. Parking: Issues and Policies is part of the Transport and Sustainability series published by Emerald. The hardback is co-edited by Prof. Stephen Ison, of the UK’s Transport Studies Group at Loughborough University, and Corinne Mulley, of Australia’s Institute of Transport and Logistics at the University of Sydney Business School. The book includes US academic Donald Shoup (University of C

Two-thirds of British workers believe the parking at their workplaces is too costly and insufficient, according to a survey conducted for a car insurance company. Workers say the parking provided by their employers is so inadequate that it has caused them to receive fines and even resulted in damage to their vehicles.  The study commissioned by Chaucer Direct captured the opinions of 2,000 office workers across the UK. To download an infographic of the survey click here A total of 24% of

A Private Members Bill that seeks to make pavement parking illegal throughout England and Wales has been delayed in the House of Commons. Pavement parking is prohibited in London, but rules vary outside the capital, where councils wanting to introduce pavement bans have to go through a consultation process. The Bill, proposed by Martin Horwood, LibDem MP for Cheltenham, had been due to have its second reading in the House of Commons on 12 September. However, MPs ran out of time, so the debate i

Managing access to the kerbside can require the issuing a wide variety of permits for residents, businesses, tradespeople and medical professionals. Parking permits have traditionally been pieces of paper issued by local authorities, hospitals and businesses which, when displayed in a car windscreen, entitles a driver to park in a specified street, bay or car park.  When it comes to enabling residents to host visitors, many local authorities issue books of scratchcards that allow parking f

VINCI Park UK employees have been accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) following a 12-month training programme in management skills. Managers and supervisors were awarded CMI Level 2 and 3 qualifications at London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel by Naomi Riches, a gold medalist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The training forms part of VINCI Park’s employee development programme, which has been developed with the British Parking Association and Professionals S

Enforcement agency Bristow & Sutor has appointed Layla Stephen to its client development team. She joins Bristow & Sutor from Ross & Roberts.  Stephen had over 17 years’ experience working in Revenues and Benefits before she joined the enforcement industry in 2010. She is a member of the IRRV. “I am looking forward to maintaining Bristow & Sutor’s existing client relationships as well as complementing their strategy for growth across the southern region,&

John Mason, former director of congestion charging and traffic enforcement for Transport for London (TfL) has joined JBW Group as chief strategy officer.  Mason said: “Having spent 19 years in local government I am really looking forward to working with the JBW team.”

Parking company Q-Park has donated £2,000 to road safety charity Brake. Q-Park supported Brake’s annual Road Safety Week in 2013 through poster advertisements and flyer distributions within its facilities. Q-Park also created a special pre-booking discount code for the charity which offers customers 10% off their online pre-booking service. A further 10% of all revenue generated from this code is donated back to Brake.  In July 2014 Q-Park ran a competition offering a three-mo

APCOA Parking Group has appointed group director Henk de Bruin as the new managing director for its UK business.  DeBruin has been providingstrategic guidance to APCOA’s UK and Ireland businesses following the departure of Graham Morphew as UK managing director in June.

Buchanan Computing has developed a system that enables the public to see and comment upon proposed Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) online via TraffWeb, a data portal, providing live access to published data through any standard Internet browser. The TraffWeb Consultation Module allows local authorities to disseminate information and consult using online forms and maps, which can be accessed through a computer, smartphone or tablet. The company says that however complex the central database, us

Ways in which parking is becoming smarter and better connected will be key themes at Parking World, with self-driving cars and the shared economy among the topics to be discussed. This is the tenth annual autumn event run by Parking Review, whose editor Mark Moran has programmed the conference. The event offers plenty of scope to network over coffee and lunch in the exhibition. The day will conclude with a drinks reception to mark the 25th anniversary of Parking Review, which was launched in Nov

