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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Auto Stacker</span></span>
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</p><p>The <b>Auto Stacker</b>, also known as <b>Autostacker</b>, was an ambitious but ill-fated <a href="Automated_parking_system" title="Automated parking system">automated parking system</a> in <a href="Woolwich" title="Woolwich">Woolwich</a>, South East <a href="London" title="London">London</a> in the early 1960s.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The project was initiated by <a href="Metropolitan_Borough_of_Woolwich" title="Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich">Woolwich Borough Council</a> but failed to work and was demolished in 1965–66.
</p><p>The Auto Stacker was an automated system for parking cars, and effectively an automated <a href="Multi-storey_car_park" class="mw-redirect" title="Multi-storey car park">multi-storey car park</a>, using a combination of <a href="Conveyor_belt" title="Conveyor belt">conveyor belts</a>, <a href="Elevator" title="Elevator">lifts</a> and <a href="Dolly_(trailer)" title="Dolly (trailer)">dollies</a> to move vehicles from ground level to one of 256 car park spaces.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 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 <a href="A206_road" title="A206 road">A206 road</a>, close to Woolwich market (<a href="Beresford_Square" title="Beresford Square">Beresford Square</a>) and the town's main shopping street (<a href="Powis_Street" title="Powis Street">Powis Street</a>), it was thought that the Auto Stacker, along with the introduction of <a href="Parking_meter" title="Parking meter">parking meters</a>, would solve the town's parking problems.<sup id="cite_ref-SG_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SG-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The eight-storey Auto Stacker was designed by T. and P. Braddock and built by Mitchell Engineering Company, in collaboration with <a href="Shell-Mex_%26_BP" class="mw-redirect" title="Shell-Mex & BP">Shell-Mex & BP</a>. It was built in 1960–61 at a cost of £100,000. It was constructed more or less simultaneously with the comparable Zidpark at <a href="Southwark_Bridge" title="Southwark Bridge">Southwark Bridge</a>, a private enterprise.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Woolwich Auto Stacker was officially opened by <a href="Princess_Margaret%2C_Countess_of_Snowdon" title="Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon">Princess Margaret</a> on 11 May 1961.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> At the opening ceremony, the demonstration vehicle got stuck and had to be manhandled in.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The mechanism failed to work that evening for <a href="Fyfe_Robertson" title="Fyfe Robertson">Fyfe Robertson</a>'s <i><a href="Tonight_(1957_TV_series)" class="mw-redirect" title="Tonight (1957 TV series)">Tonight</a></i> 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.<sup id="cite_ref-SG_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SG-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">
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</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bnyf4">"BBC Four - Britain on Film, Series 2, Road, Rail and Runways, Autostacker"</a>. <i>BBC</i>. 20 June 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 December</span> 2022</span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://solidparking.com/news_info/car-stacker-hydraulic-two-post/">"Car Stacker, Why Are They The Best Parking Solution In 2023"</a>. <i>Car Storage Lift, Automated Parking System & Car Elevator - SolidParking</i>. 1 October 2022<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 December</span> 2022</span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-SG-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-SG_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-SG_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r920966791">
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</style><span class="smallcaps">Saint, A., Guillery, P. (ed.)</span>, <i>Woolwich – Survey of London, Volume 48</i>, pp. 83-84. Yale Books, London, 2012. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978 0 300 18722 9</bdi></span>
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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://londonist.com/2013/06/top-10-car-parks-in-london">"Zidpark and Woolwich Auto Stacker"</a>. <i>Londonist</i>. 24 June 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 December</span> 2022</span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFPathé" class="citation web cs1">Pathé, British. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/princess-opens-flat">"Princess Opens Flat"</a>. <i>www.britishpathe.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 December</span> 2022</span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFConsulting" class="citation web cs1">Consulting, Peter Cowley, Cowley. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plumstead-stories.com/story%20-%20The%20Woolwich%20Empire%20Remembered.htm">"Plumstead Stories"</a>. <i>plumstead-stories.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">18 April</span> 2018</span>.</cite><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite web}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)</span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chris.mansfield1/stacker.htm">The Auto Stacker</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050318191747/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chris.mansfield1/stacker.htm">Archived</a> 18 March 2005 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>
<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://redfern-gallery.com/usr/documents/exhibitions/list_of_works_url/24/procktor_online.pdf">Compilation of newsreels from 1961</a> on YouTube</li></ul>
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</style><span class=" nourlexpansion"><a class="external text" href="geo:51.4929,0.0675"><span class="geo-nondefault"><span class="geo-dms" title="Maps, aerial photos, and other data for this location"><span class="latitude">51°29′34″N</span> <span class="longitude">0°04′03″E</span></span></span><span class="geo-multi-punct"> / </span><span class="geo-default"><span class="geo-dec" title="Maps, aerial photos, and other data for this location">51.4929°N 0.0675°E</span><span style="display:none"> / <span class="geo">51.4929; 0.0675</span></span></span></a></span></span>
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