Client: Rugby Borough Council
Site: Westway Car Park, Rugby
Products: Automatic Rising Bollard
In 2015 the Rugby World Cup came home to England and Rugby, as the birthplace of the game, was awarded honorary “Host City” status. Rugby Borough Council was anxious to make the most of the opportunities afforded to them as a Host City, and a number of events were orchestrated throughout the duration of the tournament to encourage visitors to the town.
With more visitors and tourists, comes an increase in traffic levels and the council did not want coaches stopping on already busy roads causing unnecessary tailbacks and congestion. In order to prevent this, they invested in an increased the number of designated coach parking bays at key car parks. This presented those in charge with another issue; how to stop cars from parking in empty coach bays. The council needed a means of stopping unauthorised vehicles from entering the coach parking area, without preventing pedestrians from accessing and exiting the car parking area.
An Automatic Rising Bollard was the perfect solution and Rugby Borough Council contacted AUTOPA, a local access control specialist, to supply and install it. Less conspicuous than an automatic barrier, yet offering a greater level of security, automatic bollards are ideal for busy car parks. When raised, they provide an effective barrier to vehicles without inhibiting pedestrian movement. Highly flexible, automatic bollards have a variety of different programming options allowing them to be adapted to the site’s individual needs.
Before any purchasing decisions were made, AUTOPA carried out a site visits and advised the council on the best position of the bollard as well as the best product for the job. The final decision was a 600mm tall stainless steel automatic bollard positioned in the centre of the entrance, but set back slightly to make it more visible to the drivers as they approached the parking area. Entry was controlled via a numerical keypad; only authorised coaches with access to the correct code can gain entry to the parking area.
Entry into the area was to be controlled, however, coaches needed be allowed to exit freely. To achieve this, a dual loop detector was installed at the same time as the bollard. In addition, the bollard was fitted with a flashing LED to warn vehicles and pedestrians that the bollard is in operation. Finally, the bollard was programmed to lower automatically in the event of a power failure, allowing vehicles to leave the area safely at all times.
Installed by AUTOPA’s qualified installation team over two days, the bollard was operational immediately. Once installed, the Automatic Rising Bollard gave the council full control over who could and could not enter the parking area, guaranteeing that coach parking spaces were always available when required.
