Gatwick First Parking gone bust, cars missing.

Gatwick First Parking gone bust, cars missing.

Author
Discussion

Cold

Original Poster:

15,207 posts

89 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Meet and greet car parking firm Gatwick First have gone phut which is unfortunate for the employees, but more worryingly some customers are having trouble either reclaiming their cars or actually locating their cars once they've they flown back to the airport. Around 120 vehicles have been found at numerous sites in the Sussex and Surrey areas.
Up to thirty cars are reported as being "missing" although the keys are on site. The police don't appear to have powers to seize the keys, but the landowner has been contacted.

BBC news link

stitched

3,813 posts

172 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Think this is the right firm?
Still showing as actively trading, already bust once in a different name though.

Umar IRS----


Date of birth
October 1985

TOTAL AIRPORT PARKING LTD (08937453)

Company status
Liquidation

Correspondence address
Allen House, 1 Westmead Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 4LA

Role
Director

Appointed on
1 July 2016

Nationality
Pakistani

Country of residence
England

Occupation
Company Director

GATWICKFIRSTPARKING LTD (10200731)

Company status
Active

Correspondence address
40 B, High Street, Horley, England, RH6 7BB

Role Active
Director

Appointed on
26 May 2016

Nationality
Pakistani

Country of residence
England

Occupation
Business

LINEWATCH SECURITY LIMITED (08844875)

Company status
Active

Correspondence address
49 Shirley Road, Manchester, England, M8 0WB

Role Resigned
Director

Appointed on
1 September 2015

Resigned on
18 August 2016

Nationality
Pakistani

Country of residence
England

Occupation
Company Director


stitched

3,813 posts

172 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
LINEWATCH SECURITY LIMITED
Look interesting, active but dormant.
5 directors 3 Pakistani and 2 Indian which is mildly unusual. 4 resigned.

gert biggens

45 posts

93 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
So that airport parking thing turned out to be a blue chip investment, then?

sc0tt

18,032 posts

200 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Stansted one still alive? I am there next week.


Jonesy23

4,650 posts

135 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Doesn't this happen regularly?

If you deal with any of these parking companies - certainly around Gatwick - you'll probably find that the operator has had quite a few of these companies go down before, and that your car hasn't exactly been sitting quietly in a nice secure car park.

In fact I'd go so far as to say you'd be an idiot to think about using any of them given the long chain of stories about them.

If you're lucky you've rented a space in a field/vacant plot for a while. If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.

alangla

4,723 posts

180 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Maybe it's just my own personal paranoia, but when I've used airport parking I've deliberately picked places where I can park the car myself & retain the keys. In saying that, a previous place I used promised hard standing and the car ended up parked on grass in an overflow area. Wasn't impressed.

wiggy001

6,542 posts

270 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
alangla said:
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Maybe it's just my own personal paranoia, but when I've used airport parking I've deliberately picked places where I can park the car myself & retain the keys. In saying that, a previous place I used promised hard standing and the car ended up parked on grass in an overflow area. Wasn't impressed.
This always seems to be the cheapest option when I've booked too. No brainer for me.

garagewidow

1,502 posts

169 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Jonesy23 said:
Doesn't this happen regularly?

If you deal with any of these parking companies - certainly around Gatwick - you'll probably find that the operator has had quite a few of these companies go down before, and that your car hasn't exactly been sitting quietly in a nice secure car park.

In fact I'd go so far as to say you'd be an idiot to think about using any of them given the long chain of stories about them.

If you're lucky you've rented a space in a field/vacant plot for a while. If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
I work around the area of Stansted(though not in the actual airport grounds) from time to time and the amount of cars I stumble on all crammed into a muddy field or in an old farm building is alarming.


Ari

19,328 posts

214 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Really? Doing what?

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

188 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Ari said:
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Really? Doing what?

fido

16,752 posts

254 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Ari said:
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Really? Doing what?
Their employees 'company car' ..

bad company

18,484 posts

265 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Very sad but I've never understood why anybody would trust their cars to these dubious operators.

ALawson

7,814 posts

250 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
No issues with the Official Gatwick Parking Drop Off and its only a few quid more than these sharks!

I don't think I have ever seen more than 5 miles extra on the car.

underphil

1,245 posts

209 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Ari said:
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Really? Doing what?
..or just parked in the lay by outside my house!!

Supersam83

597 posts

144 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
I never use these drop off and go services. Always like to park the car myself and take the shuttle bus to the terminal and my keys with me.

I always imagine this to happen...




turbobloke

103,742 posts

259 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Ari said:
Jonesy23 said:
If you're unlucky your car will have seen a lot of action while you were away.
Really? Doing what?
After a number of online complaints that cars were being returned dirty, damaged or with too many miles on the clock, the MoS concealed GPS trackers in reporters’ cars before handing them over to three different parking companies operating at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports. Cars were left unattended at insecure locations including a parking area next to a strip club, a muddy field and on a crime-ridden residential street. Worse (?) still are instances of staff taking cars for joyrides. Dashcam footage caught out an airport parking company's driver who took a holidaymaker's car on a high-speed blast while he was overseas. The worker was clocked driving at almost twice the speed limit and overtaking three cars on a country lane during the joyride. In that instance the worker was suspended then dismissed and compesation was paid, but there will be many cases where there was no dashcam to record the action. At least the cam wasn't stolen!


Byker28i

58,831 posts

216 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Purple parking at Stanstead took the old mx-5 for a 125mile trip whilst I was away for the weekend, leaving it with no fuel for my return journey home, and also had the roof down as it wasn't secured correctly when I got back in.
That took a long time to resolve even after we'd provided the photo of it on it's travels. The wifes cousin had seen it in a Watford shopping centre. The staff member had just used it as his personal transport for the 4 days over the long weekend...

Nothingtoseehere

7,379 posts

153 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
bad company said:
Very sad but I've never understood why anybody would trust their cars to these dubious operators.
Nor me,just don't get it.

Alpacaman

917 posts

240 months

Wednesday 19th July 2017
quotequote all
Doesn't surprise me, I always remember getting back to the parking on the minibus and the driver handing back a pile of keys saying "are yours in there?" (Top security procedures) while I was checking a car smashed through the exit barrier next to us, pretty much writing the car off, then the driver leapt out and into the Impreza behind with his mate and shot off through the now destroyed barrier. One car stolen, one written off and a destroyed barrier and the minibus driver didn't even seem bothered.