Parking at Balsall Common Dental Practice

In recent months we have experienced increasing problems with our car parking spaces being taken up by members of the public with no connection to the practice, prompting several complaints from patients unable to park on site.

In a bid to protect this facility for use by patients, practice visitors and staff, we took the difficult decision to introduce parking fees for all other car park users.

As a result of this decision, we have appointed UK Car Park Management Ltd to manage the practice car park, a business we chose for their ethical approach and ability to operate car parks free from any unsavoury strong-arm tactics.

Our goal is never to have to charge anyone for parking, so we are communicating our new policy as widely as possible, in the hope that members of the community will not inadvertently fall liable to the new parking charges.

As part of the transition to our new scheme, which is widely sign-posted on site, we will be happy to help any unsuspecting persons (which we anticipate could include previously regular users) to explore the opportunity of waiving their first parking fee, on a strictly ‘one-off’ basis.

On-site parking will remain free for staff and practice visitors, so our new measure to protect this facility on their behalf will be to introduce a parking fee for all other users at £100.

Our Car Park Management Company will use CCTV facilities to monitor usage and we have put up four new signs around the Car Park outlining our parking Terms and Conditions.

For queries relating to our parking call UK Car Park Management Ltd on 0845 463 5050.

Questions and Answers

Will members of the public have their vehicles clamped or towed away?

No. This will never happen.  For non-patients that might potentially find themeless caught out by our new parking policy, we will be happy to enter into dialogue, with a view to waiving their first parking fee.  This would need to be subject to an agreement not to use the car park again.  The important point we hope members of the community will respect is that we own the Car Park and that it is private land intended for use by our customers and staff.

Is the introduction of parking fees just a ploy to make money?

No.  Our parking policy is designed for the benefit of our customers and staff and our goal is never to have to charge any parking fees.  We plan to achieve this by clearly communicating our new policy and helping people get used to the change through friendly dialogue.  In any instances where people feel they have been caught out by our new parking policy, we will be happy to enter into dialogue with a view to waiving the first parking fee.  We would expect to enter into an agreement with the car park user at this point about future parking.  Should any fees happen to be charged, any surplus after management costs will be passed to a local charity (or charities).

Where Else Do People Park if they are not visiting the Practice?

There is free public car parking at nearby locations as follows:

• Balsall Common village centre shops, Station Road
• Balsall Common Library Car Park (accessible via Station Road, adjacent to Costa)

What if someone has a ‘Parking Emergency’?

If anyone visiting the village finds themselves in urgent need of a parking space and is unable to use any of the other available spaces then they should feel free to pop into the practice reception to ask if they can use one of our spaces. We will happily help if we can but will give priority to the practice visitors, including expected arrivals, so we may not be able to help on every occasion.

Who is UK Car Park Management Ltd?

We appointed UK Car Park Management Ltd to help us preserve car park spaces for practice visitors.

The business prides itself on their ethical approach to car park management and enforcement.

Tel: 0845 4635050.

What if someone didn’t know about the charges and has received a Parking Charge Notice from UK Car Park Management Ltd that they weren’t expecting?

We have installed signage to try to prevent this but should it ever happen the recipient should bring the notice into the practice reception personally so we can help them to complete the paperwork to ask UK Car Park Management Ltd to cancel their charge.

We are only able to do this once and can only get notices cancelled if they are unpaid and less than 3 months old.