AOS census Stand up and be counted The recent AOS census had a great response rate and showed some interesting findings hen the Parking Code of Practice Act (PCOP) received Royal Assent on 15 March 2019, the BPA began to consider how best to support its members through what will be a pivotal time for private parking operators. It was quickly identified that we did not have enough information about our sector, explains Steve Clark, BPA head of operations. We need accurate and timely data to positively portray the activities of our members, which can provide a credible reference point for government and media enquiries. Understandably, there was reluctance from some members to share information that they considered to be commercially sensitive. We needed a means by which core business data could be collated in confidence and then consolidated to provide us with an aggregated report, Clark says. We chose W Census results The key findings of the census, from the data supplied by operators for the period 1 July to 31 December 2019, show: 3,688,998 parking charge notices were issued by members 80.3 per cent of these were via automatic or manual number plate recognition 82.8 per cent of paid PCNs were settled at the discounted rate 17.8 per cent of PCNs were appealed to the operator 59.6 per cent of these appeals were accepted by the operators 0.89 per cent of PCNs issued resulted in an appeal for independent assessment with POPLA to work with our own auditor, Mazars, because it has a strong reputation, a trusted brand and a superior knowledge of the BPA. Lobbying support BPAs approved operators were asked to provide specific pieces of information for the period 1 July to 31 December 2019, directly to Mazars. More than 70 per cent of approved operators responded to the census, which is fantastic for the first running of a data-collection exercise, says Alan Frost, Mazars director of business consulting. The results were then collated and shared at the recent AOS Conference in February. We now have really useful information that we can integrate with other recent research. Members can be assured that we will use it appropriately and in their best interests, says Clark. We hope that, next time, every member will opt to take part, especially as doing so is now a BPA Code of Practice requirement. We look forward to running the census again later this year and are confident that the results will further support the BPA in its lobbying efforts, adds Frost. britishparking.co.uk 23 PN Apr20 pp23 Census Feature.indd 23 24/03/2020 14:13