Car Park

Do you need a CCTV car park?

Determining whether to install surveillance equipment in your car park can seem like a multi-layered decision; you have to consider the privacy of individuals who make use of your premises, as well as your interests as a business or commercial landowner.

Answer these questions to establish whether your car park needs CCTV:

1. Does your car park get used at irregular hours?
2. Is your car park in a central urban location?
3. Do you charge for the use of your car park?
4. Are there recent reports of criminal incidents on or around your car park?
5. Do you struggle to manage your car park at peak times?
6. Is your car park used by vulnerable individuals – i.e., mothers and children, elderly or disabled people?
7. Are there high rates of crime in your area?
8. Does your car park have dimly lit corners or stairwells?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should consider making CCTV effective in your car park. Additionally, if you are thinking of applying for a Park Mark award for your car park facility, it may also be useful to know that during the accreditation process, police assessors are likely to recommend surveillance as a means of safety enhancement.

Protect your commercial car park with CCTV surveillance

If you own a car park for commercial use, you have an obligation to protect the property and wellbeing of individuals that make use of your facilities. It’s important to remember that by charging a fee for the use of your car park, you are essentially providing a service.

Your customers will expect that by using your car park, their security has been prioritised. If your car park becomes synonymous with theft, damage to vehicles and poor management, you will deter people from using and paying for your services. A recent survey by the Safer Parking Scheme confirms that when choosing a car park, motorists primary concerns are personal safety and location.

By having CCTV cameras in place, you provide assurance and peace of mind to your customers that their vehicles are being looked after while they carry on with their activities.

Why use a professional CCTV installer for your commercial car park?

When installing CCTV in your commercial car park, there are many factors to consider. For example, you need a thorough risk assessment to ensure that your cameras will capture relevant footage.

Car parks are also unique environments when it comes to surveillance equipment due to the low ceilings and varying lighting conditions. You need an expert engineer to review your car park and ensure that the equipment you are investing in will serve the intended purpose.

Key zones for CCTV coverage:

• Entrances and exits
• Pay stations
• Stairwells
• Any areas that may provide refuge to criminals
• Electric car charging points

CCTV for private and residential car parks

Parking can be a tricky subject to approach in the UK. When confronted with complaints about unauthorised vehicles on private land, authorities will usually consider this a civil law issue, limiting your ability to take action against people who exploit communal parking spaces in residential areas.

If you own or maintain a residential building or housing estate that provides parking bays to its residents, you may often receive complaints about external parties making use of your parking bays, blocking access for paying residents or causing damage to their vehicles.

Introducing formal supervision by way of CCTV surveillance will help to deter individuals from taking advantage of your communal parking areas – after all, no one likes being caught on camera.

In some cases, it may be possible to use CCTV data in order to build a case to present to your local council if you feel that your residential parking area is being misused or if a high level of congestion is occurring, posing a threat to the safety of residents.

Why use a professional CCTV installer for your residential car park?

It’s important to remember that, while installing surveillance equipment on your property will be hugely beneficial, it needs to be done correctly in order to be effective. For example, you will require the consensus of residents before you install any kind of monitoring devices.

Once everyone is on board, you must notify all users (and trespassers) that by entering your car park, they are now under the supervision of operating CCTV cameras.

Lastly, putting these cameras in place can be challenging as they cannot capture footage that is beyond the boundary of your land. For this reason, you need a professional installer who can assess the specific requirements of your car park and carefully place the cameras in critical areas, without disturbing the privacy of residents and individuals beyond the boundary of your property.

Residential car parks take time and money to maintain, and they are usually designed to serve the needs of your residents. Help to enhance the safety of your car park users by installing CCTV cameras that will protect their interests and yours.

The benefits of a CCTV car park

• Deter loiterers from making use of your car park.
• Discourage anti-social behaviour.
• Enhance the safety of vulnerable individuals.
• Protect the property and vehicles of your car park’s users.
• Improve the management of your car park by detecting issues.
• Notify users of available spaces.
• Prevent motorists from performing dangerous manoeuvres.