The car park is located in Bell Villas, Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne, and is a privately owned car park near a hairdresser and café. The owners of hairdressers and cafes were fed up with non-customers parking and taking up the space, leading to less space for genuine customers. So, their biggest requirement was to implement measures to ensure the space was used by customers only.
The major concern for this site was to prevent misuse of parking space and ensure space availability for customers and occasional visitors such as delivery. The cafe and hairdresser also wanted to ensure Parking Charge Notices (PCN) weren’t triggered for people associated with businesses’ pick-up and drop-offs.
The car park’s other issue was the entry’s dimensions. The entry was very wide and the chances of cars entering at an angle and the Automatic Number Plate Recognition(ANPR) not reading the number plates was high. So, when ANPR failed to read the number plates, the reporting would miss data, leading to wrong interpretations for genuine/detailed reporting. Further, the chances of users staying longer and getting away without paying was also high leading to revenue loss. The urgency to tackle the challenge was urgent to ensure better operation of the car park.
To ensure free parking for staff members and occasional users, we provided measures to create an allow list. We installed and provided iPads for both hair salons and cafes so that customers can enter their vehicle registration number and have parking permission for users depending on conditions. The training was given to members of the business to operate the iPad and “Zatpark” – the system that allows landlords and managers to create their own allowed list for the car park.
So, now the businesses can add permanent members i.e. staff members, and manage the occasional visitors without triggering PCNs. Further, with a proper allowed list with customer registering on iPads, misuse of car parks by non-visitors has been reduced and space availability for genuine visitors is well-managed.
We also installed 2 cameras in the car park so that the number plates for each vehicle are now readable from every angle. With the new cameras, every registration gets captured without missing any information for detailed reporting on dashboards.
Our solutions have shown immense results for the client. After our inputs to minimize the car park’s misuse, the car park is now used by genuine visitors who stay for allocated time and pay for their parking. It has helped both businesses i.e. hair salon and cafe to earn steady revenue and helped reduce the risk of revenue loss.
Further, the car park can now read all the vehicle registrations properly due to the two ANPR cameras. It means all data is captured and now reporting for the car park will be more up to date without missing any information.