NEWS
NATIONAL
TOP OF THE PODS SCOOP FOR ULTRA
FUNDING YOUR ASSETS
Asset Skills, the sector skills
council, has secured £5m to support skills training across the industries that it serves. The investment will be shared across parking, facilities management, housing, property, planning and cleaning. Funding comes from a combination of the Employer Investment Fund, the Higher Apprenticeship Fund, Green Deal Advisor
Training, the Sector Priorities Fund Pilot and European funding. Chief executive of Asset Skills, Sarah Bentley, said: ‘This funding of £5m is really positive news for the industries we represent. ‘This investment shows that skills improvement is understood to be playing a key part in helping lift industry out of recession and towards growth.’
A network of driverless electric pods that shuttle passengers between Heathrow Terminal 5 and the BAA airport’s business car parks swept the board at the British Parking Awards 2012, which took place at a lunch hosted by comedian Alexander Armstrong in London. The Ultra Pod system won the Equita Overall Winner Award, having already
scooped an Innovation Award and the Parking and the Environment Award. The British Parking Awards are organised by Parking Review and sponsored by Equita. They recognise excellence in parking management, design and technology. More than 80 entries from across the public and private sectors competed for recognition.
Best of the rest - the winners: ■ The Exceptional Customer Service Award – Ealing Council ■ The Best New Car Park – Birmingham City Council’s Millennium Point ■ The Best Refurbishment Award – The Barracks car park project in Coventry (Makers Construction)
■ Digital Parking Award – Cobalt Telephone Technologies ■ Innovation Award – Parkopedia ■ Parking Partnerships – Essex Parking Partnership ■ Parking Team of the Year – South East Parking Group ■ Parking in the Community Award – Future Clean Exeter ■ The Enforcement Award – Shropshire Council ■ Outstanding Contribution to the Parking Sector – Jane Hack, BPA ■ Young Parking Professional of the Year – James Adlem, parking services offi cer, Brighton & Hove City Council
■ Parking Person of the Year – Andy Cameron, car park manager at Heathrow Airport
LEADING THE WAY IN YORKSHIRE
Correctly issued penalty charge
NO COMEDY FOR EALING
Civil enforcement offi cers working for parking contractor NSL Services went on strike in support of a colleague who had been dismissed.
The dismissed civil enforcement offi cer, Parveen Bhardwaj, claimed that he had challenged his bosses
8 APRIL 2012
over the number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) he had issued. Alastair Cooper of NSL said that Mr Bhardwaj, who worked on the NSL contract in the London Borough of Ealing, had been dismissed for falsifying documents and ‘idling’ at work.
Up to 21 CEOs, who are members of the Unite union, went on strike over the issue, walking out of work for two days. ‘The action has
absolutely nothing to do with alleged PCN targets or quotas, which NSL does not use,’ said Cooper.
notices (PCNs) and better motorist compliance have led to a sharp decline in both the number of tickets issued and the number of appeals in Leeds.
In 2010, while the rest of the UK had an appeal rate of 20 per cent, the West Yorkshire city had an appeal rate of 32 per cent. In 2011 the city council civil enforcement offi cers (CEOs) issued 9,433 fewer tickets and the
successful appeal rate fell to 19.5 per cent.
A spokeswoman from the city council said: ‘It's encouraging that the number of parking tickets issued has reduced, which shows that more motorists are complying with parking regulations. ‘We reviewed our procedures in 2009 to improve the quality of our responses at pre-appeal stage, which has led to a reduction in the numbers at appeal.’
www.britishparking.co.uk
Dmitriy Shironosov/
www.shutterstock.com
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