Airport parking has become a minefield… but here’s how to PARK and NOT get taken for a ride

Hannah Jowett, 36, a video production manager living in Leeds, was suspicious and frustrated earlier this year when she said she had to wait three hours for her Ford Focus to be returned after flying from a three-week trip in Mexico.

Still, she was relieved when, after more than 25 phone calls – and with eight other customers standing next to her in a similar dilemma – the car was returned, despite it looking “extremely muddy and with steam coming out of the bonnet”.

Hannah (pictured right) claims she assumed the steam was due to the car not being driven for a while. But 40 minutes later the engine ‘failed completely’.

A roadside assistance worker said that water had gotten into the engine and that there was a write-off.

She had to pay £800 to be towed to Leeds and later had to find another £2,000 for a new engine.

There was also a “significant” number of miles added to the vehicle’s odometer, she said.

“I don’t know if it was used as a taxi or just to turn around in a field, judging by the mud,” she added.

She had paid £80.85 to My Parking Limited, which said the complaint was ‘false’ and ‘we believe it is essential to verify the accuracy of the claim to ensure a fair resolution’.

When the company received further information, it made no comment.

‘I was stranded for two hours’

Fiona Bugler, 55, a freelance editor from Brighton, said she was among a group of customers who were left stranded without a car after flying back to Gatwick earlier this year.

“There was a couple among us who had a nanny and a woman who worked in a children’s home,” said Bugler, who had been on holiday in Lanzarote. ‘We were waiting and I called the company.

‘A ridiculously rude one The woman finally answered and told us to wait for a car to pick us up to take us to our vehicles. She talked to us as if we had done something wrong.”

They waited for two hours and, late at night, were “taken in a car in the pouring rain to a terrible field near a mechanic’s yard.”

Fiona has not received any compensation to date. Just Park Me, through which she booked a My Parking Gatwick meet-and-greet service, did not respond when contacted by email.

David Kidd (pictured) and his wife returned from Spain and were surprised when no one from the meet-and-greet company they had booked was found – or their car

‘Parking company lost car key and then left me £270 out of pocket’

When David Kidd and his wife returned from Spain, they were surprised when no one from the meet-and-greet company they had booked was found – or their car.

When they called Safe Park Meet & Greet Gatwick, they were told their car key was missing.

A few more phone calls and two and a half hours later David (right), 76, from Petersfield, Hampshire, was advised to return home by taxi, get a spare key and return the next day. The company promised that the taxi costs would be reimbursed.

But the next day there was no one around to meet them. An hour and a half later their car was returned – the key had been found – and David was given an email address so he could send the £270 taxi bill. But since then ‘we have had no response from the company and the phone has been permanently unattended,’ says David, who originally paid £131 for the valet service.

When Escape Safe Park Meet & Greet Gatwick called, a member of staff said: ‘I don’t have to answer you.’

The Kidds weren’t the only ones to suffer. After a week’s holiday, Matthew Jervis, 27, a doctor from Oxford, went to collect his car from Valet 365 Limited. But there was no one around. After two and a half hours, he was told by a company representative that his key was lost. He was advised to stay in a hotel as it was after midnight and that the company would cover the costs. Then return home the next day by taxi, pick up his spare key and come back.

Matthew did all this for a sum of £901.65. But he could not get his costs reimbursed. He has since taken Valet 365 to small court and won his case, but he still hasn’t gotten his money back.

Valet 365 was contacted by Escape but did not respond.