About The Scheme

The Safer Parking Scheme is a national standard for UK car parks that have low crime and measures in place to ensure the safety of people and vehicles. Each car park undergoes a rigorous assessment by specially trained police assessors and a Park Mark is awarded to each car park that achieves the challenging standards.

The Safer Parking Scheme is managed by the BPA on behalf of Police Crime Prevention Initiatives Ltd, a subsidiary of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

Vehicle and vehicle related crime has been falling since its peak in the mid 1990s. The targeted approach that the Safer Parking Scheme employs ensures that incidents remain low to zero. Since the Scheme began, the proportion of vehicle crime occuring in public car parks has fallen compared with parking in other public spaces:

Related Schemes

There are various schemes each with a different focus, tailored assessments and different requirements:

Safer Parking Scheme

A Park Mark is awarded to parking facilities that have met the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by the Police, meaning the operator has put in place measures that deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour.

Park Mark Plus

Park Mark Plus is an elite award, based on a comprehensive assessment. It is only achievable by the highest quality car parks and requires first passing all the requirements of the Safer Parking Scheme in addition to achieving Disabled Parking Accreditation.

Park Mark Freight

Park Mark Freight is a comprehensive assessment that builds upon the Park Mark Award specifically for lorry parks and truck stops, it informs current and potential customers of the highest standards of the lorry parking or truck stop experience and enables operators to show the value of their parking services.

Safer Bus Station

The Safer Bus Station scheme is a national accreditation that provides operators of bus stations, bus interchanges and coach stations an opportunity to improve security and show their desire to reduce crime and disorder.

Park Access

Park Access is a brand new accreditation that will automatically become the UK's industry standard for accessible and inclusive parking and electric vehicle charging facilities. The Park Access brand will be recognised throughout the whole of the UK following the merging of tow existing accreditations – Disabled Parking Accreditation and People’s Parking. It will enable everyone, regardless of their accessibility needs to identify car parks and extra facilities – such as EV chargepoints – that they can use with ease.