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John the Gate Man, gate automation specialist in Leyland, Lancashire
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A weatherproof keypad mounted on a post beside a driveway gate, with a key fob held up in front of it

Service

Gate Access Control in Lancashire and Surrounding Areas

Control who can open the gate, and how, without handing a key to everyone.

Access control is how the people who are expected get themselves through the gate. An intercom deals with callers you have to answer; access control deals with everyone who should not have to be answered. In practice that means remote fobs, a keypad taking a code, coded entry for regular visitors, GSM or phone entry where there is no cable route, and app based control on systems that support it.

Most properties end up with a combination, because the options answer different problems. Fobs live in the vehicles and suit the household or the staff. A keypad covers anyone arriving without a fob, including deliveries and contractors, and a code can be changed when it needs to be rather than chasing lost fobs. Phone or app based control, where the equipment supports it, is useful when the gate has to be opened for somebody while you are not there.

Access control and intercoms are usually specified together and wire into the same gate control board, so they can be fitted at the same visit as the automation or added later to a gate that is already working. Small commercial gates tend to need more of it than domestic ones, because more people arrive, they arrive more often, and the list of who should get in keeps changing.

Intercoms

See and speak to whoever is at the gate, and let them in without walking down the drive.

Gate Automation

Motorise the gates you already have, with the safety equipment the law requires.

Gate Servicing

Planned maintenance and safety checks that keep an automatic gate legal and working.

Service area across Lancashire and surrounding areas
Boundary data: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data (c) Crown copyright and database right 2025.

Access Control across Lancashire and surrounding areas

Worked from Leyland across Lancashire and the boroughs around it. Pick your area for the local detail.

Areas we cover

Access Control questions

What counts as gate access control?
Access control is anything that lets an expected person open the gate without somebody answering it for them. In practice that means remote fobs, a keypad taking a code, coded entry for regular visitors, GSM or phone entry where there is no cable route, and app based control on systems that support it. It is the counterpart to an intercom, which handles the callers you do have to answer.
Should I choose a keypad or fobs?
Most properties want both. Fobs live in the vehicles and suit the household or the staff, so the gate opens without anyone touching anything. A keypad covers everyone who arrives without a fob, including deliveries and contractors, and a code can be changed whenever it needs to be, which is far easier than recovering a lost fob. Choosing one alone usually means adding the other later.
How many fobs can a gate have?
That depends on the receiver, and the limit varies from a handful to several hundred depending on the equipment. For a household it is rarely a constraint. For a small commercial gate with a changing list of vehicles it can be, and it is worth establishing the capacity and how fobs are added and deleted before the system is chosen rather than afterwards.
Can I open the gate from my phone?
On systems that support it, yes, either through a GSM unit that recognises a call from an authorised number or through an app that talks to the controller. Both are useful when the gate has to be opened for somebody while you are not there. Whether it can be added to an existing installation depends on the control board and on there being a usable signal at the gate.
What if somebody loses a fob?
A lost fob should be deleted from the receiver rather than simply replaced, because until it is deleted it still opens the gate. On most systems that is a straightforward operation and it is worth being shown how to do it at handover, so a lost fob does not need a visit. This is also the practical argument for having a keypad as well, since a code can be changed immediately.
Where should a keypad be fitted?
At driver height on the approach side, set back far enough that a driver can reach it from the vehicle without an awkward stretch, and angled or sited so driving rain does not sit on the keys. Keypads on exposed or coastal sites need to be outdoor rated and sealed at the cable entry, because water finding its way in behind the keys is the usual cause of a keypad failing early.
What access control suits a small commercial gate?
Usually a combination: fobs for the vehicles that come every day, a keypad or code for regular contractors, and an intercom for deliveries and visitors. The thing that separates a commercial gate from a domestic one is that the list of who should get in keeps changing, so how easily codes and fobs can be added and removed matters more than any other feature.
Can access control be added to a gate that is already automated?
Usually yes. Fobs, keypads and phone entry all connect to the same gate control board that the drive already uses, so it is a question of whether that board has a spare input and whether the new equipment can be sited and powered sensibly. Adding access control to a working gate is ordinary work and does not normally involve touching the drive or the buried cabling.
How do delivery drivers get in?
Either through a code you can give out and change afterwards, or by pressing the intercom and being let in. A code is the more practical answer where deliveries arrive when nobody is home, and it avoids handing out a fob to somebody who will come once. Where a property gets a lot of deliveries it is worth deciding this deliberately, because it is the single thing most likely to cause a gate to be left propped open.
Is a keypad code secure enough?
A code is only as good as how widely it has been shared and how often it is changed, so treat it as a convenience control rather than as security. A code that has gone to several tradespeople over a couple of years is effectively public. Changing it periodically, and keeping a separate route in for people who should have permanent access, is the sensible arrangement.
What happens to access control in a power cut?
Nothing works without power, so the gate is opened by hand using the manual release that every automatic gate has. That release disengages the drive so the leaf can be pushed, and anyone who uses the gate regularly should be shown where it is and be able to work it. Where an uninterrupted supply matters, a battery backup can be specified, but it is a deliberate addition rather than a default.
Can you work on access control fitted by another company?
Yes. Keypads, fob receivers and phone entry units of any make can be worked on, and it is common for a fault to be in the wiring or the control board input rather than the unit itself. The diagnosis establishes which of those it is, because replacing a working keypad because the input behind it has failed is an expensive way of not fixing the problem.

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