Space Invaders - Study Reveals UK's Worst Parkers
Drivers of German car brand Audi are Britain's worst according to a survey looking at the parking habits of Brits. 8,000 cars were analysed during February by online company www.StressFreeAirportParking.com
Online, March 25, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Space Invaders - Study Reveals UK's Worst Parkers
Audi Drivers Worst in Britain; Drivers of Small Cars Top The League
Drivers of German car brand Audi are Britain's worst according to a survey looking at the parking habits of Brits.
Second in the league table of car brands that are parked badly by their owners was Mercedes, followed by Mazda in third - 8,000 cars were analysed during February by online company www.StressFreeAirportParking.com, the UK's biggest provider of meet and greet parking at UK airports.
The company looked at cars parked in various city centre and out-of-town shopping centre car parks and found that, per capita of cars on the road for each car marque, Audi-branded cars were streets ahead of their nearest rival in the parking hall of shame.
Almost one in four Audi car drivers (24%) were parked badly, compared to Mercedes (16.6%) and Mazda (14.3%). The brand whose drivers performed best was Land Rover, with just 2.6% of owners parking badly.
With the advantage of more space, drivers of 'small family cars' should have no problem slipping in between the white lines of a standard parking bay, yet came out as the worst at parking ranked by size of car, followed by 'vans' and then 'superminis'.
The top five offenders for worst parked cars by colour of the car were black (29.6%), silver (27%), blue (15.1%), white (11.9%) and red in fifth spot (5%).
With parking spaces at a premium in most city centres, parking infringements cause major frustrations to motorists unable to park their car because a neighbouring vehicle has straddled two bays - 19 (1%) of the 8,000 cars surveyed straddled two or more parking spaces.
Martin Mansell, Managing Director at online company www.StressFreeAirportParking.com , said: "As the UK's biggest provider of meet and greet parking at UK airports, we are responsible for parking hundreds of thousands of our customers' cars every year so we know the importance of good vehicle management.
"We are all aware of the common stereotypes aimed towards certain drivers and what cars they choose to drive; however, our survey, for the first time gives UK drivers a chance to see the real facts.
"Many will be surprised to see drivers of small family cars as the worst offenders when it comes to breaching the parking bay white lines, yet van drivers - second worst culprits - will probably confirm many people's stereotypes."
The survey, involving 8,000 vehicles, recorded every car and van that parked outside the allotted white line space in various car parks. Data on colour, type of parking infringement and the exact model of each badly parked vehicle was also recorded.
25 of the biggest car manufacturers selling cars in the UK were tested and, in order to reveal a true picture of which brand had the worst drivers, the findings are based on per capita totals using statistics for car brands on the road from the Department for Transport.
Top Ten Worst Parked Car Brands in the UK, per capita
1. Audi
2. Mercedes
3. Mazda
4. Lexus
5. Jaguar
6. Vauxhall
7. Suzuki
8. Seat
9. Ford
10. BMW
Source: StressFreeAirportParking.com
Top Five Best Parked Car Brands in the UK, per capita
1. Land Rover
2. Rover
3. Skoda
4. Citroen
5. Kia
Source: StressFreeAirportParking.com
Top Ten Worst Parked Cars in the UK, by colour
1. Black
2. Silver
3. Blue
4. White
5. Red
6. Grey
7. Purple
8. Green
9. Maroon
10. Brown
Source: StressFreeAirportParking.com
Top Ten Worst Parked Cars in the UK, by class
1. Small Family Car
2. Van
3. Supermini
4. Executive Car
5. Large Family Car
6. Compact
7. 4x4
8. Compact Executive Car
9. MPV
10. Estate
Source: StressFreeAirportParking.com
ENDS
About StressFreeAirportParking.com
Established in 2010, StressFreeAirportParking.com is now the biggest provider of meet and greet parking at UK airports. It has its own facilities at five UK airports (Birmingham, Glasgow, Heathrow, Luton and Southampton) plus one UK port (Southampton) and sells at all other major UK airports.
www.stressfreeairportparking.com
Further information:
For further press information contact Adrian Johnson Adrian@umpf.co.uk, Matthew Balmforth Matt@umpf.co.uk, or Tom Scott Tom@umpf.co.uk in the StressFreeAirportParking.com Press Office 0800 4 10 20 10.
Statistics taken from 2011 report by the Department for Transport VEOH210 Licensed cars by make, by region, Great Britain: 2011 http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/releases/vehicle-licensing-statistics-2011/vls-2011.pdf