Watchdog reveal airport parking nightmares
21.10.10
The BBC's Watchdog programme will warn passengers tonight to chose their airport parking company carefully, after some complained their cars were either damaged, borrowed and even rented out as a hire car while they were on their holiday, the Telegraph reports.Airport valet parking or ‘meet and greet’ services are increasingly popular with holidaymakers. The company meets the passenger at the airport, drives their car away and it is stored in a secure car park until they return, when an employee meets them at the airport again with their car. However, BBC Watchdog discovered some holidaymakers' cars were clearly not kept as secure as they had expected.
One holidaymaker reported that his car was written off on the M23, when it was meant to be secured at Gatwick. Another received a parking ticket from a Tesco supermarket, when it too was meant to be parked at Gatwick. And Dean Dolling left his Hyundai i20 with Airparks before flying out from Luton Airport. But he later discovered the company was sharing its compound with a hire-car firm, which then rented the vehicle out !
Airparks, which operates ‘meet-and-greet services’ at a number of UK airports, offered Mr. Dolling £500 in compensation. It increased its offer to £2,500 when contacted by Watchdog.
The programme also features Andy and Nicola Halls who left their Audi A3 with another company – Gatwick Meet and Greet – before flying off to Tenerife in July. Just hours later they received a phone call from the police, telling them the car had been written off. An 18 year old employee, driving without insurance, had crashed and abandoned the car on the M23.
The programme is on BBC 1 at 20:30 tonight.
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