Meet Darren Bell

Like many young lads coming to the end of school life, I thought I was going to play football, coach football and be associated to sport for my entire life. Unfortunately that didn't happen for various reasons so found myself leaving school not knowing where or what I was going to do.

So, at the tender age of 16 I applied to be a Parking Attendant with Peterborough City Council after being told about this revolutionary idea for Peterborough to get rid of Traffic Wardens. I had to ask my parents what a Traffic Warden was and it was positive feedback 🙄. I was successful in my application, after which I was told there was much debate about a 16 year old becoming a Parking Attendant and that was it, I was now in the Parking Industry.

The role of Parking Attendant quickly become known as Civil Enforcement Officer and after a number of years working as a CEO I started moving through the ranks and various other roles associated to Parking (Environmental Enforcement, ASB, Street Scene) to eventually become Parking Operations Manager. This role put me at the forefront of Operational and Strategic Parking for the City and included Enforcement, Notice Processing, Blue Badges and Contract Management. I am still sticking to the story that I had a full head of hair before taking on that role.... 👨‍✈️

I decided to leave Local Authority after 12+ years as I wanted to see and experience other things within the Industry so joined the world of Private Parking. My head was turned by the conversations and networking at events and shows. During this time I managed NHS parking contracts for four different NHS Trusts and also provided parking solutions for NHS, Retail and leisure facilities around the country. The role also allowed me to project manage the implementation of such solutions. 

However, my heart was never a million miles away from Local Authority and wanting to give back to that world what it had afforded me at the start of this journey. So, after a few years in private parking I joined Bristow & Sutor as Solutions Manager for Road Traffic. This role allows me to manage and provide solutions to our 100+ Road Traffic Local Authority contracts, day to day conversations, providing support, keeping Authorities up to date with Industry news and most importantly, providing out of the ordinary solutions with cracking collection rates.

Giving back to Local Authority, a world that gave me my opportunity when all was lost is my main aim. I can now do that with results that speak for themselves.