Intruder, theft and vandalism deterrent management system for controlling a parking area

A parking area and management system comprising:

• a first barrier disposed at a vehicle entrance to said parking area;
• a first customer terminal disposed proximate said vehicle entrance of said parking area, said first customer terminal including a first card reader for reading identification information from an identity card carried by a user that is issued by an entity other than a parking area management entity;
• a second barrier disposed at a vehicle exit from said parking area;
• a second customer terminal disposed proximate said vehicle exit of said parking area, said second customer terminal including a second card reader for reading identification information from an identity card carried by a user that is issued by an entity other than a parking area management entity;
• and
• a control system communicatively connected to said first customer terminal and said second customer terminal, wherein said control system stores identification information received from said first card reader in a memory and outputs a first control signal for opening said first barrier after the identification information is received from said first card reader, and wherein said control system outputs a second control signal for opening said second barrier, when identification information received from said second card reader corresponds to identification information stored in said memory.

A method of controlling entrance to, and exit from, a parking area, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a first barrier for a vehicle entrance to the parking area, with a first card reader proximate the first barrier;
• providing a second barrier for a vehicle exit from the parking area, with a second card reader proximate the second barrier;
• reading information from an identity card carried by a user that is issued by an entity other than a parking area management entity presented to the first card reader;
• recording the information read by the first card reader as a record in a record file;
• opening the first barrier to allow entrance of a vehicle or person into the parking area;
• reading information from an identity card carried by a user that is issued by an entity other than a parking area management entity presented to the second card reader;
• and
• comparing the information read by the second card reader to records in the record file, and based upon the comparison, opening the second barrier to allow exiting of a vehicle or person from the parking area or issuing an alert signal.