Founded on January first 1998 in the Netherlands, Q-Park the Dutch owned car park service provider, opened its first car parks in Maastricht, Amsterdam and The Hague. From the beginning Q-Park took a fresh perspective on car-parking and put the customer experience as its top priority. Its mission was to operate as a customer-oriented, forward-looking, innovative car park organisation that meets the needs of customers by delivering quality in car parking. The first car park which was fully designed according to this concept was the Museumplein in Amsterdam which opened in 1999. It raised the standards in car parking immediately and since then the company has continued to pursue this quality and customer service agenda across Europe. From this initial lauchpad, Q-Park’s European development plans quickly gathered pace. In the same year Q-Park Germany was established and the number parking spaces grew to 36.844. Within the first year, Q-Park also went on to win the European Parking Award (EPA) for its car parking facilities in The Hague.

Since then, Q-Park has continued its expansion across Europe opening in Belgium in 2000, UK in 2001, France and then Ireland in 2002 and more recently Denmark in 2005. With the latest acquisition of Carpark, the Swedish carpark company, in 2006 the company now has added an important gateway to the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish parking markets. Now represented in 10 different countries throughout Europe, Q-Park has risen to a top position and has grown its employees to 2.300. Its innovative approach and commitment to quality has also continued to reap rewards as the company adds to its awards portfolio at both European and country level. These have included:

European recognition: 1999 EPA Award Laakhaven car park, The Hague, Netherlands 2001 EPA Award Museumplein car park, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2003 EPA Award Zuidplein car park, Rotterdam, Netherlands 2004 British Parking Award first prize and best refurbishment 2005 Parking sector prize Ossenmarkt car park, Groningen, Netherlands 2005 EPA Award Waterloo Streetcar park, Glasgow, Scotland 2006 Irish Parking Awards Best Surface Car Park& Best Car Park Refurbishment 2006 EPA Award Musgrove Park Health Trust, Taunton