Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

[Backroom_boy]

I'd say so, yes. Stores with post offices may be saved (but perhaps downsize) but given the lack of investment under new ownership (as stated, basically some new signage/stickers) the already failing stores are only going to continue to fail. The carpets from the 1980s won't last forever either! I also can't cite where I read this (it may even be on here) but I think some 90 stores are under consideration for possible closure or downsizing.

Yes I agree. Next 18 months will see the business sites reduced down and possibly TG Jones will be seen to be an interim brand.

And we've all decided that John Menzies would be the perfect rebrand !

 

[TAS]

And we've all decided that John Menzies would be the perfect rebrand !

The challenge with that (and I agree it might have been a better option, if available) is that John Menzies Ltd still exists - when they sold the retail side to WH Smith, they retained their distribution and aviation ground handling divisions. They've since disposed of the former, but the latter is still going strong, now trading as Menzies Aviation. I've quickly checked the register and they also still own the John Menzies trademark in respect of a number of areas such as stationery.

 

[Revilo]

Sort of sad to see National Car Parks are in administration. While their sites are often overpriced and badly maintained, it’s another cornerstone of the High Street that’s in trouble.

 

[jon0844]

Sort of sad to see National Car Parks are in administration. While their sites are often overpriced and badly maintained, it’s another cornerstone of the High Street that’s in trouble.

Private equity doing what it does.

 

[DavidGrain]

It is now a very long time since I was involved in the Mergers and Acquisitions business but back then I recall that it was illegal to use the companies own money to buy the company's own shares. As a precaution against this we always required our clients to undertake not to take any money out of the company that they were acquiring other than legitimate dividends from trading profits. It seems now that bidding company has already lined up the asset stripping deals to fund the acquisition before they make the formal bid. In those days 'asset stripping' was a derogatory term. Now it seems the norm.

 

[dgl]

You also have the pre-pack administration where there is a buyer for the company but to avoid creditors and such like the company is allowed to go into administration where it is then brought off the administrators for a lot less that they would have.

 

[Djgr]

Sort of sad to see National Car Parks are in administration. While their sites are often overpriced and badly maintained, it’s another cornerstone of the High Street that’s in trouble.

I would imagine that yhe car parks will remain as car parks. It is not due to lack of demand that this has happened.

 

[simonw]

I would imagine that yhe car parks will remain as car parks. It is not due to lack of demand that this has happened.

Not lack of demand but falling demand

NCP: Where did it all go wrong for the car park operator?

How could a company that charged as much as £65 for a day's parking fail to turn a profit?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Djgr]

Not lack of demand but falling demand

NCP: Where did it all go wrong for the car park operator?

How could a company that charged as much as £65 for a day's parking fail to turn a profit?

www.bbc.co.uk

Not sure that I am totally convinced. Sounds like a scapegoat for the usual financial dodgy dealings.

 

[DavidGrain]

I would have thought that the demand for city centre parking would be holding up.
I now see that suburban railway station carparks are now starting to fill up again, but this is not something that I think NCP has ever been involved with.

 

[Djgr]

I would have thought that the demand for city centre parking would be holding up.
I now see that suburban railway station carparks are now starting to fill up again, but this is not something that I think NCP has ever been involved with.

Chester West car park was full today at 6.45am (£10 a day)

 

[Oxfordblues]

We have the Luftwaffe to thank for the post-war proliferation of city-centre car parks as NCP acquired bomb-sites for a pittance just as private-motoring was increasing. But here in Oxford and elsewhere motorists are now being actively discouraged from driving into town.

 

[Ediswan]

We have the Luftwaffe to thank for the post-war proliferation of city-centre car parks as NCP acquired bomb-sites for a pittance just as private-motoring was increasing

From memory, the one my father used in central London was at basement level, accessed by a ramp.

 

[The exile]

We have the Luftwaffe to thank for the post-war proliferation of city-centre car parks as NCP acquired bomb-sites for a pittance just as private-motoring was increasing. But here in Oxford and elsewhere motorists are now being actively discouraged from driving into town.

Not just here. One of Luebeck’s city centre car parks involves driving round the cellars of the mediaeval buildings lost in air raids. It’s an interesting experience - but a terrible car-park.

 

[gswindale]

Indeed. I haven't used many NCP car parks, but those I have been in never seem to be a particularly good design for modern vehicles.

 

[skyhigh]

Indeed. I haven't used many NCP car parks, but those I have been in never seem to be a particularly good design for modern vehicles.

I suspect that's part of the problem. Ageing buildings with increasing maintenance costs that aren't particularly suited to modern vehicles. Yes, you can widen spaces by painting the lines further apart and reducing the total number of spaces but that doesn't sort the problems with tight ramps and turns to negotiate the car park.

The NCP I used to have a season ticket for had a distinct feel of managed decline - one of the lifts obviously had a major fault and was permanently out of service, when the EV charging points broke they just got turned off and there was never any CCTV fitted.

 

[Andyh82]

In my experience NCP have a car park estate with every possible style, I’ve seen surface car parks, both tarmac and gravel, old brutalist multi storey car parks and modern multi storey ones

 

[Djgr]

Certainly NCP was the only car park brand of note thirty years ago.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Certainly NCP was the only car park brand of note thirty years ago.

