The Auto Stacker, also known as Autostacker, was an ambitious but ill-fated

automated parking system An automated (car) parking system (APS) is a mechanical system designed to minimize the area and/or volume required for parking cars. Like a multi-story parking garage, an APS provides parking for cars on multiple levels stacked vertically to ma ...

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, South East

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the early 1960s. The project was initiated by Woolwich Borough Council but failed to work and was demolished in 1965–66. The Auto Stacker was an automated system for parking cars, and effectively an automated

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

, using a combination of

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to ...

s, lifts and dollies to move vehicles from ground level to one of 256 car park spaces. It was situated above a car showroom, workshop and petrol station on Beresford Street, on the site of the former Empire Theatre. Being situated along the

A206 road The A206 road is a road in southeast London and Kent, England. Length Today it is approximately in length, although the final section is a relatively new road. Purpose of route Its primary purpose is to link into the London Orbital motorway ...

, close to Woolwich market (

Beresford Square Beresford Square is a pedestrianised town and market square in Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London, England. It was formed in the early 19th century and was named after the Anglo-Irish general William Beresford, Master-General ...

) and the town's main shopping street (

Powis Street Powis Street is a partly pedestrianised shopping street in Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, south east London, England. It was laid out in the late 18th century and was named after the Powis brothers, who developed most of the land i ...

), it was thought that the Auto Stacker, along with the introduction of

parking meter A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street par ...

s, would solve the town's parking problems., ''Woolwich – Survey of London, Volume 48'', pp. 83-84. Yale Books, London, 2012. The eight-storey Auto Stacker was designed by T. and P. Braddock and built by Mitchell Engineering Company, in collaboration with

Shell-Mex & BP Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a British joint venture between petroleum companies Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) and BP. It was formed in 1932 when both companies decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations,Reference and contact details: GB ...

. It was built in 1960–61 at a cost of £100,000. It was constructed more or less simultaneously with the comparable Zidpark at

Southwark Bridge Southwark Bridge ( ) is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the Thames bridges in Londo ...

, a private enterprise. The Woolwich Auto Stacker was officially opened by

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

on 11 May 1961. At the opening ceremony, the demonstration vehicle got stuck and had to be manhandled in. The mechanism failed to work that evening for

Fyfe Robertson James Fyfe Robertson (19 August 1902 – 4 February 1987) was a Scottish television journalist and broadcaster. Biography Robertson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was one of six children of Jane Dunlop and James Robertson, a miner w ...

's ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'' television show, and the Auto Stacker never functioned properly; it was abandoned within months in 1961 and a few years later demolished at a cost of £60,000.The Auto Stacker

References

External links

Pathe newsreel from 1961, about Princess Margaret's visit to Woolwich
{{coord, 51.4929, 0.0675, type:landmark_region:GB-GRE, display=title Parking Former buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Transport in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Woolwich