Cambridge wins UK’s first Park Access EV accessibility award

Cambridge City Council has become the first car park operator officially recognised for its efforts to make public EV charging more accessible to disabled motorists.

Its Park Street car park is the UK’s first accessible car parking facility to receive the British Parking Association’s Park Access EV award. The achievement recognises the car park’s accessibility measures, as well as the facilities introduced to accommodate users who need EV charging.

Park Street opened in November 2024 and has two accessible EV charging spaces amongst 16 Blue Badge parking spaces. The facility has a total of 222 underground parking spaces; 16 of which are equipped with EV chargers.

“I couldn’t be happier that Cambridge City Council have achieved the Park Access EV award, demonstrating their hard work and commitment to provide accessible facilities for all drivers,” said BPA eastern area manager, Colin Sproats. “They have always been huge supporters of the Park Mark Scheme and attaining this Park Access EV award is a fantastic achievement.”

Park Access has been endorsed by the Motability Foundation disability charity to ensure that EV charge points are fully compliant with current accessiblity standards. The Park Access scheme enables motorists to plan their journey safe in the knowledge that parking and EV charging facilities are fully accessible and will be met upon arrival.

BPA head of operations and business development, Sara Fisher, added: “We are delighted that the Park Access accreditation has now been endorsed by Motability Foundation for checking the accessibility of public EV chargepoints.

“We have been working tirelessly to ensure that accessible EV charging meets all the needs of disabled motorists. Our assessments make sure that car parks must comply with PAS 1899 in order to achieve our Park Access EV accreditation.”

Harry Fisher, Motability Foundation innovation manager commented: ”We’re excited to have endorsed the Park Access scheme for checking if public EV chargepoints meet the required PAS 1899 accessibility standards.

“The endorsement is part of our work to ensure that the public charging network is accessible to disabled people, helping them to make the transition to EVs with confidence.”

Improved accessibility within the EV sector has been a widely-discussed topic for some time. Former Paralympic athlete, Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson DBE is a vocal campaigner in the field and has repeatedly backed calls for better accessibility to become a legal requirement for EV chargers. Baroness Thompson planned to make the transition from ICE to EV, but said it was “a complete no-go” due to the lack of accessibility at UK charging stations.