APT Controls exceeds customer expectations with its Veri-park ‘Free Flow’ technology

A Veri-park ‘Free Flow’ parking system from the APT Controls Group has been successfully installed at the Sury Basin car park in Kingston-Upon-Thames, which services the town’s Sainsbury’s Superstore and Virgin Active Health Club.

Prior to the Veri-park installation, a pay and display system was operated within the car park. In light of the Sainsbury’s store’s planned refurbishment, customers were asked to complete a survey, where an overwhelming response showed there was a requirement for a more user-friendly car parking system.

A Veri-park Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), parking system was chosen so that customers no longer need to carry coins and display a ticket. The system works so that if a customer stays less than 30 minutes in the car park, there is no charge and if a customer stays longer than 30 minutes, but spends more than £10 in the superstore, customers can validate a discount voucher given to them by Sainsbury’s at a terminal outside the store in order to receive two hours free parking.

“Being near Kingston town centre and servicing a large supermarket and gym mean that the 406-space car park is a very busy one,” explains Gavin Clarke, Director of Horizon Parking Ltd. “We wanted to simplify the parking operation for both customers of Sainsbury’s and Virgin Active gym by removing the requirement for customers to carry coins for their parking and be restricted by the time on their pre-paid ticket. We also wanted to speed up the parking operation by removing the requirement for customers and members of the gym to return to their vehicle to display a ticket before visiting either the supermarket or gym.”

This installation of the Veri-park system with a validation function for supermarket customers, is the first of its kind within a supermarket environment and has been well received with customers noting its benefits.

“In addition,” continues Gavin, “the system works so that if a customer forgets to pay or validate their voucher, they can do so online after leaving the car park within 24 hours, giving them extra flexibility. It was flexibility such as this that meant APT was chosen. They offered the best system, with the most simple-to-use customer interface and were very amenable when it came to making adjustments to suit our specific requirements.”

Andrew Hiddleston from Veri-park says the system ensures that sufficient spaces are always retained for Sainsbury’s customers: “The secure validation process both at the tills at Sainsbury’s and with gym membership cards provides an easy system for those who should be using the car park. In addition, because it is barrier-free, there are no queues entering or exiting the car park and minimal client manning is required.”

About the APT Group

APT is a €37 million Group of companies whose expertise helps address key issues in parking access control and payment systems, electrical vehicle (EV) charging, support structure for traffic signs and signals, road safety systems, and crowd control systems. Its portfolio also includes vehicle blockers, barriers, bollards and other similar counter-terror hardware. The Group, which has operated in the UK for 45 years, employs 170 staff across two sites.

www.aptcontrols.co.uk