THE Daily Echo can today
reveal the riskiest places
to park your car in
Southampton - while
paying for the privilege.
An investigation has uncovered
how city centre car parks have
become hotspots for vehicle crime
including break-ins, damage and
thefts.
Topping the list of places where
you are most likely to have your
car broken into is a national-run
car park where drivers pay premium
prices in the heart of the city
centre. It has limited CCTV coverage
and lighting that is broken in
some areas.
It is followed closely by a privately-
run multi-storey which is
among the cheapest places to
leave your car for a long period of
time. Again it has limited CCTV
and is dark in places.
Both car parks have failed to
achieve the Park Mark standard -
a national award from the
Association of Chief Police
Officers and the British Parking
Association that recognises safe
car parks. To receive the accolade
operators are required to have
measures in place to deter criminals
and make car parks clean,
with suitable signage, lighting
and surveillance in place.
The figures revealing the state of
car crime in Southampton,
obtained from Southampton
police, show that there were 385
reported cases of theft from or of
a vehicle between April 2007 and
April 2008.
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At least 56 of those incidents
took place in car parks used by the
public each day.
The National Car Park (NCP) in
Portland Terrace came out as the
worst offender, with nearly half of
all crime in the car parks taking
place there. It was also the most
expensive, with motorists paying
£2.80 an hour to park.
With 605 spaces, the street level
car park used to have a member of
staff working on site but they
were removed 18 months ago.
Although it has CCTV cameras
in operation, it is understood
that they are trained on the pay
stations and the entrance and
exit area and do not pick up on
walkways and on the vehicles
parked inside.
It is a similar situation at the
Bargate car park, owned and operated
by the management of
Bargate Shopping Centre, where
27 per cent of the crimes have
taken place. There, motorists can
pay £6.50 for more than seven
hours - one of the cheapest tariffs
in the city.
There are 220 spaces inside and
again there is CCTV but it is used
to record pay machines and the
entrance and exit area, while the
car park can be easily accessed by
pedestrians walking through to
any floor without necessarily
being filmed.
Other targets for car crime have
been The Quays and College
Street car parks, owned by
Southampton City Council, as
well as public parking areas in
Channel Way and Ocean Way in
Ocean Village, and the WestQuay
multi-storey, which recorded just
one offence in the past 12 months.
The remainder of the car parks
in the city centre - of which there
are 40 in total, according to the
city council - have not had any
incidents of crime recorded at
them during the past 12 months.
A city council spokesman said
that there had been major investment
in its city car parks to make
them safe, which included cash
from rises in parking charges
pumped back into the system.
The spokesman said: "We have
made huge strides in improving
safety in our car parks over recent
years. Tackling crime rates in car
parks and improving safety has
been a key goal for us.
"A significant amount of the revenue generated from car parks goes
into maintaining them and making
sure they are as safe as they can be.
"For example we have invested
significantly in CCTV in multistorey
car parks, which we believe
has acted as a successful deterrent
to criminals."
John Bailey, vehicle crime prevention
officer for Southampton police,
said that meetings have been held
with both Bargate and NCP management,
encouraging them to take
steps to improve safety measures at
their car parks.
He said: "Most of the multistoreys
in the city have Park Marks
awarded to them, which means they
have addressed things like CCTV,
lighting and access to make it as
safe a place as possible to park.
"However there are some, including
these, that do not and they do
have some occasional problems of
damage. The figures we have relate
to reported damage and car crime
but there are likely to be others who
travel in to the city and leave and
don't report it.
"I have spoken with both NCP and
Bargate and have suggested they
implement further CCTV to cover
footways and at least the ground
floor of the car parks which can be
accessed from the street.
"At Portland Terrace you can easily
get in at street level over low fencing,
while at Bargate you can walk
down from the top to bottom without
being seen by the cameras.
"Unfortunately both are pre-1970s
buildings and they are stuck with
the design, unlike newer developments
including parts of the
WestQuay stage three and four,
which have these kind of things
being planned before they are even
constructed."
Mr Bailey said he believed that
NCP was injecting money to
improve its car parks, but that it
was mainly being spent in the
Bournemouth area.
However, at Portland Terrace
bosses have put up a police deterrent
sign that warns "not all our
police cars have blue lights", which
refers to disguised "capture cars"
which are purposely placed as a
potential target to thieves to catch
them in the act.
Nobody from NCP or the Bargate
car park was available to comment,
despite repeated requests from the
Daily Echo.
"not all our police cars have blue lights",
Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.
"not all our police cars have blue lights",
Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.
Posted by: Shaw Taylor, Police 5 on 3:21pm Thu 15 May 08
"...Nobody from NCP or the Bargate car park was available to comment, despite repeated requests from the Daily Echo..."
No, they were all down at the police station reporting break ins to their cars.
"...Nobody from NCP or the Bargate car park was available to comment, despite repeated requests from the Daily Echo..."
No, they were all down at the police station reporting break ins to their cars.
[quote][bold]hulla[/bold] wrote:
"not all our police cars have blue lights", Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.[/quote] "most of them do have cameras" - you're wrong. Only traffic cars have cameras. And if you're not speeding then you have nothing to worry about.
hulla wrote:
"not all our police cars have blue lights", Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.
"most of them do have cameras" - you're wrong. Only traffic cars have cameras. And if you're not speeding then you have nothing to worry about.
Posted by: Blame the courts, Southampton on 4:33pm Thu 15 May 08
I can tell you for a fact that the majority of the thefts from vehicles are committed by the same group of youths in Southampton city centre. Each time they are caught and charged by the police and the courts do absolutely nothing! And so the problem continues...
