Durham’s EV-friendly car park becomes second in UK to receive award

A multi-storey car park in Durham City has become just the second in the UK to receive a prestigious award recognising its efforts towards being an ideal stopping off point for electric vehicles .
Durham County Council’s The Sands multi-storey car park has become the first in the North to be awarded the Park Access EV Award, following remedial works.
The award is the British Parking Association’s UK-wide accessibility accreditation, which certifies parking and electric vehicle charging facilities as both accessible and inclusive.
Park Access is the UK’s biggest accreditation for accessible parking from the not-for-profit organisation and aims to raise parking standards across the country.
It means motorists can travel to The Sands safe in the knowledge that they will have their parking and EV charging accessibility needs met upon arrival.

Ryan Davey, senior area manager at the British Parking Association, said: “The Sands car park is a very impressive multi-storey car park which has successfully met all the criteria for Park Mark Plus, including structural integrity, environment, design, management and operations, and customer experience.
“This means the car park is also accessible for all users and therefore achieves the standards for the Park Access EV award. The Sands is only the second parking facility in the UK to reach this achievement. Huge congratulations to Durham County Council.”
Mark Jackson, Durham County Council’s corporate director for neighbourhoods and climate change, said: “We are over the moon that The Sands MSCP has become just the second car park in the UK, and the first in the North, to receive the prestigious Park Access EV Award.

“It goes to show the high standards of the facilities available to residents in Durham and surrounding areas, and our dedication to ensuring they are all accessible to everyone.
“I want to thank everyone involved in helping us reach this milestone, and I want to thank residents for continuing to use our facilities.”
To find out more information about parking facilities in Durham City, visit: www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcitycarparks.