How we check which car parks have spaces
The badges on this site are the whole point of it, so here is exactly what they mean and where they come from.
Last updated
The badges
| Badge | Means |
|---|---|
| Spaces | When we last read the booking page, it was selling spaces for this match. |
| Going fast | The page was still selling but showed low stock, a “last few” message, or a big jump in what had sold since the previous check. |
| Full | The page said sold out for this match, or the car park told us so. |
| Not checked yet | We haven't looked for this match yet, or our last look is more than three days old, so we would rather say nothing than something stale. |
| Check site | We can't read this car park's page automatically (it blocks checks, or hides availability until checkout). Their page has the answer. |
| Pay on the day | No online booking: turn up, and early. |
Next to a badge you will see “checked 40 min ago”, or “from the car park, 2 hrs ago” when the operator set it themselves, or “updated” when we set it by hand because we know something the checker doesn't. The time is the important part.
How the check works
- Each car park has a booking page we know about, and for some, one page per match. We don't log in, we don't buy anything, and we don't hammer anyone's site: one quiet read per car park per check.
- The checker reads the page the way a browser would and looks for the signals that page uses: a sold-out label, a stock count, a product marked unavailable, an event that has closed. Every booking platform (Eventbrite, Ticket Tailor, Shopify, a PTA site, a Wix shop) says it differently, so each has its own reader.
- It records the result with the time, and the badge on the site updates within a minute or so of the check.
- If a car park flips from Spaces to Full, we log the moment. Over a season that becomes “usually full about a week before a big international” on the car park page, which is more useful than any single badge.
How often
- More than four months out: we don't check; most car parks haven't opened bookings.
- Within four months: once a day.
- Within a month: every six hours.
- Match week: every hour.
If we see nothing from the checker for a few hours, an alarm goes off and a human looks at it. If a check fails for one car park (their site is down, or has changed), the badge goes back to “Not checked yet” rather than showing an old answer forever.
What we can't check
- Sites that block automated visitors. A couple of booking platforms put a bot-check in front of every page. We don't try to get round it: those car parks show “Check site” until the operator tells us their status, which several now do.
- Pages that only reveal availability at checkout. Same answer.
- Driveways. JustPark and YourParkingSpace have hundreds of individual spaces around the ground that come and go; we link to their search for the match rather than pretend to count them.
- The official stadium car parks. Sold inside the England Rugby ticketing account, which we can't see. We link to it.
- Gate sales. A car park that sells out online sometimes still has a few spaces on the day, and vice versa. Full means “full online”.
When to trust the car park over us
Always, if they disagree. The badge is our reading of their page at a moment in time; the page is the truth, and the person on the gate more so. If you find a car park showing Spaces here and Full there, or the other way round, the check is stale or their page has changed shape, and an email to [email protected] gets it fixed for the next person.
For car park operators
If you run a car park on the list, you can tell us your status directly (a “we're full” link, no login) and it overrides the checker immediately, labelled “from the car park”. It is the most reliable badge on the site and it is free. Email us and we will send the link. If we have your prices, opening times or entrance wrong, the same address fixes that.
What we don't do
- We don't sell parking or take bookings. Every Book button goes to the operator or their booking site.
- We don't rank car parks by who pays us. The sort order is spaces first, then Going fast, then unchecked, then Full, nearest first within each. The only affiliate links are the two driveway marketplaces, and they are labelled.
- We don't collect anything about you to show the badges. The availability data is public and the page reads it directly.
Now go and pick a match.
Questions drivers ask
- How does Park Near Twickers know if a car park has spaces?
- A checker reads each car park’s own booking page on a schedule (daily when the match is months away, several times a day in match week) and records whether that page is selling spaces for that match. The badge on the site shows the last result and how long ago we looked.
- Why does a car park say “Check site” or “Not checked yet”?
- Some booking sites block automated checks or don’t show availability until you go to pay, and some car parks only sell on the day. For those we can’t read the answer, so we point you at their page rather than guess. When the car park itself tells us its status, the badge says “from the car park”.
- Can I trust the Spaces badge?
- It was true when we last looked, and the time next to it tells you when that was. In match week that is usually within the hour. Spaces can go between our check and your booking, so the booking page always has the final say.
- Do you sell parking yourselves?
- No. Every Book button goes to the car park’s own page or to the booking site they use. A few links (JustPark, YourParkingSpace) are affiliate links that pay us a small fee at no cost to you; the school, scout and church links never are.
Sources: This is a description of our own system.
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