Car parking… I do it. You do it. We all do it! | 19 Dec 2011

You know what it’s like – you really want to work for a company so you’re willing to say ‘yes’ to anything…

I was offered the job of editor of Sport and Physical Activity, formerly Recreation, in June 2009, and the prospect of editing a magazine that dealt with my passion in life – sport – meant that I didn’t fully appreciate the next sentence uttered by the managing director at CPL.

‘…and you will also be editing another magazine – a parking publication.’

It was only as I was heading home that I considered the implications of this. Sport I knew all about. Parking? I drive a car only when it really is the last option. And I am one of those women who will drive a long way to avoid backing into a parking space.

My first few months as editor of Parking News, the monthly publication of our client the British Parking Association, were truly challenging. The first thing to address was the use of acronyms. Some were fairly easy to pick up – PCNs, TROs and ANPR I quickly got my head around. After a few weeks I had banished the term ‘traffic warden’ from my vocabulary and replaced it with ‘civil enforcement officer’, but add PQQ, TMA, RPZ, CPZ and TSRGD to the mix and you can see that alphabet soup quickly became my staple diet.

And then there’s the odd concept that as editor of Parking News you’re writing articles that are actually in favour of parking controls; that place the civil enforcement officer in the role of hero and see parking management as a force for good. This is totally at odds with the public perception held by the majority of the UK population; a perception that is fuelled by articles in the daily papers that portray the parking motorist as a victim of money-grabbing local authorities.

Two-and-a-half years on, and Parking News is a publication that I am immensely proud of. I have been to a number of high level conferences, debates and meetings where people involved in the parking industry have argued passionately for transport strategies that place parking at the centre of planning, so that town centres can flourish and traffic can move freely.

I have visited equipment manufacturers who are developing technology that is cutting-edge and leading the world in innovation.

Through talking to civil enforcement officers, I have seen first-hand how dedicated many of these men and women are to keeping the streets clear of unlawfully parked vehicles. One officer told me that he saw his job as a life-saver, because if he didn’t do his rounds at school-leaving time then people would park illegally, blocking the safe crossing points and putting children’s lives at risk.

The issues surrounding parking are multitudinous. Lines and signs; Blue Badge fraud; private clamping companies; pay-on-foot versus mobile phone payments; the impact of national and local government strategy on parking operations –the list is endless and makes for a varied diary.

While sport remains my passion – and I have to lower my voice here – parking has become my guilty pleasure.

Sarah Juggins is an editor at CPL