Operating A CCTV Car Park:
WHY CAR PARKS ARE PRIME REAL ESTATE IN THE UK
Expert CCTV Advisors
Industry professional staff to understand your scenario in detail and advise the most ideal solution that is suitable to your needs and fits the budget
According to statistics, there are over 37.5 million vehicles on the road in Great Britain. This explains why, in many cases, parking space is prime real estate and needs to be managed as a service.
As more people choose to commute to work or visit shopping centres and recreational areas in their personal vehicles, it becomes increasingly important for private and public car parks to be managed effectively.
Operating a safe and functional car park can certainly be profitable, but delivering safety and reassurance to your customers is crucial. By running a cost-effective CCTV system, you can enhance the security of your property and help deter potential criminal activity, building an excellent reputation for your business.
What makes car parks dangerous?
Car parks are notorious for creating hazardous scenarios. In busy locations, you may have the challenge of managing motorists that are rushing to find a space or leave the premises – often doing so in a negligent manner. You may also have mothers, children, and other pedestrians who sometimes become invisible to motorists when the car park is busy.
Car parks often get used around the clock. In some urban regions, they can attract criminals and other predators looking to take advantage of individuals making their way back to their vehicles late at night.
Key problems for car parks:
- Vehicle theft
- Theft from vehicles
- Vandalism
- Anti-social behaviour
- Hotspots for drug-related incidents
- Targeting of vulnerable citizens
Do you need a CCTV 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:
- Does your car park get used at irregular hours?
- Is your car park in a central urban location?
- Do you charge for the use of your car park?
- Are there recent reports of criminal incidents on or around your car park?
- Do you struggle to manage your car park at peak times?
- Is your car park used by vulnerable individuals – i.e., mothers and children, elderly or disabled people?
- Are there high rates of crime in your area?
- 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
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?
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?
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
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.
UK CCTV Installation: Why choose our products and services?
Professional service
We understand that improvements to your car park need to satisfy the operational needs of your business. Our high-quality CCTV system includes a thorough document detailing camera positions and the digital video recorder (DVR) location.
Industry-standard cameras suitable for car parks
The Advanced Series cameras in our installation packages are ideal for car parks. The top features include:
- Weatherproof design, ideal for the UK’s cold and wet conditions.
- Specialised LPR cameras for License Plate Recognition.
- Two camera designs to choose from: our traditional bullet-style camera will send criminals a clear warning that CCTV is in operation, while our more discreet dome-shaped camera has vandal-resistant properties.
- TURBO HD 5 Megapixel resolution makes distinctly clear CCTV footage and wide-angle viewing possible.
- Built-in LEDs enable the camera to view in pitch dark conditions.
- Extended three-year warranty.
High-performance surveillance package
Our DVRs will provide you with different options of built-in storage – that’s two to four weeks worth of footage, depending on the activity – but you could also choose to upgrade if your car park is particularly busy and you require more hard drive space.
We can also supply your security team with a high performance 21” Full HD 1080p HDMI monitor to ensure that images from your CCTV appear in true high definition.
Call the UK’s experts in CCTV installation
Each car park has a unique set of requirements to consider when setting up video surveillance. Depending on the size and complexity of the location, as well as the security concerns you are trying to address, an out-of-the-box CCTV camera will not be sufficient.
UK CCTV Installations has an experienced team of engineers that will carefully assess your car park and ensure that your cameras are installed in line with industry standards. We will also show you how to operate your devices so that you can confidently manage your technology.
Our installation packages are comprehensive and customer focussed, meaning that your installation is handled by dedicated experts who will be able to provide exceptional service and advice.
Contact us today for a no-obligation quote; we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding setting up your CCTV car park.
Get a Quote!
Call us now on 03453 11 99 11 to speak to one of the Installations manager