Housing is becoming a major problem in cities around the world. The lack of new housing is forcing up the cost of owning or renting properties, meaning people are having to choose between living in over-priced accommodation or commuting from suburbs.  One solution to the housing crisis may lie in building on under-utilised car parks.  The US urbanist Eran Ben-Joseph, author of the book Re-Thinking a Lot, estimates that at least a third of the space in American cities is dedicated to p

When Alpha Parking opened its doors for business more than 10 years ago it was the founders’ intention that it would be a one-stop shop for all things to do with parking. While training is the core of our business, Alpha offers two services vital for local authorities and private developers as they plan parking strategies – consultation and surveying. In the beginning our consultation work was largely to do with residents and businesses affected by proposed parking permit schemes, wi

Gathering information about motorists’ parking habits is a vital piece in the planning jigsaw. This is equally true for a local authority transport strategy to persuade drivers not to park in the city centre, a company’s plan to develop land currently used by staff for parking, or a developer looking to turn a derelict building into residential apartments.  Public consultations that form a clear view of the local population’s opinion are an important part of the developme

Our first ‘Parking Awareness’ day, held last month, was the first in what will be a regular series of meetings which seek to build a dialogue with local residents, businesses and stakeholders about the reasons for regulating and enforcing parking. The event, held at Walsall Town Hall on 2 September, saw over 30 people listen a presentation by myself and Ashley Bijster, president of the British Parking Association (BPA). The attendees then engaged in round table discussions about the

The team behind the ‘Tweeting’ car park that raised over £200,000 for the Macmillan Cancer charity at the annual Hay-on-Wye literature festival have now launched a national events parking company. Ben Jones and Brian Goodwin founded the CarParkAt service after managing parking at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts largest official car park for nearly a decade.  Jones and Goodwin have been involved in event parking since they were at university and later in their

The British Parking Awards lunch is a fun event, but while the presenters inject a degree of humour into the proceedings, there is a clear purpose and message running through the competition. The awards show that there are things to celebrate and communicate about a fast developing sector.  I have been privileged to be involved as a judge for a number of years and enjoyed the challenge and responsibility of the judging process. Having read scores of awards entries, I have often wondered if

Inspirational and inventive people working in parking will be recognised in the British Parking Awards 2015, which are launched this month. The annual competition, which has been run by Parking Review magazine since 2002, sees a set of new categories covering parking in the community and sustainability added to classic ones for car park structures, teams and customer service. To enter the British Parking Awards click here The awards recognise excellence in the design, management and deliv

People often complain about confusing and wordy parking signs, but spare a thought for drivers in Culver City who were confronted with a sign that reached a height of 15 feet. Drop-off rules on the towering sign outside the Linwood E Howe Elementary School were so complex that many parents ended up receiving parking fines. The Californian city council has now decided to rationalise its parking regulations to make things clearer.

The shortage of parking spaces in New York is leading developers to sell garage spaces at prices that cost more per square foot than the luxury apartments they serve. Ten underground spaces being built as part of a development in the upmarket SoHo area of Lower Manhattan are each being sold for a cool $1m (£620,000). And that million bucks only secures a 99-year lease. The 42 Crosby Street development in the fashionable SoHo district of Lower Manhattan is offering 10 underground parking

Besides bringing together neighbours, street parties show what life might be like in a less car-dominated world. The street where I live in Walthamstow, north-east London, staged a party on 6 September, and no sooner had the road been closed to traffic, children emerged from their homes to play and mingle, as though they had been set free.  Waltham Forest council has been funding street parties since 2012 when events were held to mark the London Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee. Waltham Fo

Health charities have condemned the tactics used by some private operators at hospital car parks across the country. The Daily Mail claimed “cowboy parking squads’ were targeting cancer patients during hospital appointments for treatments that regularly overran. Laura Keely, campaigns manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “When you are being treated for life-saving cancer treatment at hospital, the last thing you should worry about is how you are going to afford to pay for

Underused surface car parks and rundown lock-up garages could be redeveloped as much needed housing, a report produced by the Conservative group in the Greater London Assembly (GLA) suggests. The group’s research indicates that at least 10,000 houses could be built on underused and derelict sites, which have been ignored by commercial developers.  “London needs to see a significant increase in housing supply in order to meet demand and to bring house prices and rents under con

