NOTES FROM BIG BEN … BY PETER GUEST


friends tend to do even better. France closes down for August, and a few days ago when I was in Brussels, restaurants in the heart of the tourist area were closed for summer holiday.


rains get warmer, and people are playing cricket or, more cor- rectly, not playing because it’s raining. So, with the European world in recess, how do I fill this col-


umn this month? Let’s start with Brussels. The European ParkingAssociation


has a long-established qualitymark for car parks called the Euro- pean Standard Parking Award, or ESPA. The award judges fac- tors such as geometry, lighting, cleanliness, security and so on. The original ESPA was written about 10 years ago, and I


I SummertimeMeans


T’S THAT TIME OFYEARAGAIN,WHAT journalists call the silly season, when people take off on vacation and “real” news stops. In the UK, we get more time off than you guys, typically 25 days, but our European


For us mere mortals in the UK, we know it’s summer: The


have been part of a pan-European group updating it. The draft is out for consultation, and the Belgians got a bit hot under the collar about some of the proposals. It’s a bit of a tightrope: ESPA is not a design brief for


new car parks, and we want to encourage garage owners to invest in upgrades to make their older buildings better. Therefore, we try not to set the standard so high that they are put off. However, we also have to recognize that some older car parks (and, depressingly, some new car parks) are no longer fit for purpose and must be outside the scheme. Particular features that cause a problem are basics such


as the bay size.You can upgrade the lighting, but you can’t move the columns to make the bay bigger, and changes in car design over the decadesmean thatwhatmight have been OK in the 1960s doesn’t work now. The Belgians had some good points and some I suspect


we won’t move on, but it was interesting to see a different perspective on what we all do. Contact me if you want to see what Europe considers an acceptable car park.


44 SEPTEMBER 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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