Car parks: fascinating facts

The biggest car parks in the world
While many might say that the M25 is one of the world's biggest car parks, the title actually goes to the parking lot of the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada—it can accommodate a staggering 20,000 vehicles. However, the Mall's car park should soon be eclipsed by the mammoth Dubai World Central International Airport's 100,000 vehicle lot that is currently under construction in Dubai.

The safest car parks in the world
The Bold Lane car park in Derby is one of the most secure places in the world, according to science magazine Focus. The 440-vehicle capacity multi-storey car park has not seen a single theft or case of vandalism in six years.

The car park uses advanced sensors and cameras to keep a watchful eye over the parked cars. If a central computer thinks that a car is being moved while its owners are away it will lock down the multi-storey car park, preventing the stolen car from exiting the building.

Obviously not all car parks are this high-tech—however, if you want to ensure you leave your car in the safest of car parks check your council website to see if local car parks have been awarded a "Safer Car Parks Award". Westminster Council is one of the safest council car parks operators—many of its car parks have security measures in place including CCTV coverage and mobile security teams.

The most expensive car park in the UK
If you assumed the country's most expensive car park was an exclusive Porsche Cayenne-filled spot in Sloane Square or Mayfair you'd have been wrong. According to Auto Trader magazine, the UK's most expensive car park is actually near Birmingham New Street station. Commuters are charged a hefty ?3.90 for an hour, ?11 for two hours, ?35 for three hours and a crippling ?55 for four hours (2008). Drivers staying for longer are charged ?20 for each additional hour.

Britain's most famous car park?
The Trinity Centre multi-storey car park in Gateshead is no beauty, but it is a movie star. The brooding, brutalist concrete car park—scheduled to be demolished in spring 2008—is where Michael Caine's inexplicably cockney-accented Geordie gangster confronts corrupt local businessman Cliff Brumby in the classic 1970s crime thriller, Get Carter.

Car parks of the future?
Residents of the luxury Albany apartment complex in Liverpool never need worry about where to park their car—they simply leave the car at the entrance to the car park and a complex system of computerised platforms and motors stacks the car ready for the next time it needs to be used.

These car parks are called "self-stacking systems" in the industry and they could herald the future for parking in crowded city centres as they use a fraction of the space of a conventional multi-storey.

Haunted car parks
Culloden Moor car park is one of Britain's scariest car parks—it is reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of Highlanders killed in an infamous 1745 battle that took place on the site.