Car Parking Firm Goes Bust at Gatwick Airport
Families returning from their holidays have been left stranded after a company they left their cars with did not show up. A number of passengers reportedly flew back to the UK after booking their cars in the care of Gatwick First Parking. However it soon became apparent that the company, which has nothing to do with Gatwick Airport, has now stopped trading. Sussex Police has since helped to return more than 100 abandoned vehicles to their owners after finding the company office at an address in Surrey. Roughly 120 vehicles across sites in Surrey and Sussex have been located, but there are still around 30 sets of keys to vehicles which have not yet been located. Because this is a civil matter Sussex Police had no control to seize the keys, but made lots of enquiries to contact the landowners and partner agencies. These landowners were assisted by third parties, making it possible to contact the passengers to collect their cars. Sergeant Darren Taylor, of the Gatwick Policing Team, said: “It’s essential that Gatwick Airport passengers use official on-airport parking, or companies registered with Gatwick’s off-airport approved parking operators scheme only, to avoid this sort of thing from happening. “We’re carrying out further enquiries to locate the outstanding vehicles, and the owners of those vehicles will be contacted and kept up to date. Our priority is to find and return their vehicles to them as soon as we possibly can. “We’re also extremely grateful to everyone who has assisted us in contacting passengers to reunite them with their vehicles. Without their support, we would have had a far harder task.”
