Press releases

Tourism South East Welcomes Excellence Training for Area’s Parking Attendants

With so much in the press about the miseries of parking, Tourism South East is delighted to be offering parking attendants its highly acclaimed and tailor-made customer care training - Welcome Host and Welcome All.

The Welcome Host training provides higher standards of service for visitors and local residents and helps those on the course to acquire new customer service and communications skills. It also aims to improve participants’ knowledge of local facilities and services, enhance customer satisfaction and reduce complaints.

Welcome All has a more specific brief – to give practical advice and guidance on providing a service to customers with a range of individual needs, whether sensory, mobility or connected to learning disabilities. All organisations now have a duty to identify and fulfil responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act, and Welcome All additionally concentrates on the need to provide a warm welcome to disabled customers.

One parking organisation who has taken up the offer of training is VINCI Park, which manages parking enforcement contracts on behalf of 23 Local Authorities across the South, as well as clients in rail, airport, hospital, university and retail sectors.

Says Sue Gill, Head of Skills & Training at Tourism South East, “This is a really positive step and will, I’m sure, be of great benefit to Attendants and public alike. Like VINCI Park, we’re aware that Parking Attendants are not always seen in a positive light. However, they fulfil a vital role in the community, for which they deserve a lot of credit. Welcome Host and Welcome All will help them achieve this to the benefit of all.”

The primary responsibility of Parking Attendants is to keep traffic moving, to enable fair access for those who have a right to park and to penalise those who break the rules. When difficulties arise it is too often because they cannot cancel a ticket after it has been issued and must follow rules stated in the local traffic bylaws. Contrary to popular belief, they do not receive performance related pay – something disallowed by law.

Says Dariush Mohandes, Training & Development Manager at VINCI Park,
“Training a Parking Attendant requires a lot of time and commitment. It takes an average of 3 months to train a parking attendant to the required level. This entails 60 hours of classroom training in addition to practical on street training and development.”

VINCI Park’s training programme, which is accredited by BTEC, involves a number of modules, including Handling Conflict, Health & Safety, Fire Safety and Local Area Knowledge and - two of the key modules - Welcome Host and Welcome All.

Dariush again, “A basic knowledge of customer care in the Parking Industry is an essential skill. For instance, in Milton Keynes, during an average patrol, a Parking Attendant can spend up to 50% of their time in direct contact with the public. This may involve advising members of the public on available parking, parking restrictions, local amenities, local events or providing tourist information and directions. Welcome Host ensures that Parking Attendant have the necessary communication skills to carry out this duty.”
ENDS
For further information please contact Rachel Shimell/Miranda Johnson, RM Communications, on 023 80 732981/01962 890208, email rachel.shimell@ntlworld.com or mirandajohnson@btinternet.com or Sue Gill, Head of Skills & Training, Tourism South East on 02380 625400.

Note to Editors:
Tourism South East represents the tourism industry in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, East Sussex, Kent, Surrey and West Sussex.
VINCI Park manages parking enforcement contracts on behalf of 23 Local Authorities, including: Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Ealing, Wigan, Epping Forest, South & Mid Bedfordshire, Corporation of London, Neath Port Talbot, Newham, Reading, Three Rivers Council, Sandwell, Watford, Milton Keynes, Dacorum, Richmond, Cannock, Elmbridge, Leicester, Waverley, Telford & Wrekin. VINCI Park also manages car parks on behalf of 38 clients in Local Authority, Rail, Airport, Hospital, University and Retail sectors.

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