Parking Partnerships Award: Marston Holdings, City of Westminster and the Metropolitan Police

British Parking Awards 2024

Violence against parking staff is, sadly, an all too frequent occurrence. Making front line staff feel safe when they go about their work is a priority for operators such as Marston Holdings.

The number of civil enforcement officers attacked both verbally and physically whilst carrying out their duties within the City of Westminster rose exponentially, especially within certain housing estates within the north of the city, from almost zero in 2020 to 15 in 2021. This, in turn, resulted in the teams unwilling to attend these areas without further support.

Paolo Orezzi, Marston service director for the Westminster contract, contacted the various Police Neighbourhood teams responsible for these areas to request joint patrols of these estates.

The objective of the partnership was to ensure that we could continue with our work improving overall parking compliance within the estates whilst reducing the number of attacks on our team. Prior to 2020, enforcement activities were carried out under contract law and therefore there was very little follow up on persistent offenders and evaders.

During 2020 the rules changed and enforcement was undertaken via the TMA 2004, which in turn aimed to improve compliance, however, this was not welcomed by a number of residents and visitors to these estates which in turn increased the levels of violence against officers.

The main task undertaken by the partnership is to enforce vehicles that are illegally parked with particular attention paid to those obstructing access for the emergency services such as the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service and for the waste teams collecting refuse from the estates.

Orezzi says: “Whilst the police support our officers carrying out patrols, they will carry out knife sweeps within the estates and talk to residents gaining intelligence on any concerns raised

“As the relationship with the police has progressed, we have also entered into data sharing agreements where we can share information amongst both parties on vehicles of interest such as untaxed vehicles and those concerned with anti-social behaviour.”

The partnership also aims to provide a visible reassurance to residents and improve the overall ambience of the estates which have been blighted by crime and anti-social behaviour. “Since the patrols have commenced, no civil enforcement officers have suffered either verbal or physical attacks,” reports Orezzi. “Also, the number of vehicles in contravention has decreased by over 50% and complaints from the emergency services and waste teams regarding access has dropped to zero.”

The partners now plan to increase the frequency of patrols across these estates each month and continue to increase the amount of data shared.

Key project managers

• Paolo Orezzi, Marston service director, Westminster
• Folorunso Adeyemi, Marston on-street supervisor, Westminster
• PC Ellis Joseph, Metropolitan Police
• PC Dylan Richards, Metropolitan Police
• Sgt Sam Wilkinson, Metropolitan Police
• PC Ellie Bowman, Metropolitan Police
• PC James Pullen, Metropolitan Police

The British Parking Awards

Created and presented by Parking Review magazine, the British Parking Awards are an independent competition. The awards recognise the leading examples of car park management, enforcement, design and team work.

The British Parking Awards 2024 ceremony took place at the Royal Lancaster London on 13 September.

Read and download the 2025 WINNERS EDITION of PARKING REVIEW by clicking HERE

To find out more about the competition and next year’s event check out the official website.
www.britishparkingawards.uk