WHILE IT’S PROBABLY TRUE TO SAY THAT VERY few areas of the security industry carry any tangible ‘glamour’ value, it’s also a truism that car parking is rated by most people as being pretty close to the bottom when it comes to ratings on the security glamour scale.
Grant Williamson, president of the British Parking Association, stresses that: “Almost all of the numerous aspects of the industry carry some stigma of dislike from the general public, whether as a car park operator or local authority parking officer. Even those individuals involved in the refurbishment of car park structures, or those who merely provide equipment, will undoubtedly incur the wrath of the ‘car parking public’ on a regular basis.”
Anyone who has seen some of the ‘fly-on-the-wall’-type television programmes based around the everyday lives of car parking officials can pro-bably see why this might be the case. Time and again, unseemly incidents are caused by either a lack of tact or sheer bloody-mindedness on the part of the parking official – though we should all accept that their tolerance is often pushed to unwanted extremes by the ‘parking public’.
Given this somewhat depressing scenario, any security manager employing staff who deal directly with parking may be very interested in the recent introduction of an S/NVQ course in that very subject.
Developed jointly by the aforementioned British Parking Association and the Security Industry Training Organisation (SITO), the S/NVQ course is designed to offer recognised qualifications in parking, at the same increasing levels of professionalism.
“The demand for parking space is increasingly exceeding supply,” notes Allpark Associates director Alasdair MacMillan. “Managing this scarce resource in an efficient and user-friendly way is a growing challenge for the parking industry. S/NVQs provide parking personnel with a recognised route to the skills that are necessary to meet this challenge.”
According to the British Parking Association, the parking industry constitutes around three quarters of a per cent of gross national product – taking in equipment suppliers, public and private car park operators, consultants and other related sectors. Consequently, there is considerable scope for developing a career in the parking industry – and the S/NVQ is seen as the perfect starting point.
“The S/NVQ scheme has taken off quite slowly, but it’s now gaining momentum within the industry. At long last it seems to be creating opportunities for those who seek to make a real career, starting at the lowest rungs of the industry,” explained Grant Williamson.
Williamson is quick to add that the benefits accruing to parking companies in terms of being able to encourage their staff to obtain qualifications are quite substantial.
In recent times the British Parking Association has been involved with the Secured Car Park scheme, as well as the drive to rationalise the problem of illegal clamping.
The Association has also issued a most-welcome Code of Practice on car clamping that, it hopes, may eventually be backed up by some definitive legislation.
