Last Updated: 21st October 2022

How can I manage my parking but protect my reputation?

Nobody likes to be told they’ve broken the rules, and nobody likes to receive a parking ticket as a result. The fact is, in many instances uncontested parking abuse can have serious repercussions on a business and its ability to operate, so managing your car park is necessary.

However, it is possible to manage your site in a way that allows you to protect your business without worrying about your reputation being harmed because you enforce the rules.

Explore more

Identify the problems

Your first step is to identify the problems facing your site. Are you noticing that your car park is full when your business is quiet? Then perhaps people are using your site to park and heading elsewhere. Perhaps you have issues with people not paying for their parking, or paying incorrectly, hindering the revenue potential of your car park, and threatening how your business operates.

By understanding the problems, you have on your site, you can begin to explore the numerous options available to correct them. One solution could be introducing a maximum stay on your site, changing your payment systems, adding barriers, or leveraging ANPR to monitor your site more accurately and issuing parking charges to those who break the rules on your car park.

Putting a solution in place might sound daunting, especially if you have concerns about driving away customers. But remember, in many instances, the people abusing your site aren’t your customers. Because of this abuse, your customers are the people who can’t actually access the car park, in turn damaging their experience with your business.

Keep your staff and customers informed

Whenever you launch a new way of managing the parking on your site, whether that’s an enforcement option or the addition of new spaces like electric vehicle charging bays, it pays to make sure everyone who makes use of your site is informed in advance.

Signs on your car park and posters in your staff room are a perfect way to let people know that change is coming. In some cases, it might even be worthwhile to hold a meeting to let your staff know about the changes and the impact they may have. This helps them to not only understand the changes as it relates to them but also allows them to better support your customers in the process.

Fairness is key

Once your solution goes live it’s important that you treat people fairly. Mistakes happen and new ways of operating take time to become the norm.

In some instances, you may need to cancel a parking charge. For example, if a patient has paid for parking on a site but their appointment has been delayed or overrun, or as a gesture of goodwill if someone has received bad news or a bereavement in a healthcare setting.

You can work alongside your parking management provider to manage cancellations. It’s important that you operate in a way that’s fair, without setting precedents that could leave you open to abuse. Your parking should enforce the rules when there’s no reasonable explanation for a rule to have been broken, while also demonstrating empathy when required. This helps to protect your reputation by showing you aren’t simply issuing a parking charge to everyone regardless of cause.

You should be confident that your parking management provider is accurate too. Motorists can choose to appeal a parking charge by going to POPLA, the industry ombudsman. If your solution is working as intended your provider should have a high upheld rate with POPLA, meaning they’ve got the right processes in place to begin with.

How can we help you manage your parking?

At Parkingeye we have years of experience when it comes to managing parking for major businesses. We’re able to work alongside you to put the solutions in place that are going to cure your parking headaches without it harming how your business is perceived.

From our 82% upheld rate with POPLA to our processes that ensure you are in control of your car park, we’re able to help you transform the way your site operates, reducing abuse and creating a better experience for the legitimate users of your car park.