Bristol Council has approved a further two resident parking schemes (RPS) in the Bower Ashton and St Pauls areas.  Work will begin on both schemes over the next few weeks with Bower Ashton due to go live on 29 September and St Pauls on 20 October. The schemes are the sixth and seventh RPS areas to be approved in the current programme of 12 areas. Independent mayor George Ferguson said: “RPS schemes have now been approved, which address the very different parking pressures in these t

Reducing or removing parking fees on a Saturday in Jersey’s capital St Helier might reasonably be expected to provide a welcome boost to weary retailers hoping to increase their trade after the recent difficult recessionary years. Therefore, it was no surprise that a study carried by out by Parsons Brinckerhoff confirms that would indeed be the case.  We assessed that town centre retailers could potentially see turnover increase by more than £23,000 on a Saturday as a consequen

Flat caps have replaced peak caps and coloured shirts military tunics on the streets of Westminster, where a softer and brighter look reflects the fact that parking patrols have been given a more customer-focused role. Westminster City Council has rebranded its civil parking enforcement officers (CEOs) into marshals, whose primary role is now to advise drivers on where and how to park rather than penalise them. The marshals are the most visible manifestation of a transformation in the city coun

As someone who came into the parking industry by accident rather than by design, I have witnessed many changes in the last decade. These changes have often been driven by a ‘revolution’ in which the public and campaigners are not prepared to accept over-zealous, draconian and often unfair enforcement.  The local authority parking sector, to its credit, has moved towards a solution-driven approach. The City of Westminster Council, for example, was the first council to fully embr

Civil enforcement officers (CEOs) remain the foundation on which the parking sector is built. Without them, the UK's increasingly congested towns and cities would quickly fall into chaos. However, while the importance of the role remains unchanged, how officers go about their day-to-day work and what it takes to be a success in the profession is steadily evolving. At present, there are three main themes affecting civil enforcement officers. Being aware of these themes and adapting accordingly i

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Paul Fawcett as area manager (north) for its management services’ contract with Network Rail. Fawcett joins APCOA’s Commercial Parking Services’ team from Q-Park, where he worked in a similar area managerial role. Prior to that, he worked for 12 years in the retail industry, working his way up to the position of general manager. Fawcett will be responsible for 12 sites across the north of England as well as two southern sites: Letchworth and W

Civil enforcement agent Phoenix has appointed Susan Gunn as group financial controller. She joins the Phoenix Group from Tata Steel UK’s Aerospace Services Division (formerly Corus Engineering Steels), where she was site accountant with responsibility for financial planning, management and reporting activities across three operational sites, including two in China and more locally, Bolton.  Prior to Tata Steel UK, Gunn worked for Manchester United Football Club as a member of the clu

Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES) has hired Gareth Alan-Williams as applications support team leader and Jenna Flower as business development assistant. Alan-Williams has a background in multi-channel business analytics and IT systems support. He joins ICES following six years with AXA Wealth, where he worked as a platform & process analyst and risk & controls manager. He was formerly responsible for IT services and support activities at Electronic Data Systems and Westinghous

Ways in which parking is becoming smarter and better connected will be key themes at Parking World, with themes such as a self-driving cars and shared economy being discussed. This is the tenth annual autumn conference run by Parking Review, which is also celebrating its silver jubilee year. The event offers plenty of scope to network over coffee and lunch in the exhibition. The day will conclude with a drinks reception to mark the 25th anniversary of Parking Review, which was launche

Henk de Bruin, managing director of APCOA Parking in the Netherlands, has been called in to look after APCOA Parking (UK) after its managing director Graham Morphew left the company on 30 June. De Bruin, who is also a group director of APCOA Parking Holdings, has been asked to guide the company until a replacement for Morphew is found. Ralf?Bender, chief executive of APCOA Parking Group, said: “Henk de Bruin has a proven track record of successful management in the parking industry, whic

