THROUGH THE EDITOR’S EYE


One year on... I


PARKING NEWS EDITOR SARAH JUGGINS BELIEVES THE PARKING INDUSTRY SHOULD NOW BE ATTAINING MIDDLE-AGED RESPECTABILITY


t is just over a year since I fi rst joined the world of parking and, coincidentally, my year of birth roughly coincides with the inception of the BPA, so somehow I feel that makes me qualifi ed to comment on the industry that is entering


middle age with me. Until 12 months ago, I was one of the vast majority


of people who had no idea that car parks were run by diff erent organisations, depending on where you pitched up with your vehicle. As far as my parking requirements were concerned,


I wanted somewhere that was close to my destination, always had spaces and would not cost me a fortune for four hours of shopping/theatre-going/coff ee drinking. I had no idea that there was a distinction between


private companies and local authority parking provision. I did not know that city councillors were responsible for off -street car parks in my city, but that the county council was in charge of on-street parking. I even referred to civil enforcement offi cers as traffi c


wardens and, depending upon the circumstances, they were either helpful people keeping the pavement clear in front of my house, or they were the spawn of the devil if I got a ticket for being late back to my car or had just one wheel slightly on a double yellow. Twelve months on, I talk freely about CPZs and


PCNs. I know that CEOs are not chief executives, and I can debate the merits of ANPR, TfL, ORN, UATs and PEDs. Along with the rest of the profession, I am shocked


at Blue Badge fraud and I know that while cowboy clampers are giving the industry a bad name, the ability of private parking fi rms to access DVLA driver details is important so that landowners can enforce parking on their property. Sit me down with a town planner and I will argue


until I am blue in the face that parking should be at the heart of town planning, but that all car parks must be up to Park Mark standard. In short, either because I have matured with age, or


more likely, because I have seen the work being done by its members at fi rst hand, I appreciate the work and necessity of a well-run parking industry. In the course of a year, I have been at a summit


22 SEPTEMBER 2010


No-one could


be working harder to improve parking facilities


where widely confl icting groups of interested parties have come together and had a grown-up discussion about the future of parking. And not only did they talk, they also came up with a seven-point plan that provides clear guidelines to the government on the best way forward. I have also spent a day with a local authority parking


manager, a police-assessor and a Safer Parking Scheme manager. T at experience highlighted the frustration


40 years on... can the parking


industry gain national treasure status like the Glastonbury Festival?


C M Y CM MY CY CMY K


that is felt when the profession is knocked by the press. No-one could be working harder to improve parking facilities, and yet all they get in return is vilifi cation for being one of the most derided professions. And that’s probably the most important thing that


I’ve learnt in my year as a parking journalist. As a profession, the parking community is trying to do the right thing under very taxing circumstances – and getting very little recognition for it. Most commentators from within the industry are


very aware of the poor public image that parking has. And this situation will not be changed from outside the industry. Despite the advances that the parking industry has made in the last 40 years, it has not yet won over the public, so we have to do it ourselves. T e Glastonbury Festival was also 40 this year, and when it began, no-one thought that the counter- culture festival would one day sit as a mature, respected annual event. If a mud-splattered, drug- fuelled music festival can achieve national treasure status, then there’s hope for parking yet.


www.britishparking.co.uk


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