Jan 2007
Euro Car Parks Launch Phone Payment System in Manchester

Euro Car Parks (ECP) joins a growing list of car park operators to offer mobile phone payment system with the introduction of the service in its central Manchester based pay and display car parks.

ECP operates over 1200 spaces under Pay and Display in Manchester. With daily charges running up £10, ECP was keen to improve customer service and make it easier for motorists to pay.

The ‘Park & Pay By Phone’ service supplied by Verrus UK Ltd will give motorists the option of paying for their car parking by simply calling or texting the number advertised on new signage in the car parks, incorporating ECP’s distinctive blue and yellow branding.

Motorists will also be able to receive reminder text messages informing them when their time is about to expire. They can then call back to top up their parking duration. Motorists manage their account via a web interface where they can change their profile and print off receipts for business expense purposes.

Les Knight, Business Development Director for ECP said “ We are constantly looking at ways to make life easier for our customers and to use technology to help improve our operational systems as well as provide benefits for the customer. Verrus’ mobile phone payment meets our requirements on both counts”

Robin Bevan, CEO of Verrus UK Ltd, said: “ The Euro Car Park sites are a valuable addition to the Verrus portfolio. We are delighted to be working with Euro Car Parks in a major northern city such as Manchester. It puts the icing on the cake for what has been a tremendous 2006 for Verrus – in December Verrus processed around 75,000 transactions which equates to around £500,000 of parking payments per annum. Phone payment has now truly come of age in the UK.”

Information for Editors:
Verrus is the leading provider of phone based payment systems within the parking industry in North America. The Verrus service is currently available on over 130,000 parking spaces across North America – a number that is set to rise to over 250,000 spaces by the end of 2006.

Verrus set up an operation in Europe in late 2004 to roll out the same suite of services that have proved so successful in North America. Verrus launched its first UK based service in June 2005 with Apcoa Parking in both Cardiff and Southampton and has subsequently launched it’s services across all off-street car parks in the City of York, Salisbury DC, Cheltenham BC, City of Birmingham, Lincoln City Council, Colchester BC, Oxford City Council, Westminster City Council, with NCP at a number of its managed rail station car parks as well as with sites for APCOA and CP Plus .

Contact:
Angela Tyreman on 07743 167410 or at atyreman@verrus.com