Olivia Sandy passed away unexpectedly on 10 June. Sandy, who was 52, worked for a number of companies serving the parking sector, focussing on customer service and personnel work. She worked at document specialist Pitney Bowes before becoming business development manager at Green Parking (UK) in 2011. This was followed by a move to Triumph Consultants, a provider of specialist parking staff and services. Sandy was active in the charity sector, being president of the medical charity Kiwanis LSE

Civil enforcement agency Ross & Roberts has appointed Amanda Reynolds as its new business development manager for the revenues sector. Reynolds joins the company from TLT Solicitors where she worked as a business development partner for the real estate and energy & renewable teams. She has previously worked as a business development manager at Capita, introducing a government pre-qualification database into local authorities, the NHS and universities.

Smart Parking has created two distinct business units to run its technology and managenent services for the UK market. Charlie Leaper assumes the role of UK & EMEA managing director for Smart Parking’s technology division. Leaper has overseen the company’s relationships with Westminster City Council and the London Borough of Camden.  His primary focus will be to grow the company’s technology installation base within the UK and across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and

Parking equipment manufacturer WPS has added Matthew Weston to its business development team to reflect the increasing importance of IT in parking. Weston was previously involved in selling bespoke software for Tribal Solutions and cloud-based infrastructure to the public sector for Capita. At WPS Weston will be selling the IP-based ParkAdvance system.  Weston said: “My immediate priority is to engage with our marketplace to understand the key drivers for potential clients and how

Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions’ (ICES) training division is to deliver new Ofqual-regulated qualifications developed by the British Parking Association and awarded by WAMITAB. The ICES Training Academy will provide both the Level 2 Award for Parking Enforcement Officers and the Level 3 Award for Notice Processors. There will also be an opportunity for learners to have a formal test in the early stages of training, which enables candidates to gain the Certificate of Primary Achieveme

Jim Jackman, who was APCOA Parking (UK)’s longest serving employee, has retired from the parking industry after almost 31 years’ service. Jackman, who entered the parking industry in 1983, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s British Parking Awards.  His full-time career culminated in him being area manager for APCOA at Heathrow Airport. In July 2013 Jackman moved to part-time working in a new quality assurance role at the airport. He was part of the APC

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Andy Brown as area manager (south) for its management services’ contract with Network Rail. Brown joins APCOA from CP Plus, where he worked as the facilities operations and training manager for five years. Prior to that, Brown worked in the financial services sector as a mortgage advisor after completing 22 years’ service in the armed forces. Brown will initially assume operational responsibility of 18 rail parking sites across London, the Home Coun

Two NSL parking attendants working in Edinburgh recently completed an abseil off the Forth Rail Bridge and raised £643 for Macmillan Cancer Research.   Karen Kerr and Amanda Gillie made the 165ft drop from the bridge to beach in just over three minutes. The pair are employed by NSL to carry out enforcement duties on behalf of City of Edinburgh Council. Gillie said: “This has got to be the scariest thing we took on and more so for Karen as she is petrified of heights. The hard

Parking is a subject that recurs throughout the latest RAC Report on Motoring, an annual study based on a survey of British drivers produced by the roadside assistance company. The 2014 edition sets out the opinions, and concerns, of 1,526 motorists on a range of parking issues, including what they feel are often too stringent parking regulations, a lack of parking, the rising cost of parking and even the inadequate size of parking bays. The RAC Report on Motoring 2014 claims: “Motorists

Leading a team often means making difficult decisions, as local authority officers attending a training course run by Alpha Parking discovered. Six candidates attended the four-day Parking Team Leader and Supervisors course, run by Alpha Parking. The candidates came from three local authorities: South Gloucestershire and the London boroughs of Hounslow and Tower Hamlets. Among the attendees was a permits officer, a senior appeals officer and a statutory functions team leader. All the officers w