I can tell you for a fact that the majority of the thefts from vehicles are committed by the same group of youths in Southampton city centre. Each time they are caught and charged by the police and the courts do absolutely nothing! And so the problem continues...
Posted by: mad max, thunderdome on 10:52pm Thu 15 May 08
[quote][bold]paul[/bold] wrote:
have a look around the estate at the bottom of hill lane and around golden grove area. you'll find them there[/quote] or hanging around nightclub staff rooms..
paul wrote:
have a look around the estate at the bottom of hill lane and around golden grove area. you'll find them there
[quote][bold]hulla[/bold] wrote:
"not all our police cars have blue lights", Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.[/quote] Your mum's your dad
hulla wrote:
"not all our police cars have blue lights", Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.
[quote][bold]baloo[/bold] wrote:
[quote][bold]hulla[/bold] wrote: "not all our police cars have blue lights", Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.[/quote] "most of them do have cameras" - you're wrong. Only traffic cars have cameras. And if you're not speeding then you have nothing to worry about.[/quote] I agree, about speeding and only get caught when you are. Not an issue.
Buy how infuriating is it when you see police trying to raise revenue through easy targets, whilst there more seriuous crime like murder, gun/knife crime, rapes, burglaries etc being carried out.
Wrong priorities.
I wonder what the outcome would be if the Police were brave enough to carry out a survey as to where the general public would like them to channel their efforts, and what policing activities should stop to staff it.
baloo wrote:
hulla wrote: "not all our police cars have blue lights", Although most of them have do have cameras, they are generally aimed at those over the speed limit, rather than catching more serious crime.
"most of them do have cameras" - you're wrong. Only traffic cars have cameras. And if you're not speeding then you have nothing to worry about.
I agree, about speeding and only get caught when you are. Not an issue.
Buy how infuriating is it when you see police trying to raise revenue through easy targets, whilst there more seriuous crime like murder, gun/knife crime, rapes, burglaries etc being carried out.
Wrong priorities.
I wonder what the outcome would be if the Police were brave enough to carry out a survey as to where the general public would like them to channel their efforts, and what policing activities should stop to staff it.
Posted by: Family Man, Bitterne on 8:52am Fri 16 May 08
I thought I would never post anything good about the Council, however, these results speak for themselves.
The council-run car parks, following their taking steps to improve safety and security, appear to be the most crime-free. Parking in the Eastgate Car Park, which is now very well lit, covered by cameras, patrolled and maintained, is almost a pleasure, if parking can ever be called a pleasure. And machines that can take debit cards is very convenient, as you can always pay the correct money rather than losing cash becasue they don't give change.
So at least in these respects, the Council is to be applauded. However it won't stop me criticising most of the other Council policies and performance!
I thought I would never post anything good about the Council, however, these results speak for themselves.
The council-run car parks, following their taking steps to improve safety and security, appear to be the most crime-free. Parking in the Eastgate Car Park, which is now very well lit, covered by cameras, patrolled and maintained, is almost a pleasure, if parking can ever be called a pleasure. And machines that can take debit cards is very convenient, as you can always pay the correct money rather than losing cash becasue they don't give change.
So at least in these respects, the Council is to be applauded. However it won't stop me criticising most of the other Council policies and performance!
Posted by: Family Man, Bitterne on 8:52am Fri 16 May 08
I thought I would never post anything good about the Council, however, these results speak for themselves.
The council-run car parks, following their taking steps to improve safety and security, appear to be the most crime-free. Parking in the Eastgate Car Park, which is now very well lit, covered by cameras, patrolled and maintained, is almost a pleasure, if parking can ever be called a pleasure. And machines that can take debit cards is very convenient, as you can always pay the correct money rather than losing cash becasue they don't give change.
So at least in these respects, the Council is to be applauded. However it won't stop me criticising most of the other Council policies and performance!
I thought I would never post anything good about the Council, however, these results speak for themselves.
The council-run car parks, following their taking steps to improve safety and security, appear to be the most crime-free. Parking in the Eastgate Car Park, which is now very well lit, covered by cameras, patrolled and maintained, is almost a pleasure, if parking can ever be called a pleasure. And machines that can take debit cards is very convenient, as you can always pay the correct money rather than losing cash becasue they don't give change.
So at least in these respects, the Council is to be applauded. However it won't stop me criticising most of the other Council policies and performance!
Posted by: Grammar Police, Southampton on 9:45am Fri 16 May 08
I've just whacked a sleeping bloke in the legs with the door in the Salisbury Street car park, then promptly fell over another sleeping bloke, whilst the third grumbled about the noise.
Oh, and the stench of the great unwashed was disgusting. Can't someone remove these losers before the tax paying workers turn up for a days graft.
Makes me mad.
I've just whacked a sleeping bloke in the legs with the door in the Salisbury Street car park, then promptly fell over another sleeping bloke, whilst the third grumbled about the noise.
Oh, and the stench of the great unwashed was disgusting. Can't someone remove these losers before the tax paying workers turn up for a days graft.
[quote][bold]lowe and behold[/bold] wrote:
LOVE YOUR SATNAV
SO DO THIEVES
RING A BELL ANYONE[/quote] Yabba dabba doo. Ring a bell, anyone? What's your point?
lowe and behold wrote:
LOVE YOUR SATNAV
SO DO THIEVES
RING A BELL ANYONE
Yabba dabba doo. Ring a bell, anyone? What's your point?
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