Churchill Square Shopping Centre Helps Customer and Improves Security with New Parking Technology

APT Skidata, the UK’s leading parking technology specialists, is providing advanced software and equipment to upgrade the customer car parks at The Churchill Square Shopping Centre in Brighton. The result is reduced queues, more security and better customer care management information.

The Churchill Square Shopping Centre has 80 stores with 12.7 million visitors to the centre. Each year there are over 1.3 million customers to the two car parks which have 1600 parking spaces.

Rozanne Ahier, APT Skidata’s Asset Account Manager explains how the parking system has been upgraded to make parking easier and improve the overall shopping experience for customers.

“Software Version 6 and add-on Remote Desktop to servers have been installed allowing the number of Pay-on-Foot machines to be increased from 10 to 14 with the inclusion of Chip & Pin payment options as well as extended coin hoppers. Additionally, they have opted for Automatic Number Plate Recognition with cameras at the barriers.

“The new APT Skidata upgrade makes parking easier for shoppers and enables managers of the Centre to get instant access to information and reports and so give the Centre the ability to improve communications with customers,” Rozanne says.

“One important factor when installing the new system was keeping the Shopping Centre open whilst the upgrade was completed. APT Skidata did the upgrade over a phased five week period so that the car park could continue operating whilst the improvements were made to minimise disturbance as much as possible.

Churchill Square Centre Director, Tina Dallorzo, says: “The Churchill Square car park is in a prime location for multiple attractions in Brighton and has to be open 24 hours a day. The new technology updates help us to improve relationships with customers and make sure the car park is easy to use and secure.”

The car parks are busy even when the shopping centre is closed with drivers using our parking facilities when visiting the Brighton Conference and Concert Centre, as well as the wide range of entertainment that Brighton attracts.

“This high occupancy levels within the car parks necessitates a robust system,” says Tina. “But with the larger number of pay-on-foot machines we have less downtime and customers can pay more quickly which means queues are reduced. The addition of the ANPR system enables the management team to keep accurate records of customer’s entry and exit times and keep vehicles safe and secure.

“It allows us to give swift and accurate replacement of lost tickets and help us deal with barrier breaks and ‘sneak outs’. We can easily see time of entry, time of payment and so prevent fraud and assist customers

“We chose to work with APT Skidata to replace their previous technology because they could provide us with a system that is as future proof as possible. We knew they could provide us with the support that we required and the dedication to get it right that we desired.”