A volunteer-run car park serving the Hay on Wye Festival of Literature has raised £22,700 for the Macmillan Cancer medical research charity. The temporary car park is a regular feature of the annual festival and has raised almost £200,000 for Macmillan. Heavy rain during this year’s event meant that all-weather parking sites were also opened at Clyro Court on the A438 and at a local school. Dyfed-Powys Police worked with festival organisers to improve the signage for the parki

A senior officer at Maidstone Borough Council had the opportunity to experience life on the streets as a civil enforcement officer (CEO). David Edwards, the council’s director of environment and shared services, took the opportunity to become a CEO for the day as part of a ‘back to the floor’ initiative run by APCOA Parking (UK).  Edwards shadowed two of APCOA’s civil enforcement officers on 16 May. Speaking after patrolling Maidstone town centre, Edwards admitted

Nigel Williams, co-founder of the consultancy Parking Matters, has been elected as the first ever chair of the British Parking Association’s new board of directors. The BPA has revised its corporate governance structure, with the board being elected from the wider council of representatives, elected from the association membership. The board will direct the activities of the BPA’s executive, which is headed by Patrick Troy. Nigel Williams has worked in the parking sector across Eu

Flat caps, layered technical garments and soft stylish jackets is the new style being sported by on-street patrol officers on the streets of London. Westminster City Council has transformed its civil parking enforcement officers (CEOs) into traffic marshals, whose primary role is to advise rather than penalise drivers seeking a parking space. The new role was piloted in the West End ,and now over 250 personnel fielded by the council’s contractor NSL are being fitted out as marshals. Getti

Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES) has a track record of creating themed stands at Parkex. Recent years have seen the IT, training and bureau services provider stage its versions of Strictly Come Dancing and Stars Wars. This year’s theme was The Park Knight Rises, inspired by the Batman movies. The stand’s focal point was a plinth with a red phone while the ICES team were dressed as super heroes or Sixties-inspired henchman. The firm produced a series of comic strips and p

Excel Parking Services is 20 years old this year, an event that has given its managing director and founder, Simon Renshaw-Smith, occasion to both celebrate and pause to reflect on the evolution of his company and the wider parking sector. The company was launched in Sheffield in 1994 and over the past two decades has seen Excel grow from running a single car park in the north-east to becoming a national operator with a portfolio of over 300 car parks. The company, which is still based in its ho

APCOA Parking (UK) has appointed Jonathan Harris as business manager for its new management services’ contract with Network Rail. Harris joined APCOA from the Co-operative Group’s retail division, where he had operational responsibility for 15 food outlets in the West Midlands.    At the Co-op Harris helped introduce new management systems and cost-improvement programmes. Prior to the Co-op Harris held senior management positions within the Spirit Group, comprising: Scot

Debt recovery specialist Phoenix Group has appointed Vince O’Dwyer as head of its internal training department. He was previously with Marston Group, where he worked with Paul Caddy (now managing director of Phoenix) to establish an enforcement training programme accredited by both City & Guilds and the Institute of Revenue, Rating & Valuation (IRRV). Caddy said: “Vince has unparalleled sector experience combined with the skills and qualifications to ensure that Phoenix is a

Edesix VideoBadge body-worn camera systems are being issued to parking patrol staff and bailiffs to protect them from abuse and aggressive behaviour when dealing with the public. Body-worn videos are designed to help increase safety by preventing incidents from escalating as behaviour is moderated by the presence of the video camera. The technology also offered a way improve transparency when dealing the public.   Edesix will be showcasing VideoBadge2 at Parkex. This new version comprises

Proposals for a 40-storey residential tower served by a multi-storey car park have been submitted  to Portsmouth City Council. The plans are part of The Hard waterfront redevelopment of an area between the historic naval vessel HMS Warrior and Gunwharf Quays shopping centre. Developer Bouyages plans to demolish the 1960s-built Brunel House and replace it and the existing Havant Street surface car park with a new landmark building called Brunel Tower. The Portsmouth Society has welcomed pla

