WPS keeps car parks functioning during pandemic

Parking systems provider WPS said it will continue to deliver maintenance and installation work for customers within key sectors such as healthcare and utilities to ensure 24-hour availability of parking infrastructure during the COVID-19 emergency.

WPS is also working with partners in the parking sector to enable NHS staff and other key workers to access parking during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hospitals, in particular, are having to meet the challenges of parking at this time in diverse ways according to their location and situation, said Simon Jarvis, managing director of WPS in the UK.

“Hospital car parks are, of course, critical because NHS staff need to be able to park close to their work and patients also need to be able to depend on the same infrastructure. It is an extremely stressful time for both groups and it is important that parking provision is not compromised and does not add to their anxieties.”

To further support key worker parking provision, WPS is working with parking portal JustPark via the British Parking Association’s NHS Car Park Finder initiative, which provides key workers with information on where to find free parking nationwide. Using the integration capabilities recently recognised with a Parking Technology Award at the British Parking Awards 2020, JustPark and WPS are working together with WPS customer sites that use ANPR technology.

“By collating key worker car number plates and integrating those into the systems of ANPR-equipped car parks, we can provide a system where barriers automatically open to allow key workers to park for free,” said Jarvis. “It’s not business as usual, but we’re doing a significant amount of usual business to support customers who need us.”

The range of car parks that are remaining operational during the pandemic is varied, said Jarvis. “In the UK, while some shopping centre car parks have closed, others remain open to accommodate supermarket shoppers,” he said. “There are town centre car parks that have opened their barriers, while others are keeping their barriers down to both help discourage people from coming into town, and to ensure there are ample spaces available for the people that genuinely need them.”

When it comes to servicing and maintenance, WPS is working with clients on a case-by-case basis, explained Jarvis. “Where our support is needed, and when appropriate planning and safety measures are in place, we are continuing to work with our clients to keep their infrastructure efficiently operational,” he said. “As well as social distancing and providing PPE (personal protective equipment), we are cordoning off working areas, and putting up signage as appropriate to inform the public why we are there. For more involved works, we are also providing welfare stations meaning engineers have their own separate washing and toilet
facilities.”

A similar picture is emerging globally, said Erik Dijkshoorn, chief executive of WPS Group. The company’s clients across the world are taking a varied approach to the coronavirus crisis, meaning ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t apply, he explained.

“There is a wide diversity of opinion amongst our clients as to how they can best support local priorities and we can support them in achieving this, meaning there is no ‘right or wrong’ way of managing our way through the current crisis,” said Dijkshoorn. “It is our job to be as agile and flexible as possible, and I am immensely proud of how our field teams have worked safely and gone above and beyond to ensure our customers’ needs are properly and carefully supported through this genuinely uncharted time.”