BCP, formerly Better Choice Parking, is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

parking operator in the UK, also offering parking at

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

ports. BCP also sells pre-bookable central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

parking.

History of BCP

BCP was incorporated in November 1963 as Terminus Securities Limited. In 1978 Terminus Securities acquired a car park at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

, on the airport boundary next to the runway, from British Chemotheutic Products. In 1988 Stephen Moss, who had gained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in Business Studies at the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

, was appointed managing director of BCP, the family's car parking business. Moss was instrumental in growing a small car park investment at Gatwick into a 5,000 space operation incorporating the UK's first multi-storey block-parked car park. In October 1991 BCP extended the scope of their car parking operations by setting up a multi airport booking system using a network of airport car parks around the country. The network included their own Gatwick car park plus off airport parking facilities for

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, Leeds Bradford,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. BCP also offered advance booking facilities for the on-airport car parks at

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

, Manchester,

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and

. There were also facilities for parking at the seaports of

and

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

. The BCP booking service was awarded the ISO 9002 Certificate for Quality Assurance in 1995. In 1996 BCP introduced a Meet and Greet parking service and also launched a

chauffeur A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine. Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...

driven airport car service at the major UK airports. In 1998 BCP extended their product range to offer bookings for overnight airport hotels and UK short breaks. In 1999 BCP also began to offer worldwide car hire,

travel insurance Travel insurance is an insurance product for covering unexpected losses incurred while travelling, either internationally or domestically. Basic policies generally only cover emergency medical expenses while overseas, while comprehensive policies ...

and airport executive lounges. In July 1999 the company was incorporated, becoming BCP Limited. BCP moved to bespoke new offices at Astrid Towers, which housed a modern

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...

and the company was accredited with the Investors In People Award in 2000. In March 2006 BCP announced that it would be joining forces with

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

, allowing their passengers to book BCP products through the Ryanair website. In December 2008, the company was acquired by Holiday Extras.

References

https://www.holidayextras.com/about-us/company-history.html {{DEFAULTSORT:BCP Companies based in Kent Parking companies