| National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by grahame at 16:42, 16th March 2026 |     |
From the BBC
National Car Parks (NCP) has gone into administration, putting 682 jobs at risk.
The car park operator said demand for parking had not recovered to pre-Covid levels, pointing to "shifts in commuting and customer driving patterns".
After consistently losing cash, it could no longer afford to pay its creditors and was unable to scrap "long-term, inflexible" leases on loss-making sites.
Its administrators, PwC, are looking to sell the business as the "best outcome" for those NCP owes money to. "All sites are open, staff remain in post, and trading continues as normal," PwC added.
"We will be engaging with landlords, employees, and other stakeholders as we explore all options," PwC said.
NCP is one of the biggest car park operators in the UK, running 340 car parks across the country, including in airports, hospitals and transport hubs.
The car park operator said demand for parking had not recovered to pre-Covid levels, pointing to "shifts in commuting and customer driving patterns".
After consistently losing cash, it could no longer afford to pay its creditors and was unable to scrap "long-term, inflexible" leases on loss-making sites.
Its administrators, PwC, are looking to sell the business as the "best outcome" for those NCP owes money to. "All sites are open, staff remain in post, and trading continues as normal," PwC added.
"We will be engaging with landlords, employees, and other stakeholders as we explore all options," PwC said.
NCP is one of the biggest car park operators in the UK, running 340 car parks across the country, including in airports, hospitals and transport hubs.
I have never had any great love for NCP or any car parking company - perhaps just the nature of the beast?
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by Fourbee at 12:00, 17th March 2026 | |
I'd just assumed they owned all their sites; I wonder how much debt they are carrying too?
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by Oxonhutch at 12:26, 17th March 2026 | |
The rot probably set in when all those German engineered parking areas in our inner cities started to get built on. I have memories of lots of NCP sites in London in my youth.
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by John D at 13:16, 17th March 2026 | |
NCP seem to have lots of multi-story car parks in city centres, that are of the 1950s and 1960s design, often with other businesses in the ground floors. Many of these concrete car parks have very tight spaces by modern (fatter) car standards.
Last time I used one of these (in Nottingham) it seemed to be really unpopular and run down, and required careful manoeuvring to park, so I can see why many prefer other car parks that are more modern, better lit, with working lifts, and bigger ramps and spaces.
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by Marlburian at 16:42, 17th March 2026 | |
Some have wondered how some multi-storey car-parks will cope with the extra weight of SUVs (which may partly be the cause of so many pot-holes).
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by eightonedee at 18:52, 17th March 2026 | |
I have never had any great love for NCP or any car parking company - perhaps just the nature of the beast?
Anyone else out there hoping that the dreaded RingGo follow them soon?
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by anthony215 at 13:49, 18th March 2026 | |
Maybe tfw should look at purchasing the ncp car park by queen street station/Newport road in Cardiff and demolish it would make it easier to widen the. Newport road bridge to accommodate 4 tracks instead of 2
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by Mark A at 20:39, 20th March 2026 | |
Donald Gosling, the founder of National Car Parks: some (nautical) background. He was in the fortunate position of being able to commission a series of motor yachts of increasing size from Toughs, the local boatyard upstream from his Thameside house. The final one built on the Thames for him, on leaving the boatyard, fouled Richmond Bridge - and his subsequent boat(s?), built elsewhere, were no longer on a scale to bring to Teddington.
The boatyard is long gone, the site now hosts flats.
Mark
https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/news/sir-donald-gosling-obituary--41613
| Re: National Car Parks (NCP) goes into administration Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 10:14, 21st March 2026 | |
Some business analysis, from the BBC:
Home working, long leases and rise of parking apps - what went wrong for NCP
One of the UK's biggest car park companies collapsed into administration this week, leaving almost 700 jobs at risk.
For many, their first reaction to the news was bafflement. How could a company that charged as much as £65 for a day's parking fail to turn a profit?
So where did it all go wrong for National Car Parks, and what could its future look like?
NCP has a varied estate, with 340 car parks across the country, including in airports, train stations, hospitals and town centres.
With working from home affecting commuter demand, and shopping increasingly involving mouse clicks rather than footsteps, its city-centre and commuter car parks have had reduced occupancy.
