Beware airport parking thieves: police warn over spate of automotive thefts

[ad_1] T erence Baxter* had booked a meet-and-greet service to park his Volkswagen at Heathrow airport whereas he and his spouse went on vacation. The couple handed over the keys on the drop-off web site and have been pushed to the terminal – and that was the final they noticed of their automotive. On their return they have been knowledgeable by the corporate it had been stolen.

Their case comes as airports and police forces are warning travellers to be cautious of “unofficial” operators promoting low cost long-stay parking after an increase in complaints.

Returning holidaymakers have been reporting autos which were broken, burgled or stolen whereas within the care of meet-and-greet corporations.

Some have acquired penalty cost notices (PCNs) for parking breaches whereas their automobiles have been in supposedly safe compounds, whereas others have been left stranded on the arrivals terminal when their meet-and-greet service did not materialise.

Anybody can arrange as a parking operator and commerce legally, supplied they don't seem to be in breach of airline bylaws. The unscrupulous corporations normally don't have contracts with landowners. Some operators “moonlight” from the automotive parks of airport accommodations – the place clients are directed to drop off their automobiles – after which dump the autos on land outdoors the airport perimeter, together with on building websites and in fields.

Some motorists acquired PCNs for parking breaches whereas their automobiles have been in supposedly safe compounds. {Photograph}: Alan Novelli/Alamy Baxter used a comparability web site, Evaluate Your Parking, to discover a long-stay deal. He clicked a really useful possibility, Heathrow Park & Experience, and paid £109 for 3 weeks’ parking at a safe web site. Virtually a month later he was knowledgeable that his reserving had been amended, and the service supplier would now be an organization known as Park At Airport Ltd. The drop-off location was the automotive park of the Heathrow Vacation Inn, the place he was met by an agent in a automotive. The paperwork was accomplished within the boot.

On the couple’s return to the UK, they known as the quantity supplied and have been promised they'd be met within the arrivals corridor and brought to their automotive.

“They didn’t come,” Baxter says. “I needed to telephone them once more 5 occasions. Finally, they known as to tell me that my automotive had been stolen, together with seven others.”

Baxter is now pursuing a declare via his insurer that has been classed as “at fault”. He says: “I really feel that I'm being made to really feel just like the responsible occasion, whereas the automotive park firm appears as if it might probably stroll away and stick with it buying and selling with no penalties.”

Buyer critiques of Park At Airport on Trustpilot recommend comparable experiences. Some report the theft of their automobile, misplaced keys or receiving PCNs for parking breaches or unpaid ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) costs.

Park At Airport blamed automobile and key thefts on organised legal gangs and mentioned it was cooperating with a police investigation. It mentioned that the matter of PCNs being issued to clients was being resolved. “We make it clear that autos could also be moved between compounds,” a spokesperson mentioned. “Sadly, there was a latest safety breach that affected a comparatively small variety of clients. Since then, now we have applied enhanced safety measures throughout all our compounds.”

Sussex police informed the Guardian it had closed the investigation due to a scarcity of proof. “Officers stay conscious of ongoing issues within the native space concerning the practices of some parking suppliers,” a spokesperson mentioned. “They proceed to work carefully with the related authorities, together with buying and selling requirements, to handle these points.”

An investigation final yr into airport meet-and-greet corporations by the buyer group Which? discovered that some comparability web sites function in cahoots with unscrupulous parking companies.

“Rogue operators are sometimes prominently listed in search engine outcomes and on some comparability websites. With generic names that change as quickly as they appeal to poor critiques, shoppers can simply be caught out,” says the Which? journey professional Man Hobbs. “In some circumstances we consider the comparability web site and supplier to be one and the identical.”

Which? not too long ago printed a helpful information to the most effective, and most cost-effective, on-site and off-site parking choices at UK airports.

A dummy reserving on Evaluate Your Parking, the typo-laden comparability web site utilized by Baxter, produced quotes from a variety of suppliers with official-sounding names comparable to Heathrow Park & Experience and unattributed four- or five-star critiques. In some circumstances, after we seemed, clients needed to click on via to the small print to find that the contract was with a otherwise named firm. The businesses checked out by the Guardian had one-star critiques on Trustpilot, with clients reporting unsafe storage compounds, theft and harm.

Evaluate Your Parking is the buying and selling title of Evaluate Journey Companies Ltd, whose director was beforehand linked to a meet-and-greet service known as Wizpark, which attracted some vital critiques from clients on social media. The corporate didn't reply to our requests for a remark.

Heathrow airport this yr signed as much as a brand new quality-control initiative designed to vet member parking operators after scores of complaints from rip-off victims. The authorised meet and greet parking operator scheme” (AM-GO), launched by the British Parking Affiliation, is supported by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives and requires member corporations to uphold a code of apply. Birmingham airport has additionally joined the scheme.

Most airports don't but have an inventory of authorised parking operators. Travellers ought to learn critiques of suppliers earlier than reserving and verify they bear the Park Mark brand, which reveals that their services have handed police security checks. And if a deal is considerably cheaper than common, beware, as there may be most likely a catch.