CP Plus ǁ Services

As one of the most trusted car park management companies in the UK, CP Plus offers an unsurpassed quality of service. They use more than 20 years' of knowledge and skills to ensure that they maintain the standards of reliability and efficiency that they have always been associated with. From their origins as a small car park provider in 1991, CP Plus has since expanded and adapted to offer a range of services to suit any client.

Car Park Management

CP Plus believes that car parks should work for the client, generating added worth and benefits.  Every car park that CP Plus establishes is unique, because every customer is unique. Accordingly, CP Plus does not pursue a generic “one size fits all” approach to their business; rather, they propose that a car park management solution needs to be wholly relevant and appropriate to the needs of the client. CP Plus communicates and negotiates with the client to deliver the parking management, facility, security and enforcement specifications that they want, when they want it.

Car Park Management Technology

By employing state-of-the-art technology and techniques, CP Plus can offer their customers a modern, cutting-edge service, which includes the following devices and features:

• Automated Licence Plate Recognition
• Online and mobile phone payment applications
• Live-feed CCTV
• Internet-ready permit management systems
• GPS patrol recording software

CP Plus installs and supervises any of its equipment with confidence, promoting a flexible, fully up-to-date response to myriad car park management issues.

Car Park Security Management

The importance of security in car park management should never be underestimated, and CP Plus has attained full SIA contractor approval for all SG and CCTV services. Moreover, all CP Plus staff possess the requisite training in line with SITO (Security Industry Training Organisation) guidelines.  CP Plus also regularly update their security systems and protocols to ensure the safety and security of car parks are protected.

Parking Enforcement

All CP Plus officers pro-actively engage in car park enforcement and act in accordance to a policy of positive prevention. They always seek to enforce the rules of the car park in a fair, decisive manner.

Facilities Management

In addition to the services listed above, CP Plus can also co-ordinate the cleaning, repair, landscaping and general care of facilities. This can help to promote a positive first impression and revitalise the car park environment.

CP Plus | Car Parking Industry

As a small company, CP Plus was established in 1991 but soon expanded due to their passion and commitment to the car parking industry. There are now over 400 people who are managing over 350 car parks. CP Plus works across various sectors and are considered to be by industry standards, a number one supplier when it comes to security services and car park management facilities.

As a main car park provider, CP Plus can give you a solution that’s tailored to your own parking needs. Regardless of whether you want car park management or enforcement solutions, CP Plus can cater to your car parking needs, whatever they might be.

CP Plus’s services include car park management, security, enforcement as well as solutions for facility management. CP Plus doesn’t operate a ‘one size fits all’ solution as they can give you the level of enforcement parking you need, along with parking facilities management which will enable you to make the most out of your parking space.

CP Plus uses a range of car park technology including using CCTV live feed and payment technology which can consist of GPS, mobile payment and other internet options. Equally the security management of car parks is essential and CP Plus provides the necessary services needed for both yourself and your customers.

By being SIA licensed and NVQ qualified, the staff knows how to operate vehicle logging and innovative CCTV technology, to make your car park as secure as possible.
Parking enforcement officers in the company are there to ensure that they promote positive prevention. Using the STEP known as Staged Enforcement Policy, CP Plus deals with a diverse selection of enforcement issues which are appropriate to both the client and its location.

Facilities management is another consideration which CP Plus provides support for and this includes waste management disposal, landscaping, cleaning and security measures amongst other things. Being fascinated by the various disciplines which their clients face, CP Plus understands that parking might not be your top priority; they can take the stress out of it by managing and improving your car parking facilities.

Why brakes fail – CP Plus explains

The brakes are one of the most crucial components of any car, according to CP Plus, Ensuring that your brakes are functional and well maintained will go a long ways towards keep you safe whilst you’re on the road. 

There are few things more nerve-wracking for a driver than pressing on the brakes during an emergency, and discovering that they don’t work. Here, CP Plus explains some of the most common reasons behind brake failure, and how to avoid them. 

Corrosion plays a major part in the failure of brakes in a car. Although it’s normal to have to replace the front pads and discs in a car due to simple wear and tear, these parts often require replacement as a result of corrosion. Drivers who only use their cars once in a while and keep the vehicle in a garage are more likely to experience issues with rusting brake pads and discs. Cast iron is an excellent material which is almost always used for brake components, but it tends to corrode quite easily. With most of the braking force carried out by the car’s front brakes, any rust which has accumulated is quickly scraped off by the pads hitting against the discs. However braking on the rear is far less common, and may not be enough to scrape off corrosion on the rear disc surface. If left untreated, this build up of rust can result in surface pitting, causing damage to the car. 