Parking is really something of a national obsession. Parking Mad, a four-part documentary broadcast on the BBC One in April and May, Parking Mad won the contest for audiences in a 9pm Thursday slot for four weeks running. The series ended with 3.8 million viewers tuning in, translating to an 18% share, against competition such as Nicky Campbell’s adoption documentary Wanted: A Family of My Own on ITV, the cookery show Heston’s Great British Food on Channel 4 and a charming crime item

Some 69% of people support the idea of a ban on parking on pavements, as do 78% of councillors, reveals research undertaken for Guide Dogs, the charity for blind and partially sighted people. The charity say blocking the pavement, especially for blind people, is “inconsiderate and dangerous”. They point to London where there is a ban on parking on footways on most London streets and want a ruling to cover the rest of the country. YouGov questioned more than 2,300 people in England,

A member of Croydon’s award-winning parking team Zakki Ghauri has taken on the role of portfolio manager for both Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea. Ghauri was a member of the team that bagged four trophies in 2011.  Fellow members of the Croydon ‘dream team’, Mirsad Bakalovic and Barry Francis, have since moved on to senior roles at Tower Hamlets and Ealing respectively. In his new role, Ghauri will be part of the Tri-Borough arrangement, which invol

Car clubs are growing in popularity in both city centres and in rural communities, suggests the latest annual figures published by Carplus, the national shared transport charity. The Carplus Annual Survey of Car Clubs 2013/14, the most comprehensive dataset collected across the car club sector, reinforces the important role car clubs play in air quality management.  There are three separate reports for London, England & Wales (excluding London), and Scotland. The reports are based on t

A World War II Sherman tank trundled through the streets of Bristol on 9 April as part of a protest mounted by traders against mayor George Ferguson’s policy of rolling out residents’ parking controls across the city. Ferguson tweeted “This is getting ridiculous @bbcrb @steve_lefevre hardly the best way of winning over the good residents of #Clifton!”  

Vince Ryan’s parking career has seen him work for equipment suppliers such as Designa and Newpark Solutions, as well as management company Empark refurbishment contractor Quadriga. Most recently, he has joined automated parking specialist Wohr UK as business development manager.  But Vince has a hidden talent as a musician. He plays guitar in a band, NewQuay Times, with his daughter Sarah, who is the group’s vocalist. The band was formed two years ago. Since then it has toured

Cornwall Council made an extra £300,000 because its parking machines do not give change, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has revealed. Last year £11.6m was paid in parking fees, of which an estimated £307,293 was due to “over-vend”, the council said in response to the question. In 2011/12 it made £340,000 extra from machines that do not give change. The council said that stocking the 250 machines with change would be too costly. The machines would also

Parking contractor NSL has opened a central operations centre to manage radio communications with 1,100 civil enforcement officers (CEOs) working on 13 London contracts.  The radio operations centre (ROC), housed at NSL’s headquarters in west London, replaces 13 separate radio control rooms across the capital. The previous analogue and push-button system has been replaced with digital GPS, which allows controllers to chart in real-time the geographic location of each CEO. The compan

A team of students from Northumbria University were recognised for their innovative approach to re-imagining how parking can be enforced and marketed at the annual British Parking Awards, which were held in London yesterday. The Generation WhY team's Parking Futures project was a 120-page book and series of presentations at events which challenged the parking sector to rethink how they engaged and educated the motoring public. The report was commissioned by Caroline Sheppard, chief adjudicator

The British Parking Awards offer a chance to recognise and reward the innovators, dedicated workers and unsung heroes working in the UK parking industry. The competition also shines a spotlight on the car park, a building type usually overlooked at architectural and design awards. Above all else, the awards reveal how passionate the entrants are about providing good parking. The annual competition, organised by Parking Review magazine, recognises best practice across both on-street and off-stre

Stuart Gardner has been hired by Metric Group to support its sales of Amano pay-on-foot systems and export sales. Gardner has been working in the parking sector for 25 years. He started at Zeag (now Hub Parking) as an engineer, then became UK and international sales manager.