Dragons' Den whizz-kid aquires Bargain Parking

A young whizz kid – who persuaded two of the Dragons from the popular TV show to part with £60,000 – has now acquired a parking business from an Exeter-born entrepreneur.

The success story first began for Harrison Woods when he appeared on the hit show in 2012. The 24 year old survived the dreaded Dragons’ Den to secure the investment for his first parking space rental company from Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones.

Harrison has now gone into partnership with another success story, Bargain Parking, run by another young businessman from Exeter, Damian Rooney.

Mr Rooney had been running his driveway rental business and has now linked up with Harrison’s national parking brand, YourParkingSpace.co.uk, which already has a quarter of a million car parking spaces available to rent in the UK.

It is an online marketplace that features driveways, private off-street parking spaces, lock-up garages and, significantly, spaces from commercial car park operator. In the past 12 months YourParkingSpace has raised £250,000 in seed investment, signed a 15-month partnership with NCP, and began offering hourly and daily pre-booking at car parks and parking spaces nationwide.

Mr Rooney initially started by renting out his own driveway via YourParkingSpace before doing the same for his neighbours, “It was at this point that I realised there was a real business here. The concept of driveway rentals was almost unknown then and for people I spoke to it was a no-brainer. It gave them a significant extra income for simply allowing someone to park in their empty driveway.” 

Mr Rooney grew the business throughout the South West region, with a particular focus on Exeter, where he has parking in Whipton, Exwick, Heavitree and Sowton. 

Mr Rooney highlights the potential, “It’s a really exciting time in the parking industry, it’s moving rapidly, and the old way of doing things is changing. I look at companies like Airbnb in the hotel industry and see a real opportunity to make a similar impact in the parking industry.”

Harrison Woods, Managing Director of YourParkingSpace added, “2015 is a big year for YourParkingSpace and acquiring Bargain Parking is a huge coup for the business.”