An entrepreneur and former Dragon’s Den contestant has called for a rethink on the size of UK car parking spaces after studies revealed an increase in the occurrence of car park damage.
Harrison Woods, founder car parking marketplace website YourParkingSpace.co.uk, is calling for the introduction of SizeMark, a new parking industry standard designed to ensure that car parking spaces are large enough to accommodate modern motor vehicles.
“When it comes to parking spaces, it’s certainly a case of bigger is better,” said Mr Woods.
“We see it every day – after location, the number one concern of motorists is the size of the parking space. The number of drivers who are now actively requesting driveways over car parks, purely because of their size, is remarkable.”
Mr Woods’ comments came after a study by the AA revealed that more than 50 per cent of motorists have suffered car park damage to their vehicle during the past year. That statistic is blamed in part on the discovery that while the dimensions of the average parking space has remained approximately the same for over half-a-century, the size of many common cars on the UK’s roads has grown substantially. This is not solely down to the increasing popularity of larger luxury, MPV, or 4x4 models; the current Mini Cooper is 24 per cent wider than the 1959 original, the Honda Civic 18 per cent wider than when it was first introduced in 1973, the Volkswagen Golf almost 12 per cent wider than on its debut 40 year ago, and the current model Ford Fiesta is 10 per cent wider than when the original Fiesta was launched in 1976.
“It’s time that the industry introduced a recommended minimum parking space size so that drivers know what to expect,” added Mr Woods.
“Our proposal is to introduce the SizeMark standard, where all car parks that meet this minimum size are awarded an instantly recognisable SizeMark badge to help drivers minimise damage to their cherished cars.”
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