Most people will experience some form of car theft during their lives, even if it is only minor. The population of Nottingham can breathe a little easier, though, after the police arrested Imran Khan, a 30 year old man who admitted to making 15 car thefts during the November and December period. Khan has been given a Criminal Anti Social Behaviour Order, and is now banned from every car park in Nottingham city centre. However, what are the safest places to park in Nottingham, and how can you improve your car’s anti theft security?
Park in Safety in Nottingham
Nottingham police have been trying to enhance the security of busy multi storey car parks in the Trinity quarter, Curzon Street, and Lacemarket, by bringing them in line with Park Mark standards; this relates to how CCTV cameras are maintained, patrols carried out, and facilities updated to ensure that thieves are deterred. These schemes are also being expanded for Broadmarsh car park, and come against a number of safety concerns over the past year.
Whether or not Nottingham will be able to make its car parks safer for drivers is, however, affected by the decision to lay off staff and cut down on patrols in car parks. The council are trying to save £173,000 a year against cutbacks in their staffing budget, and will arguably find it harder now to make car parks as safe as possible for drivers. There are other schemes being piloted that should improve parking, but will still create some issues for drivers.
Among these initiatives are an adaptation of the RingGo! cashless parking schemes used elsewhere in the country; this involves not having to use change to pay for your parking, as well as being able to update your length of time in a car park from a remote locations. Nottingham City Council are also bringing in longer waiting times for on street parking in the city, as well as new costs - you’ll be charged £1 for 30 minutes on street parking between 8am-6pm, while being able to park for longer in the off peak hours from 6pm. Sundays will also be cheaper.
Keep Your Belongings Safe
There are other ways, though, in which you can make your car safer when left on the street or in a car park. Generally speaking, you should always try and go for the most visible spot, and not be obscured from view by larger cars or vans. Always double check that your windows and doors are locked, and don’t leave any valuables out on your seats - this is just an invitation to criminals. The same caution should also be taken when displaying sat navs.
For anti theft systems, examples include Toyota’s Factory Installed Alarms which you could get from Inchcape Toyota Nottingham, as well as Remote Keyless Entry technology, Arm and Disarm buttons, and Point-of-Entry Protection, where an alarm is automatically sounded when a car door is opened. Rolling Code Protection will also make it harder for thieves to record unlocking signals. Other tech worth considering include Panic Buttons and Glass Breakage Sensors.
Citations:
Featured images:
License: Creative Commons image source 
License: Creative Commons image source
Chris G is a car enthusiast who's been unfortunate to have his own car broken into - although not in Nottingham! Since then he's been much more "into" car security, and rightly so!
