Safer Parking award from the British Parking Association
December 28, 2008
Westfield London, the capitals newest shopping centre, has been awarded a Safer Parking award from the British Parking Association (BPA) within its first six weeks of opening. Europes biggest inner city shopping and leisure destination received Park Mark status at a recent ceremony for providing a safe parking facility with 4,500 spaces.

| Car park manager, Gary Lee was presented with the Park Mark Award from Sector Inspector Paul Banbro of Hammersmith & Fulham Metropolitan Police Borough. PC David Hinton was also at the presentation. The team is directly responsible for the Policing of the Westfield London Shopping Centre.
The Safer Parking Scheme (SPS), run by the BPA for the Association of Chief Police Officers, was developed to provide a benchmark standard for all parking areas across the UK, to create safer parking both for the public and their vehicles. The Park Mark Safer Parking Award is granted to parking areas that have achieved the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by the Police. These requirements mean the parking operator has put in place measures that help to deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour, thereby doing everything they can to prevent crime and reduce the fear of crime in their parking area. |
| Gary Lee said: We are delighted to receive Park Mark status in the opening weeks of the new centre. We are committed to the highest level of customer service, and with Christmas due to be our busiest time, it was vital to provide all our shoppers with a safe and reliable parking facility while they enjoy the new centre.
The shopping centre in Shepherds Bush has a vehicle management system to indicate parking availability and also offers a valet parking service for the convenience of its customers. Kelvin Reynolds, head of SPS at the British Parking Association, said: With the number of Park Mark awards on the increase – we now have over 3,700 members – it proves that the scheme is an invaluable tool in helping to make parking environments safe and increasing public reassurance in these areas. When drivers leave their cars in Park Mark award facilities they will find them exactly as they left them on their return.
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The European Union has initiated a pilot project whose aim is to build secure parking areas
December 28, 2008

The number of attacks on LGVs, in which not only the load is stolen, but also the driver is threatened with a weapon or even injured is steadily increasing. Apart from the long term mental damage to the driver, every year this results in losses of around 8.5 billion Euros, with the trend increasing. The European Union has therefore initiated a pilot project whose aim is to build secure parking areas.
One such automated secure parking area is currently being developed in Germany at the Wörnitz Truck Stop on Exit 109 of the A7 Autobahn, north of the A6/A7 interchange. Wörnitz Truck Stop commissioned DESIGNA and Würzburger Stadtverkehrs GmbH to build a fully automated secure LGV parking area in compliance with the highest security standards.
From December 2008 there will be 25 fully automated secure parking spaces available for LGVs with at risk freight. A special feature of the new secure parking area, which is, of course, fully fenced in and under video surveillance, is automatic photographic logging of the
- vehicle licence plate
- driver
- vehicle from the top left hand side
- and the vehicle from the top right hand side.
This implementation of innovations developed by DESIGNA in the tried and tested PM ABACUS system enables the operation to be fully automated without the operator needing to employ a large number of staff, explained DESIGNAs sales manager, Marten Jentsch, summarising the advantages of the companys system.
Source:Nadine Lübbe http://www.designa.com
From: DESIGNA Verkehrsleittechnik GmbH
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Trade Payment Rules Eased (Update1)
December 24, 2008
Companies in China previously allowed to collect %10 of prepayments on exports in foreign currency. Starting from today, now State Administration of Foreign Exchange increased prepayments to %25 on exports in foreign currency.Here is the news from Bloomberg by Li Yanping:
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — China will loosen regulations on the prepayments companies can receive when exporting goods to help their cashflow as the global financial crisis hits overseas sales, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said today.
Companies will be allowed to collect 25 percent of prepayments on exports in foreign currency, up from 10 percent, starting from today, the regulator said on its Web site. The rules are being changed to “tackle the negative impact of the global financial crisis and to promote stable and relatively fast economic growth,” the statement said.
Expansion in the world’s fourth-largest economy is slowing as recessions in the U.S. and Europe stem demand for goods from the Asian nation. China’s exports fell for the first time in seven years in November and imports plunged. Two thirds of the country’s smaller toymakers closed in the first nine months on faltering demand, according to customs bureau data.
Importers will be allowed to make delayed foreign-exchange payments on shipments amounting to 25 percent of the value of the goods, up from 10 percent, today’s statement said.
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Yuan may stay strong against dollar / Update-1
December 22, 2008
This an update for those who are interested to the yuan’s exchange rate. The possibility for Yuan’s depreciation is getting lower because of intrest rate cuts of FED in USA. Currency news update :
THE yuan will likely remain strong against the United States dollar as recent rate cuts by the Federal Reserve have reduced the greenback’s appeal, experts said.
The Chinese currency gained against the US dollar last week and finished at 6.8395 on Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The yuan was at 6.8451 at the end of the previous week.
The Fed lowered the key US interest rate on Tuesday to a record range of zero to 0.25 percent.
“The direct effect of the slash in rates is an overall selling of the US dollar and the weakening American economy is not likely to provide enough support for a strong dollar,” said a research note by Zhang Zhigang, a foreign exchange trader at the Agricultural Bank of China.
Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Wednesday that China will not rely on the yuan’s depreciation to stimulate exports and will maintain a stable currency.
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Will Yuan Depreciate against USD?
December 19, 2008
As the Chinese currency yuan or renminbi appreciated all over 2 years and those buying from China directly felt the rising costs of purchases since the stronger Yuan made the Chinese exports more expensive.
Nearly, for the last 6 months, the currency rate is stabilized at 6.80′s level. However, as the global crisis hit the Chinese economy, there is now the possibility for Yuan’s depreciation. But it is actually very hard because as the rest of the world have deep problems, a China making exports cheaper could or would give way to protectionist reactions against Chinese imports, especially in USA and EU.
Here is Shanghai Daily news about the debate over the depreciation:
ECONOMISTS are divided on the yuan’s movement next year.
Liao Qun, CITIC Ka Wah Bank chief economist, said yesterday he expects the yuan to appreciate 2 percent to 4 percent next year, a “moderate appreciation.” “From a mid and long-term view, the trend of yuan appreciation is irreversible as China continues to integrate with the global economy,” Liao said.
The currency has appreciated 6 percent this year against the United States dollar in the first half with its momentum on hold in the second half after a moderate depreciation in recent weeks.
The People’s Bank of China has said that it will stabilize the local currency and doesn’t rule out depreciation of the yuan.
Liao said he expected the foreign currency to re-emerge as a hot issue when President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.
“A weaker yuan can help Chinese exporters. However, the question is that when the external demand is shrinking, a relatively cheaper price won’t make big difference,” Liao said. “Only if the yuan depreciated by 20 percent, which is unlikely, can there be a big help for exports. If not, a mild depreciation of the yuan won’t give actual significant help to exporters.”
Lu Zhengwei, Industrial Bank chief economist, had a different view and said depreciation of 10 percent next year would help exports.
“It may be the best timing for the yuan to depreciate since 2002 against the backdrop of the current financial crisis,” said Lu. “Why should China continue to keep its currency up when currencies of other emerging markets are depreciating?”
A depreciated yuan, together with tax rebates, would help exports a lot, he said. “Depreciation is part of a more flexible foreign currency control,” Lu said.
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