ParkCloud and Q-Park Lead UK PARK(ing) Day Celebrations

Leading online parking reservation leader, ParkCloud, and European parking operator, Q-Park, are celebrating their success as two of the UK’s leading pioneers of the PARK(ing) Day initiative, following the culmination of their successful CSR project.

Having utilised their respective influences within the industry to create an initiative that allowed art students from Greater Manchester to get creative with parking, both companies came together on Friday (PARK(ing) Day itself) to host the finale of their highly anticipated art competition.

Hosted in Q-Park’s First Street car park, 10 shortlisted students from colleges and schools around the region battled it out over six hours to recreate their original artworks in the unique setting of a parking space.

Winner, Saskia Gentile, an art student from Cheadle & Marple College, impressed the expert judging panel with her colour tribute to the Manchester worker bee, which symbolised the creativity and individuality of Mancunians.

Judges, David French, Director of AWOL Studios, professional graffiti artist kELzO, Parking Review Editor, Mark Moran, Q-Park’s Tom Petch and ParkCloud’s Commercial Director, Valentina Moise all noted Saskia’s intricate colour work in their scoring - impressed with how she had applied blended colour to portray personal charity links and signify key elements of the city’s culture within the confines of a parking space.

The grand prize of a £500 contribution towards the winning student’s further education, will enable Saskia to progress with her passion for art and graphic design post-Sixth Form College.

Mark Pegler, Managing Director of ParkCloud, said: “ParkCloud has always been extremely proud to champion the PARK(ing) Day initiative, with this year’s project really going that extra mile, with the help of Q-Park, to highlight the premise of creatively revamping urban parking areas.

“Not only have we able to offer valued support to organisations and schools within our community, we have also been able to facilitate a project we can evolve year-on-year - enabling us to grow the reach and impact of the overall initiative.”

The winning artwork will now be displayed in Q-Park’s car park for all drivers and visitors to see.

Originating from San Francisco in 2006, the drive behind PARK(ing) Day – which is celebrated annually on the third Friday of September - derives from the need for more open, creative space within urban areas; with ‘parklets’ now popping up in cities all over the world each year in a salute to creativity.

About ParkCloud 

ParkCloud, simply put, lets drivers book a parking space in advance, in the same way as it’s possible to do with hotel rooms, restaurant tables…and even a coffee these days.

When traveling, parking is usually the last thing on anybody’s mind, but research shows that as much as 20 minutes is wasted when searching for a parking space. ParkCloud aims to solve that problem by letting customers make a parking booking, whether they are getting on a plane, taking a cruise, catching a train, or visiting a city or event.

ParkCloud was founded in 2008 as an online parking reservation service and within the 10 years, we’ve been operating our success and growth has been rapid.

Today we are an award-winning, global provider, working with car park operators across 42 countries to include them on our comparison search engine, which aims to give consumers the most user-friendly, efficient service possible when they need it most.

This bookable parking network is also made available to travel industry partners to help complete the itineraries of passengers worldwide.

Winner of Queen’s Award for International Trade

For more information, visit http://www.parkcloud.com

About Q-Park

Q-Park is an international parking company, focused on value development by providing high-quality services in purpose-built parking facilities and off-street parking at strategic locations. Q-Park's activities focus on providing services related to parking at targeted locations: in or near multifunctional inner-city areas, at public transport interchanges and at hospitals. We supply services that fulfill customers’ demands, and their need for convenience, reliability and hospitality.

Q-Park arrived in the UK in 2001 and is now one of the UK’s leading car park companies with 60 car parking facilities housing some 50,000 parking spaces in key locations in the UK with over 15 million visitors every year. (Including Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Reading, Sheffield and York.)