The brave new world of car parking control systems and the companies that enforce them

In a world of increased security, complicated property and traffic laws and more vehicles on the road it is getting harder to regulate parking in business car parks. Since the outlawing of clamping on private property in 2012 there"s been a gap in the market. Businesses want to control the flow of vehicles on their property and need some solid authority to back them up otherwise it ends in chaos. The clamping ban has led to independent car parking control contractors such as Flashpark setting up shop to help businesses with their car parks and deter unauthorised vehicles. These car park control contractors work closely with the DVLA giving businesses the power and effective authority they need to stop unauthorised parking for good.

This car parking control system is entirely done online using sophisticated technology. Basically the business orders signs to display in their car park. This warns vehicles of the danger of parking there. If a vehicle ignores the sign the business takes a photo of the vehicle with their sign in the background so the contractor can easily see the offence. The DVLA stores data on all vehicle registration data so the contractor accesses this and sends a parking charge notice to the vehicle. If the vehicle owner doesn"t pay within 2 weeks then further action is taken. Most owners pay the notice to avoid more stress.

So how effective is this? Companies that use these car parking control contractors report a 75% reduction in unauthorised vehicles just by having the signs in place. Vehicles that do park there without permission tend not to return with a 95% decrease in repeat offenders. This shows just how effective the parking charge notices are - people don"t want charges and lots of admin to deal with and they can"t deny the evidence that the photographs provide. Realising they are in the wrong they find alternative places to park.

Is this fair? Well they"ve got the Court of Appeals on their side. Just on 23rd April a vehicle owner"s dispute was overturned by the 3 appeal court judges. They unanimously agreed he was in the wrong. Hopefully this will make people think again about parking in unauthorised places and will give much needed backing to the car parking control industry.