Major UK firm collapses in administration with nearly 700 jobs at risk

Britain’s biggest car park operator, National Car Parks (NCP), has gone into administration, putting hundreds of jobs and 340 sites across the UK in doubt.

The 95-year-old company, which runs off‑street car parks in town and city centres, at airports, hospitals and transport hubs, appointed restructuring firm PwC as joint administrators on March 16 after what the firm described as “insufficient cash” to meet its financial obligations.

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According to its parent company, NCP’s liabilities exceeded its assets by about £305 million as of the end of September last year.

Following an initial review of the business, 21 NCP car parks judged “commercially unviable” shut to customers last month.

A press statement from PwC said the remaining 318 car parks would continue trading and that “no further sites are identified for closure at this time”, while options for the rest of the business are considered.

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National closure lists confirmed that one Oxfordshire site, NCP Banbury Marlborough Road, was among those due to close at the end of March.

NCP’s own online locator shows that, in addition to the Banbury site, it operates car parks at Oxford Gloucester Green and Oxford Worcester Street.

Neither of which is on the published closure list and therefore still open under the administrators’ control.