National Car Parks
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| Private | |
| Industry | Car parks and public outsourcing |
| Founded | 1931 |
| Headquarters | England |
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Key people
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Jo Cooper, CEO |
| Owner | Macquarie Bank |
| Website | www.ncp.co.uk |
National Car Parks (NCP) is the United Kingdom’s largest and longest-standing private car park operator, with over 150,000 spaces across more than 500 car parks in towns, cities, airports and London Underground and National Rail stations.
NCP was founded in 1931 by Colonel Frederick Lucas. In October 1948 Ronald Hobson, together with his business partner Sir Donald Gosling, founded Central Car Parks when the pair invested £200 in a bombsite in Holborn, central London to create a car park. In 1959 Central Car Parks took over NCP from Anne Lucas, the widow of Colonel Lucas.
Hobson and Gosling expanded the company by recognising the under-developed state of many post-World War II British cities and towns. The pair began buying vacant sites in city centres, converting them into car parks. NCP then began managing sites on behalf of third parties.
By the mid-1990s NCP had become one of the most successful private businesses in Britain. In 1998, after a flotation of the business on the London Stock Exchange was cancelled at a late stage, the company was bought by US-based property and travel services provider Cendant for £801million with Hobson, Gosling, and their family trusts who owned 72.5% of the National Parking Corporation taking £580million.
The new owners re-focused the company’s operations, changing NCP from a mainly property owning company into a more service-focused organisation in the broader transport sector. In 1999 NCP launched the UK’s first private-public partnership, setting up a joint venture with Manchester City Council to establish NCP Manchester Ltd (NML).
In 2002 Cendant sold NCP to UK-based Cinven. NCP began to develop business contracts in the provision of enforcement services for local authorities, vehicle removals and debt recovery, where by 2005 it had become market leader in its field.
NCP was sold to 3i in July 2005 for £555million, with 3i saying it would continue to grow NCP as a service-oriented and public-outsourcing company in order to maximise the growth potential of both sides of the business.
In 2007 National Car Parks Limited was acquired by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II. Today NCP hosts car parking across the UK, supporting car parking facilities at some of the most popular public sites such as London Heathrow Airport, Manchester Arena and Birmingham New Street railway station.
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