What We Did...
This is a fully managed service including the provision of all operational personnel, back office support team and supporting technology equipment. The contract is led by our on-street operations manager Pauline Waters and supported by a fully trained team of 15-20 staff to deliver the service. The service includes the issuing of parking fines, an appeals process and also coordination of a court process including the issuing of summons, preparation of court evidence packs, training of staff in court appearances, coordination of the witness appearances on the day and the collation of court reports / outcomes following the hearing.
Our back office appeals team deal with first stage appeals daily and manage the payments of all fines through all channels. The services includes for the ongoing management of a mobility plan to ensure a balanced level of deterrent and enforcement across the DLRCC enforcement area. This is supported by appropriate levels of equipment and vehicles required to deliver an efficient service to our clients.
Park Rite took over the contract in 2013 and was successful in retaining the contract in 2019 for a further 4 years. We have worked very closely with DLR County Council to improve the perception of the service through effective engagement with local representative bodies such as retailers, An Garda Síochána, council members, residents, schools & Disabled Drivers Associations. We have been involved in many parking initiatives with DLR County Council including the disabled bay parking initiative & make way day. This initiative was to highlight how illegally parked cars and sandwich boards etc. make life difficult for people with disabilities and mobility issues.
The original contract in 2013 included the transfer and retention of staff from the outgoing service provider. It has involved the recruitment, induction and training of new staff to support the service. We had a strong focus on providing an improved customer service and retrained all staff to deliver this excellent service. All staff were provided with conflict management training to maximise their safety on the street and to assist in delivering the expected level of customer service. We also introduced body worn cameras to our warden team to support their health & safety on the street. This had led to a significant drop in complaints since the introduction.
We have partnered with Giant Leap the leading Norwegian IT solution provider to support all stages of the enforcement process, both on-street and in the back offices administrative processes.. The Council have full access to this system and have real time updates on operations throughout the day. This allows the Council to transparently understand the performance of our contract. We also have regular meetings to discuss the performance of the contract.
We have supported change and innovations and we worked with the Council to introduce cashless payment parking in 2013 which has grown substantially over the last number of years. We continually support the expansion of cashless parking areas within DLR.
We worked closely with our client to assist in implementing New Parking Bye-Laws in July 2020. The warden’s involvement was paramount, carrying out numerous surveys on behalf of the Council prior to the new Bye-laws coming into effect.