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Most startup ideas begin with a problem and for Erin Short, that problem was parking.
Not because he particularly cared about parking itself, but because of what happened after a simple mistake turned into a years-long battle. What should have been a routine parking session escalated into hundreds of threatening letters, legal proceedings, and a claim worth thousands of pounds. The experience exposed a system that seemed to leave very little room for common sense and even less room for genuine human error.
That experience would eventually become the foundation for PARC.
Like many drivers, Erin had paid for parking. The issue wasn't that he hadn't paid, but that a small error had been made during the process. The sort of mistake most people make every day without thinking twice about it.
Instead of being resolved quickly, the situation escalated, letters continued to arrive, demands increased, legal action followed. By the time the dispute finally reached court, the total amount being pursued had climbed into the thousands.
The experience left Erin asking a question that would ultimately lead to the creation of PARC: why was parking still so dependent on drivers getting everything exactly right?
The more Erin looked into the parking industry, the more obvious the problem became.
Every day, millions of drivers are expected to remember expiry times, location codes, payment deadlines, parking restrictions, and which app they need for a particular car park. In many cases, getting just one of those details wrong can lead to a disproportionate fine.
Most drivers aren't trying to avoid paying, they're simply getting on with busy lives. Rushing between meetings, school runs, appointments, shopping trips, and family commitments. Yet despite advances in technology, parking still relies heavily on people remembering everything at exactly the right moment.
So for Erin, that felt backwards, rather than helping people avoid mistakes, the system often seemed designed to penalise them.
That frustration became the starting point for PARC. The idea was surprisingly simple focusing on a pain point: if technology can automate so many other parts of modern life, why can't it automate parking?
Instead of relying on drivers to remember when to pay, where to pay, and how long they'll be parked for, PARC automatically manages the process on their behalf. Drivers simply park their car and get on with their day while the platform takes care of the rest.
The end goal isn't to help people become better at parking. It's to remove the need to think about parking altogether.
So where are we at today, PARC is live in Manchester and preparing for wider expansion across the UK. But Erin's vision extends far beyond a single city, with a long-term ambition to create a future where parking becomes invisible. A future where drivers don't need multiple apps, reminders, timers, or location codes.
For a business that started with a parking dispute, it's a surprisingly ambitious goal. But then again, some of the best ideas begin with the smallest frustrations.
Erin Short is the Founder of PARC, the world's first automated parking platform.
After experiencing a lengthy parking dispute caused by a simple mistake, Erin became determined to build a system that prevented drivers from being penalised for everyday human errors.
PARC automatically manages parking sessions for drivers, helping to prevent parking fines caused by forgotten payments, expired sessions, and incorrect location codes.
Manchester was selected as the first live city because of its large population, busy parking environment, and strong technology ecosystem and it is the UK’s parking fine capital.
PARC is the world's first automated parking app. You park your car, PARC parks for you.
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