Bristol Airport car park ‘extortion’
06.07.08
A reader of the Western Mercury wrote to complain about what she considers to be extortion by Bristol Airport on its car parking. She wrote: I went to Bristol airport to pick up my parents.
On leaving I needed to pay a car parking charge of £2.50. The nearest pay kiosk, the first passed while walking from the airport to the car park, does not accept coins, only credit and debit cards.
I followed the machine's instructions by inserting the parking ticket and the charge of £2.50 was confirmed. I then entered my credit card and a figure a £4.40 flashed on the screen for no more than a fraction of a second.
Only then did I see the very small sign, located at the top of the machine and remote from the operating instructions that stated a £1.90 surcharge would be added for card payments. Card payments, the machine doesn't allow any other kind of payment!
Apparently there is another machine located fully across the car park, near the exit, that does accept coins. I inspected this machine on my exit. Anyone using it would either have to walk the entire length of the car park or stop his or her vehicle on exit, which would cause congestion.
This set up is exactly that, a 'set up', designed to extract the most money from airport visitors. There is no justification for a car park kiosk not accepting coins and there is no justification for a 76 percent surcharge on credit card payments.
I explained what had happened to my parents and they said the airport charges £2 for a luggage trolley. My comment to Bristol airport is: your attitude is utterly disgusting and you could, at least, be a little less overt in your extortionate escapades!
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