A FAMILY run business has taken over a major Bournemouth town centre car park.

The NCP car park on Richmond Hill has been taken over by RCP, a car park company based in Norwich.

The new owners will also be slicing their former competitors’ prices in half to help with the current cost of living crisis for Bournemouth residents and tourists.

Bournemouth Echo:

The new owners will be charging £8 per day (compared to approximately £15 per day for the NCP service).

A one-hour stay at the previous NCP car park was £2.95.

Shapoor Naghshineh, managing director of RCP said: “We're just a small, family-run business.

“We've got about 60 sites nationwide and we're just slowly expanding, and we've been in business for 30 years, since 1994.

“We chose to buy the car park because I was studying in Bournemouth when I was 18 years old, and I love Bournemouth.

“From what I understand, people didn't feel safe because of the drug use in the stairwells.

“When I was there, I did see it first-hand.

“There was lots of blood in the staircase which is not very good for somebody who's going to pay six, seven, or eight pounds a day.

“You don't want them to be stepping over blood and all that just to go downstairs. So we're going to address all of these issues.

“Security is important to us, so we try to address these issues to give people a better sense of security in all the car parks that we have.

“Our mantra is that we provide good, clean car parks with reasonable tariffs.”

“We’re agile and can innovate and optimise quickly for our clients. Our car park consultants are genuinely passionate about the parking industry and unlocking the value of our client's parking assets – it’s what gets us up in the morning.

“It was very expensive and now we're coming in at very cheap prices to hopefully we can fill up the car park and keep everyone happy.”

“This ethos combined with our hands-on experience and best-in-class technology gives us the competitive edge.”

The car park officially changed hands on May 14.