Yes. Perhaps more competition nowadays.

On space size (um size of spaces !). I always seem to encounter the space between a pillar and a wall/ramp, bigger cars mean that space is getting tight !. Mind you I like that kind of space because no one else's door is going to hit my car. Neither is their front wing as they struggle to reverse out of the space they struggled to go forwards into.

I think NCP have been moaned about over the years - but careful what you wish for.

 

[kkong]

I haven't used many NCP car parks, but those I have been in never seem to be a particularly good design for modern vehicles.

Crown Lane in Aberdeen must be the smallest of NCP's "car parks".

I think it's a stretch to call it a "car park"... "parking space" would be more accurate.

The sign warns that ANPR may be in operation, which seems unlikely.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Crown Lane in Aberdeen must be the smallest of NCP's "car parks".

I think it's a stretch to call it a "car park"... "parking space" would be more accurate.

The sign warns that ANPR may be in operation, which seems unlikely.

View attachment 201102

No chance of being done for parking just outside your (the) space, that's unless your scared of the wall.

 

[styles]

Of course NCP, like other parking space operators suffer a problem in pursuing people for their charges. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, we don't transfer driver liability to registered keeper, so on most land you can just ignore parking charges. Obviously if you do it often enough then the parking company may go through the effort of either trying to identify the driver or a speculative claim against the RK because they know lying on court would not work out well.

NCP have tried to run car parks in Scotland but they haven't really succeeded.

It will be interesting to see if the relevant legislative changes in Scotland and NI ever actually happen. The Scottish government has had the powers for years now but hasn't taken it over the line so it seems like a bit of a non issue!

 

[D1537]

I would have thought that the demand for city centre parking would be holding up.
I now see that suburban railway station carparks are now starting to fill up again, but this is not something that I think NCP has ever been involved with.

Depends on the day, though. My local railway station carpark is pretty full from Tuesday to Friday Thursday, but there are quite a few spaces on a Monday and it's half-empty on a Friday. If the weather's good I sometimes drive instead of using the train on a Friday because the queues going into the city I drive to are much shorter.

As regards NCP, this may be part of the problem

BBC - "A man says he deliberately paid a parking fine because it was cheaper than paying to use a city centre multi-storey car park"

 

[Peter Sarf]

Depends on the day, though. My local railway station carpark is pretty full from Tuesday to Friday, but there are quite a few spaces on a Monday and it's half-empty on a Friday. If the weather's good I sometimes drive instead of using the train on a Friday because the queues going into the city I drive to are much shorter.

As regards NCP, this may be part of the problem

BBC - "A man says he deliberately paid a parking fine because it was cheaper than paying to use a city centre multi-storey car park"

Even cheaper if you factor in the chance you won't get a parking ticket.

I do not thinking like that but I am beginning to feel a bit of a mug.

 

[Djgr]

Even cheaper if you factor in the chance you won't get a parking ticket.

I do not thinking like that but I am beginning to feel a bit of a mug.

In many car parks not paying the appropriate fee will guarantee that you receive a ticket.

NCP's problem was that its financial assets to maintain and run the business were appropriated away through financial engineering. See also Asda and Morrisons.

 

[D1537]

In many car parks not paying the appropriate fee will guarantee that you receive a ticket.

Indeed, but the point of the story above was that the gentleman risked over-staying on street parking (which is a £25 fine, and only if a traffic warden notices) rather than pay a guaranteed £35 to NCP.

 

[The exile]

Indeed, but the point of the story above was that the gentleman risked over-staying on street parking (which is a £25 fine, and only if a traffic warden notices) rather than pay a guaranteed £35 to NCP.

Reminds me of the time when I discovered that at a station car park in Germany where there was no maximum stay, the charge to be let out if you had lost your ticket was less than 5 days’ parking. The first loss was genuine - after that, I got remarkably careless with m car park ticket when going on holiday!

 

[Ediswan]

Reminds me of the time when I discovered that at a station car park in Germany where there was no maximum stay, the charge to be let out if you had lost your ticket was less than 5 days’ parking. The first loss was genuine - after that, I got remarkably careless with m car park ticket when going on holiday!

For a while, Stevenage station was 'flat fee on exit'. Three days cost me the same price as one.

 

[jfollows]

Anyone who needs to park all day in my area can work out that parking all day in “one hour, no return within two hours” on-street parking “enforced” by the local authority will be better off than paying for all-day parking, even though the rates for some of the latter have actually come down.

The level of enforcement for on-street free parking is negligible. Maybe a ticket once every month or so.

 

[WesternLancer]

Anyone who needs to park all day in my area can work out that parking all day in “one hour, no return within two hours” on-street parking “enforced” by the local authority will be better off than paying for all-day parking, even though the rates for some of the latter have actually come down.

The level of enforcement for on-street free parking is negligible. Maybe a ticket once every month or so.

Interesting. sounds quite unusual in my experience - since about 20 years again when parking enforcement could be moved or delegated from the Police (who didn't really want to do it) to the local council (who got to keep the money) most council's who took up that option commenced a very different approach that was rigorous to say the least as it generated money they could use for other parking related matters - they can't use it for other stuff AIUI.

Maybe you have a council whose political leadership is not keen to be seen to be pursuing the 'war on the motorist'?