Stress Free Parking reports major service improvements

Stress Free Parking’s National Operations Controller Laurence Lowery updates us on the latest innovations and improvements at their Heathrow Meet & Greet parking service.

 “When I took over management of operations in the autumn, I immediately set to work identifying ways to improve the customer experience and smooth running of operations. Our Heathrow airport parking business was the first to receive my attention.”

“I began by minimising the number of times we move a car and now every car moved results in another move bringing a car back. So when a driver meets a customer at Heathrow Airport, he already knows where the vehicle is going to be stored. For stays over three days, the car will be taken straight to the Service Centre.”

“Once there, the driver picks up a return for later that day or the next day and takes that vehicle to the holding area. This ensures that drivers never make a wasted journey.”

“Tied into this, we have changed the layout at the Service Centre so that the cars are parked straight into a lane by the delivering driver. Just inside the entrance gate there is a whiteboard with each lane and date marked on it. When the driver comes through the gate he checks the return date, refers to the whiteboard and then parks the car in the correct lane.”

“By managing the storage of vehicles in this way, return cars are more readily accessible and this cuts down on the time it takes to deliver a vehicle - increasing customer satisfaction.  Reducing the number of times a car is moved also reduces the risk of damage or clocking up additional mileage while a vehicle is in our care. This again has a direct impact on customer satisfaction.”

“The new procedures have ensured that staff use their time more productively which has resulted in labour cost savings - savings which we are now passing on to our customers.”