Lauren James, a 35-year-old mother of two from Worcester, was reduced to tears after falling victim to a fraudulent meet-and-greet parking service at Gatwick Airport. She was one of dozens of British travellers who returned from holiday last month to find their vehicles missing, with some cars discovered in a junkyard, at a hotel site, or abandoned in the short-stay car park.
The nightmare begins
James had just returned from a two-day trip to Bordeaux for a wedding. She booked the parking service through a comparison site that appeared high in Google search results for 'Gatwick parking', paying £50. The service seemed legitimate until she landed around 11am and the company stopped answering her calls.
“We were all ringing the police in a panic. I was in tears because I thought our cars had been stolen,” James said. “It was just a very traumatic and stressful situation with a lot of people involved. I won't be doing a meet-and-greet again.”
Frantic search
After about an hour, James and her friend began searching for their car themselves. They joined a group chat with about 30 to 40 other panicked holidaymakers, including one woman who had been searching all night. At around 3:30pm, someone tracked James's Volkswagen Tiguan to a nearby hotel car park. A group took an Uber to the site and found a police officer with four men and a car boot filled with hundreds of car keys.
James's car was covered in mud and had used about a quarter of a tank of diesel. Some victims reported items stolen, including blue badges and vehicle documents, while others said their cars were left dirty and low on fuel.
Other victims share similar stories
Dani, 34, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, had been in Milan for a long weekend with her husband. She booked through a different company on the same comparison site for £75. When she went to collect her Skoda Kodiaq at 11:30am, it was not there. It was later found at an abandoned junkyard miles away, with the glovebox emptied and 100 extra miles on the odometer. “We had to walk past into a derelict junkyard and our car was there in the mud. It was pretty awful,” she said. “The scams have gotten very sophisticated in the last year.”
Damien Ford, 44, from Hayes, West London, returned from two weeks in Jamaica with his four-year-old daughter. He paid £125 for a meet-and-greet service for his Mercedes A-class, also booked via the comparison site. After seven hours of searching, he found his car on a lower floor of the airport car park, with the key left on the tyre and belongings strewn across the seats. A ticket in the car showed it had been parked in the short-stay car park at 12pm on June 14, an hour after he began searching. “I had been on a ten-hour flight with my four-year-old and I was absolutely knackered,” Ford said. “It was an absolute nightmare.”
Police and Gatwick response
Several victims reported the incident to police but were told it was a civil matter since they voluntarily handed over their keys. Holidaymakers are now calling for Gatwick to take action against rogue parking firms. Dani said: “The police and Gatwick in these times don't help you. They are turning a blind eye.”
Oli Bedford, head of Car Parks at London Gatwick, said: “We are aware of rogue third-party parking companies purporting to offer valet or meet and greet services operating at a number of airports. At London Gatwick we are actively addressing this issue by working closely with the police, Trading Standards, the British Parking Association (BPA) and our car park operator; as well as frequently running awareness messaging and advice. We would always recommend passengers book official London Gatwick parking for peace of mind, and there are other reputable companies who also offer alternatives. We encourage all passengers considering using an off-airport meet and greet parking provider to do their research. Comparison sites can be a valuable resource, but it is imperative passengers thoroughly check out any company they are considering using before booking parking.”
The comparison site did not respond to a request for comment.
