Car park

Car Parks are very simply described as areas where cars can be parked for a period of time. However, they come in a vast range of shapes and sizes, as we shall see. They can also have a variety of surfaces, including Tar, Concrete, gravel, grasscrete or just grass (Mud). Where car parks have lined bays, they generally adhere to the dimensions set out by the DfT. However, some older car parks, particularly multi storeys, have smaller bays due to the constraints of the original design. As cars have grown larger, many car park bays are now a little on the small side for many modern cars, and whilst some car parks have been relined to suit, a number have not, in an attempt to maximise the number of spaces available.

Public Car Parks

Public Car Parks are those open to the public, and normally maintained by the local authority or a company such as Euro Car Parks or NCP. They are available to be used by anyone, with few or no restrictions.

Free Car Parks

The vast majority of car parks are free to use, with no form of charging. Those owned by local authorities and in towns or villages are generally tarred with parking bays marked out with white lines. Some also have arrows and signage indicating a one-way system. Whilst some have height barriers to limit access to cars, most do not. Many, particularly in tourist areas, also have spaces marked out for larger vehicles, such as motorhomes, caravans and coaches.

Free Car Parks are also commonly made available by the Forestry Commission, National Trusts and National Park Authroities in addition to local councils, in rural areas. Many are linked to walks or mountain bike trails, whilst others are provided at viewpoints or beaches.

Pay & Display Car Parks

These car parks can be generally described as the Free Car Parks above, with the addition of some form of charging mechanism. Traditionally, this involved locating a 'pay here' meter within the car park and purchasing a ticket, which was then displayed within the windscreen, so as to be visible by the traffic warden or parking attendant. Some car parks installed the machine at the entrance, with a barrier controlling entry, but this could cause queues.

Pay and Display Car Parks are commonly labelled as either short or long term parking, the former generally restricted to 2 or 3 hours, whilst the latter are available for 24 hours, or more.

Pay as you leave Car Parks

A development of the Pay & Display system which has become more prevalent in town centre shopping centres is the pay as you leave system, whereby you collect a ticket from a machine with a lifting barrier on the way in, and then pay for the amount of time you have been parked before leaving. Some early examples had machines and barriers at the exit, but again this caused queues, so instead machines are installed in stairwells etc, with a 15 minute grace period for leaving.

Other Pay Car Parks

The 'old fashioned' way of charging was to pay a parking attendant in a booth, normally on arrival. This system is still in use in some more rural, privately run car parks.

Many areas have now invested in mobile or pre-pay parking systems, where you either phone an automated service to make payment for your parking, or pre-book online or through an app to make payment. Whilst this technology is found to work well for many, it has not been without problems, and can prevent some, particularly older, people from accessing many car parks.

Multistorey Car Parks

Multistorey Car Parks are, as their name suggests, car parks with more than one level. Many of the older examples are stand alone car parks, from ground level (or below) to an open top deck. However, more recently the majority of multi storey car parks have been built as part of a larger building, normally incorporating a shopping centre, or sometimes a hotel or leisure complex.

The car parks normally use ramps between levels (examples do exist of car lifts), either straight ramps with the structure split with staggered levels, or spiral ramps and single level floors. Pedestrian access is via lifts and stairwells, which are normally also home to the ticket machines. Many of the older car parks are now becoming increasingly obsolete because cars have grown in size, and the spaces between concrete pillars are no longer large enough, substantially reducing the number of spaces available.

Other Car Parks

In addition to car parks that are available to use by anyone, there are a whole host of other car parks around the country, including the following:

Temporary / Event Car Parks

Large events are often set on farmland, and so fields are called in to use as temporary car parks. Whilst this is a simple and easy option, it can cause major problems in wet weather, where the cars quickly churn the roads into mud, leading to difficulties in getting in or out of the car parks. The Great Dorset Steam Fair is just one of many shows which has experienced this problem, and they have a fleet of tractors on standby to pull out stranded vehicles.

Residential Car Parks

In older suburban areas, there are often insufficient spaces on street, or limited scope for installing driveways, causing major parking congestion. One solution is to create car parking areas for residents, an idea which is also used for blocks of flats and some of the 1960s and 70s 'ideal estates' where cars were banished to leave the houses set in green parklands. Such car parks can be subject to residents parking permit schemes, signed 'residents only' or where there are more spaces than needed, left as a free for all. In some areas, particularly modern blocks of flats, parking spaces are numbered per flat, and often residents install posts and chains to prevent anyone else using their space when vacant.

Out of Town Car Parks

With the growing number of our of town destinations, such as Retail Parks, leisure complexes, supermarkets and so on, come a growing number of car parking spaces. These car parks are often strictly controlled by CCTV and ANPR to fine people overstaying the 'reasonable shopping period'. Whilst not strictly therefore limited to customers only, the effect is that the vast majority of cars within the car park are customers of the store(s) in question.

Park & Ride

Main Article: Park and Ride

Park and Ride Car Parks are normally located on the edge of towns and cities, and provide visitors with the opportunity to travel into the centre by bus (or less often rail or tram). The idea is to make it cheaper than parking in the centre, thereby reducing congestion.