The firm's collapse shows the "combined impact of flexible working, cost-of-living challenges and fuel prices, as well as the general fall in high street shopping and increase in delivery services", says Nick Stockley, partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter.
There has "undoubtedly been a big shift" away from commuters needing parking space five days a week, says the British Parking Association (BPA). Chief engagement and policy officer Alison Tooze says habits are now far more sporadic and more people are trying to avoid paying for tickets. "The difficulty has been knowing what normal looks like, where are we going to land post-pandemic, is this it in terms of people's travel, habits and demand for parking, and it's been a very uncertain picture."
NCP's parent company, Park24, which is Japanese, said higher energy prices as a result of the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 increased its operating costs. It said this had been compounded by "persistently high" UK inflation, with NCP experiencing inflation-linked rent rises.
The costs of maintaining car park infrastructure are "huge", says the BPA's Tooze, including equipment, lighting and staffing. They're often in prime locations so face high business rates, she says, and they require maintenance to ensure they are structurally sound as cars, including electric vehicles, get bigger and heavier.
But motoring group the AA says a failure to expand parking spaces as vehicles grew over the decades had led to issues such as scratched doors. It added rising costs were also felt by customers, as "councils and private operators copied each other's ever-rising ticket prices", says AA president Edmund King.
In some places, it is cheaper to pay a fine than use an NCP car park, with some people opting deliberately to risk a fine rather than fork out for the "extortionate" charge.
Since the noughties a slew of parking apps have risen to prominence, offering drivers plenty of options beyond the traditional multi-storey car park. People get some extra income by renting out their empty driveways, or unused spaces in residential car parks, while drivers get more choice, flexibility and value.
Punters have "voted with their wheels", says the AA's King. "NCP didn't keep up with the changing world of more flexible and app-based local parking."
(BBC article continues)
One of the UK's biggest car park companies collapsed into administration this week, leaving almost 700 jobs at risk.
For many, their first reaction to the news was bafflement. How could a company that charged as much as £65 for a day's parking fail to turn a profit?
So where did it all go wrong for National Car Parks, and what could its future look like?
NCP has a varied estate, with 340 car parks across the country, including in airports, train stations, hospitals and town centres.
With working from home affecting commuter demand, and shopping increasingly involving mouse clicks rather than footsteps, its city-centre and commuter car parks have had reduced occupancy.
The firm's collapse shows the "combined impact of flexible working, cost-of-living challenges and fuel prices, as well as the general fall in high street shopping and increase in delivery services", says Nick Stockley, partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter.
There has "undoubtedly been a big shift" away from commuters needing parking space five days a week, says the British Parking Association (BPA). Chief engagement and policy officer Alison Tooze says habits are now far more sporadic and more people are trying to avoid paying for tickets. "The difficulty has been knowing what normal looks like, where are we going to land post-pandemic, is this it in terms of people's travel, habits and demand for parking, and it's been a very uncertain picture."
NCP's parent company, Park24, which is Japanese, said higher energy prices as a result of the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 increased its operating costs. It said this had been compounded by "persistently high" UK inflation, with NCP experiencing inflation-linked rent rises.
The costs of maintaining car park infrastructure are "huge", says the BPA's Tooze, including equipment, lighting and staffing. They're often in prime locations so face high business rates, she says, and they require maintenance to ensure they are structurally sound as cars, including electric vehicles, get bigger and heavier.
But motoring group the AA says a failure to expand parking spaces as vehicles grew over the decades had led to issues such as scratched doors. It added rising costs were also felt by customers, as "councils and private operators copied each other's ever-rising ticket prices", says AA president Edmund King.
In some places, it is cheaper to pay a fine than use an NCP car park, with some people opting deliberately to risk a fine rather than fork out for the "extortionate" charge.
Since the noughties a slew of parking apps have risen to prominence, offering drivers plenty of options beyond the traditional multi-storey car park. People get some extra income by renting out their empty driveways, or unused spaces in residential car parks, while drivers get more choice, flexibility and value.
Punters have "voted with their wheels", says the AA's King. "NCP didn't keep up with the changing world of more flexible and app-based local parking."
(BBC article continues)
