Closure of the parking company, unaffiliated to the airport, left many passengers without vehicles
Passengers strongly advised to avoid unapproved off-site meet and greet parking firms
Gatwick says on-airport parking or approved off-airport operators should always be used
London, 2017-Jul-22 — /Travel PR News/ — Gatwick Airport has advised passengers to use only airport-approved car parking operators when parking before they travel, after a non-approved company failed to return vehicles to over a hundred passengers.
Gatwick First Parking, a meet-and-greet parking company with no connection to Gatwick Airport, reportedly ceased trading last week with no prior warning, leaving vehicles abandoned and their rightful owners unable to retrieve them.
The airport has since used its own number plate tracking system to help trace many of the missing cars, and has reissued parking guidance to passengers which strongly recommends the use of either official on-airport parking or companies registered with Gatwick’s off-airport Approved Operators Scheme.
Run in partnership with the British Parking Association, the scheme was introduced to offer Gatwick passengers more confidence when choosing off-airport parking, and only features suppliers that have adhered to the approval processes of Trading Standards’ Buy with Confidence programme.
More information about Gatwick’s Approved Operators Scheme can be found at www.gatwickairport.com/parking/other-parking-options/operator-scheme/.
Chris Banford, Senior Commercial Operations Manager at Gatwick Airport, said:
“We sympathise with any of our passengers who put their trust in Gatwick First Parking and have been affected by its abrupt collapse and the lack of information provided in the aftermath.
“This company had absolutely no affiliation to Gatwick Airport and we strongly recommend that passengers should avoid non-approved firms going forward.
“By using official on-airport parking or companies in our Approved Operators Scheme instead, passengers will eliminate the risk of experiencing a distressing incident like this in the future.”
About London Gatwick
Gatwick Airport is the UK’s second largest airport and the most efficient single-runway airport in the world. It serves more than 228 destinations in 74 countries for 45 million passengers a year on short and long-haul point-to-point services. It is also a major economic driver for the UK contributing £5.3 billion to national GDP and generating 85,000 jobs nationally, with around 24,000 on the wider airport campus alone. The airport is south of Central London with excellent public transport links, including the Gatwick Express, and is part of the Oyster contactless payment network. Gatwick Airport is owned by a group of international investment funds, of which Global Infrastructure Partners is the largest shareholder.
SOURCE: Gatwick
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