What is the point of bollards?

How can you secure your business’s car park? How about your driveway? Security bollards are the go-to way to protect areas of your site from vehicular traffic. At EDS we’ve supplied versatile automatic rising bollards that can help to reactively restrict access to pedestrian areas, calm traffic and add security to any site.

We’ve recently seen many businesses and homeowners run into a particular security issue on their property. This is that if a vehicle parks on a driveway you can’t legally remove the vehicle. The same applies to a business car park. Written permission is required from the owner responsible before a vehicle can be removed. It legally counts as trespassing, a civil offence, meaning the police are unlikely to get involved.

This is potentially a huge problem, and one that businesses and homeowners should consider when designing their entry solutions. At EDS our manual and automatic bollards can help. Here’s how they solve this challenge as well as a range of other issues.

Stop strangers parking on your property

Bollards help you to navigate this legal loophole. However, we know that installing bollards on your driveway sounds like quite a tall order. That’s why we offer discrete solutions designed for residential use. These bollards can be lighter and less visually imposing than others, while still providing a clear deterrent. Our bollards all have the ability to rise out of the ground automatically, meaning you’ll still retain the welcoming appeal of your entrance.

For commercial use and around public spaces, we know that you’ll likely need a more robust solution. That’s why the diameter of our automatic rising bollards can be customised to meet your needs. Our bollards can range from 100mm to 400mm in diameter with manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic operation.

Discreetly block access

Limiting vehicle access and directing pedestrian access is sometimes a necessity, but it’s understandable that businesses have concerns about the presentation of their site. That’s why our bollards can be further customised to fit within the aesthetics of your premise.

We offer a wide range of finishes for our automatic rising bollards. While some are just for appearance like powder coated bollards, many have practical benefits too with our stainless-steel bollards being perfect for harsh environments.

We also offer our Heritage range of bollards. These are designed to be in keeping with most architectural surroundings. For situations where discretion is most needed, we offer our automatic flowerbed bollards which allows for your bollards to be disguised as flowerbeds. These bollards can quickly swing open when needed for authorised access.

Alert and warn drivers

There are many different security solutions that you can use to block access to parts of your site. If it’s truly a sensitive area, then why not just put up a wall? The answer is that bollards deter vehicles while still providing access to pedestrians. Our automatic bollards even allow vehicle access when lowered.

Many new safety directives are being brought in to keep drivers and pedestrians safe. We can help you to meet these requirements. When our barriers are being raised or lowered they are clearly made visible by flashing warning lights, so there are no unexpected surprises. Similarly, in the event of a power failure, cars are not trapped. Bollards can be simply lowered using a release key.

Bollards for public spaces

City centre spaces are arguably in more need of bollards than any other. This isn’t just because of their ability to block off spaces, but also to naturally guide vehicular and pedestrian traffic to the correct location.

To complement bollards in city centres, we offer automatic bollard help points and intercom systems. These help points allow users to call a control room for assistance if they need bollards raises or lowered. The help points are rugged enough to survive most situations. For added safety we can also include a fire alarm break glass panel on the front.

Why contact EDS for your bollards?

If you’d read this blog and decided that your site does need a new set of bollards, nice! However, before you get the builders round, there are some key things to consider.

The first is will the bollards you choose match the aesthetics of your site. At EDS we can make sure that they do. Similarly, you need to check spacing. This sounds obvious but if a car can fit through the gap between your bollards, you’re in trouble. You can also end up massively overspending if your bollards are too close together, or don’t match the layout of any existing bollards on your site.

If you’d like to find out more about any of the solutions mentioned here, or for a free consultation with one of our expert team, get in touch. We’d be happy to talk through the options that could be right for your event. You can reach EDS at 01212 130 130.