4 Security Tips To Stop Unwanted Vehicles From Entering Your Business’s Parking Lot

Having a parking lot is essential for many kinds of businesses. Those of you with an office will rely on the parking lot for easy access. It means all your employees can roll up and find somewhere safe to park – plus, there are spaces for clients to park if they’re attending meetings. Retail businesses often have parking lots for employee and customer use, which is beneficial to both sets of people. 

Despite all of this goodness, there’s a concern with parking lots: what if the wrong vehicles keep parking there? 

It happens more often than you’d like to admit. You pull into work for the day and find different cars there already. Perhaps they’ve parked overnight, or maybe they got there early to secure a spot for the day. People will always take advantage of parking lots – especially when there aren’t many public parking spaces available. That’s why you need to stop unwanted vehicles from clogging up your lot, and here are some key security tips to help. 

Install Barriers With Plate Readers

Set things in motion with barriers at the entrance to your commercial parking lot. You see these everywhere, and they’re often the best way to prevent people from parking in your spaces. Outsiders are unlikely to try and park in your lot when they see a barrier – but just in case, install a license plate reader to scan every vehicle that enters your lot. 

These scanners are great for logging who comes into your parking lot every day. Security firms use them around the world because they’re simple and effective. A quick scan records the license plate and adds it to a system. Then, you have a couple of ways to use this information: 

• Create a pre-determined list of allowed license plates
• Force people to log their license plates when entering your premises

The first of these two options works well if you have an office or other commercial building just for employees. You don’t get customers parking in the lot, so you can make a list of all your employee’s license plates in a database. If all goes well, they’ll pull up to the barrier, get their plate scanned, and be allowed in because the system recognizes it as an “allowed” plate. This will immediately prevent any unwanted vehicles from getting through the barriers. 

It’s a wonderful example of how technology can improve your business, though there are some concerns with that particular approach. For instance, what if you get client visitors? Or, what if an employee gets a new car? You’ll need to update the database quite frequently or use manual overrides to open the barriers for clients. 

Consequently, most businesses opt for the second approach. You can connect an iPad or computer to the license-scanning database and get people to log theirs when they clock in for work. As long as the plates match, they’ll be approved to park in your lot. This is also a great option if you do allow customers or clients into your parking lot. They can use the iPad to log their plate, so there’s more convenience from that side of things. 

Provide Clear Signage Everywhere

You might be wondering how a plate scanning system with barriers deters unwanted vehicles from parking in your lot, particularly if they just have to log their license plate afterward. In theory, someone could park up, go about their day, and just nip inside to log their plate. This is why you need to place your logging system behind more layers of security. In an office, it should be inside the office itself, not in the main lobby. 

Admittedly, it’s harder to do this for other commercial establishments. In this case, you need clear signage that displays the stakes at play for unwanted visitors. If someone parks in your parking lot without being approved, you should fine them for it. After all, it’s a private parking lot – so you get to set the rules. 

Signage tells drivers what will happen if they illegally park here. Put the charges in bold, and let them know their license plate will be captured and logged. It’s enough of a deterrence for most road users, which should keep your parking lot free from unwanted vehicles. If you don’t display the correct signs, then drivers can dispute any fines you send their way.

Outsource A Security Team

The barrier system works wonderfully, but it’s not always suitable for every parking lot. If you get a lot of traffic coming in and out of your lot, then barriers slow everything down. This is especially true for retail businesses or restaurants. Customers come and go every few minutes – and employees often leave at the end of shifts. You can’t afford to have barriers slowing everyone down. 

In this case, you can switch to a more “boots on the ground” approach with a security team. 

Outsource a security team to patrol your parking lot and keep track of the vehicles entering or exiting at all times. Their job is to look for any cars that shouldn’t be in your parking lot. What does this mean? It means someone who parks in your commercial lot but then goes elsewhere. They’re not parking there to use your facilities, which means they’re basically taking advantage of you. 

Again, use signage to explain who this parking lot is for. Make sure everyone knows it’s for Customers Only – or in an office location, for employees and clients. Display the sanctions for illegal parking, and your security team can identify these vehicles and leave a ticket detailing their fine and how to pay. 

Generally, a physical security presence is usually enough to prevent people from parking. It’s really useful overnight, as well. This is when boy racers love to find empty parking lots to do doughnuts or rev their engines. Overnight and weekend security will prevent this  – so you could add this alongside a barrier system, as well.

Charge For Parking

What’s the easiest way to prevent people from parking in your lot? Charge them for the privilege! We’ve spoken about fines, but this is different. Here, you genuinely let people park in your commercial parking lot, but you set prices for it. The trick is to make the prices unreasonably extortionate. Why? Because this will stop the majority of people from trying to park there. 

However, you might get the odd person who pays the parking rates because they’re desperate for a space in the local area. As long as they’re paying you, what’s the problem? It can be a cheeky way to increase revenue through a completely new income stream for your business. 

Two potential issues spring to mind: 

• Won’t your employees/customers have to pay?
• What if there’s not enough space for your employees?

To counter the first one, you shouldn’t implement a charging service in any business where you rely on customer foot traffic. Save this for offices or other commercial locations – and then hand out special parking permits to your employees. You can use the license scanner to automatically allow free parking, which also helps if your clients visit. For the second issue, you should ensure there are enough designated spaces for your staff. Place signs saying “Reserved” in all of these spaces so everyone always has a place to park. 

Granted, this whole idea doesn’t technically stop unwanted vehicles from entering your parking lot, but it does reduce the number of unwanted visitors, and it means you benefit financially from outsiders parking there. 

All in all, if you make a few of these implementations, you can get a firm grasp on the parking situation. Your parking lot should no longer be full of annoying vehicles that stay there for hours without having any connection to your business. 

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