I left my Mercedes with an airport parking company only to find they’d LOST it – we had to go home in a taxi
A DRIVER returned from holiday to find his Mercedes had been lost by an airport parking company.
Paul Swift, from west London, paid £114 to a Gatwick parking company to look after his vehicle.
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The father, from Ealing, claimed he booked the valet parking through My Parking Limited before going on a week-long family holiday.
When Paul landed at London Gatwick Airport, he was told by staff to wait for his Mercedes to arrive.
But after more than three hours, a guard told him the keys couldn’t be found and asked him to look for them in the parking lot.
The shocked car owner then decided to take a taxi home with his wife and children – wasting more than £150 in taxi fares.
The service staff promised him that his family vehicle would be sent to his home in Ealing next Morning.
However, when the alarmed car owner called the next day, My Parking Limited staff could not find his vehicle in the system.
Mr. Swift told The mirror: “[I spoke to an employee] who didn’t know at all. She couldn’t find my booking.
“She said she thought it was somewhere on the premises. She’s trying to find it for me.”
Desperate for help, Paul decided to make a report to the Metropolitan Police.
The technology platform employee decided to take matters into his own hands and miss a day of work to return to the airport.
After two days of despair, Paul finally found his vehicle.
He explained: “First they couldn’t find the booking, then they couldn’t find the key, then they couldn’t find my car.”
“Then [one of the employees] physically went out and found it.”
The angry driver is now accusing the parking company of “incompetent” service.
Paul said: “I don’t think anything wrong was done intentionally, but not returning the car is an escalation of complete incompetence.”
“Everyone else was completely incompetent.”
My Parking Limited continues to offer airport meet and greet valet parking.
The company has a shocking 1.1 rating on Trust Pilot with hundreds of negative reviews from disgruntled drivers.
Other car owners took to the review website to share their experiences and said they should “never use this company,” branding the company “horrible.”
A spokesman for Gatwick Airport said they “have no relationship with these fraudulent ‘meet and greet’ parking companies, although many of them have ‘Gatwick’ in their company name.”
They added: “Legally fraudulent companies can operate at the airport as long as they do not violate our statutes.”
However, he urged passengers to “be vigilant when booking through third-party providers”.
The Sun has contacted My Parking Limited for comment.
Have you had problems with airport parking companies? Email jacob.jaffa@news.co.uk or call 0207 860 1129
It came when the same company left another holidaymaker fuming after she returned from holiday to find her car had 200 more miles on the clock.
Lynn Stone, 69, from Lincolnshire, paid £108 to the meet-and-greet valet company at Gatwick Airport to park her car for two weeks.