Front discs will naturally wear out and become too thin after a certain amount of time. CP Plus says that car manufacturers will normally specify a minimum level of brake disc thickness and once this point is reached, the discs must be replaced. Pads should be replaced at the same time. Distortion is another common cause of brake failure. This is caused by the uneven cooling and heating of a disc, which causes it to change shape and causing braking problems. This issue can be identified as a ‘juddering’ noise through the brake pedal when it is pressed. Worn out, thinner discs are more likely to warp than newer ones – yet another reason to have discs and pads replaced on a regular basis.

CP Plus’ guide to the Safer Parking Scheme

CP Plus’guide to the Safer Parking Scheme

If you leave your vehicle in a public car park, you want to make sure that it will still be there on your return. Because no-one wants to deal with the stress and expense of having their car stolen, it’s best to look for car parks which display the Safer Parking Scheme’s sign, known as ‘Park Mark’. A number of parking management companies in the UK, such as CP Plus support this scheme and have the sign displayed in all of their public car parks.

If you see this sign, you’ll know that the car park company have made security a priority, and have taken a number of measures to prevent any criminal activity from occurring in their car parks. The implementation of better management practices and design changes, which are a part of the Safer Parking Scheme, has been shown by studies conducted by the Home Office to reduce crimes occurring in car parks by more than 80%.

This scheme is part of an initiative by the ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers), and aims to allay the fears of drivers who need to park, and are concerned about car theft and other crimes. The Park Mark sign is only awarded to parking facilities which have been carefully assessed and have met all of the requirements as set out by the Scheme’s policy. Meeting these requirements means that the parking company has done everything that they can to ensure that criminals and those behaving in an anti-social manner are deterred.

The scheme was initially only available in certain car parks; however its policies were changed and now it is run in such a way that it is accessible to a wide variety of car parks, including hospital parking facilities, commercial parking lots, residential and retail car parks. The ACPO decided to move from a design-led philosophy to a more risk-based one, so that parking management companies would have more options when it came to safety measures for reducing the risk of criminal incidents occurring.

Some of the criteria which the Park Mark parking facilities must meet include having appropriate and sufficient lighting, having effective surveillance, in the form of CCTV and ANPR, installed and ensuring that the facilities are clean and well maintained. CP Plus say that being awarded the Park Mark sign demonstrates to motorists using the car park that the parking management company is committed to keeping users of the facilities safe, and have taken effective steps to prevent crime.

Currently the Safer Parking Scheme is supported by a number of organisations within the UK, including the BPA (British Parking Association, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Home Office.

An introduction to car park management technology from CP Plus

An introduction to car park management technology from CP Plus

There are a number of new technologies which have made the smooth running of car parks far easier in recent years; two of the most notable of which are the ANPR system, and online and mobile payment methods implemented by the parking management company CP Plus. 

ANPR stands for Automatic Number Plate Recognition; this is a type of technology which is used by many car park management companies. It was first developed in the seventies in the UK and since then has been successfully used for things like checking speeds, and keeping track of which vehicles have paid their parking fees in car parks. 

This technology uses software known as optical character recognition, in order to scan the licence plate of a vehicle. ANPR was quite rudimentary when it was first developed however today it is extremely accurate, and very effective in helping parking management companies like CP Plus to run their operations. 

CP Plus created their own specialist ANPR system a number of years ago, when hospital parking fees were abolished and they needed a new way to manage the demand for parking spaces, so that commuters and shoppers would not take up space needed by patients and staff at the hospitals. This was how the ANPR system came about; cars in these car parks are registered by this automotive recognition software when they enter, and if that car does not exit the car park after a specified amount of time, an automatic alert is then delivered to the ANPR ‘buggy’, a miniature vehicle which the patrolling officer can drive around the car park. The officer can then take the buggy to the offending vehicle, where the ANPR system installed in the buggy will scan the licence plate and print out a parking ticket fine. This made things far less labour intensive for the parking officers, saving time and resources which could then be directed into running the car park more efficiently. 

In terms of how to pay these fines, as well as pre-paying for standard parking fees, CP Plus and other parking management companies now offer several different ways to pay, which make life easier for everyone involved. Online payment is undoubtedly the most popular payment method; using a web portal for pre-payments, drivers can now pay in advance for their parking, saving themselves a significant amount of time. Another convenient method favoured by many drivers is mobile payment, either by calling up a specified number and paying by credit card, or for Smartphone users, using a web app and scanning their phone as they enter the car park.