Meet and Greet Parking
Watchdog heard from several customers who had booked their cars with airport meet and greet parking services, while they were on holiday and had encountered problems on their return.
Paul used comparison site EZY Book to find a good deal that he hoped would keep his car safe while he went on a trip to Miami to celebrate his 60th birthday in March 2023. He flew from Heathrow and paid £86.49 for 18 days.
Three months after making the booking, Paul received an email from EZY Book which stated that his supplier had changed to My Parking Limited but, as the rest of the details appeared to stay the same, he was unconcerned.
On the day of his outbound flight, Paul had a call from a meet and greet driver to check his details, and called the same number when he arrived at the airport to hand over his car. But when Paul returned to the UK, the driver told him that there was a problem with his car, and he’d need to get a taxi to the address where it was parked to collect it.
Paul says he felt let down because he expected the meet and greet service would meet him at the airport with his keys and car, but nevertheless, he got a taxi to the address he was given and found his car it on a residential street with the key left on the rear wheel. It was very dirty, there were scratches on the back, and around 2,500 to 3,000 more miles on the clock than when he dropped it off.
And there were more nasty surprises when he got home. Paul received a parking charge, a Dartford Crossing charge and a London congestion zone charge – totalling £255. All of which occurred after Paul had dropped the car off with the driver at Heathrow.
Watchdog also heard from customers who’d had problems with meet and greet services at Gatwick airport – in particular, 365 Valet Ltd. They experienced long waiting times when collecting their vehicles, cars which had been left in short stay airport car parks which had accrued parking charges on top of the fee the customers had already paid to 365 Valet Ltd, customers waiting so long they felt they had no choice but to travel home by other methods of transport and come back to the airport at a later date to collect their car, and one customer who was told that the company had lost the car key and didn’t tell her where her car was parked. She finally found it herself thirteen days later.
Gatwick Airport’s chief commercial officer told Watchdog that Gatwick had seen a 164% rise in complaints regarding meet and greet companies between May and October 2022, compared to the same period pre-COVID.
He told Watchdog that the introduction of the British Parking Association’s code of conduct later in 2023, should mean that passengers can see a list of reputable meet and greet providers on Gatwick Airport’s website, as well as other airports’ websites. However, that new code will likely not be enforced until after the main summer period, so he told Watchdog that the best thing that passengers can do until then, is to research on the company online before booking.
EZY Book told Watchdog:
Paul had originally booked with another meet and greet service, but due to customer complaints, that provider was removed from its website, so Paul’s booking was moved to another provider called Heathrow Parking Spoz - Meet and Greet, run by My Parking Limited. EZY Book says that it:
“Updated Paul on call on the same day which he agreed but on March 20, 2023 he handover the car to some other service provider without confirming the driver number as that number was also not in the booking confirmation email. When he received call from Heathrow Parking Spotz - Meet and Greet driver Paul said he already handed over the car to some other service provider and Paul did not take any docket from the service provider.
“Heathrow Parking Spotz - Meet and Greet is the name of their service and the company name is My Parking Limited.
“We are booking agents and don’t provide parking services ourselves.
“There is no ‘someone’ in our company who would have driven any customer vehicle. Parking services are provided by independent car parking companies.”
Ezybook also told us that if a service provider is subject to customer complaints, it ends its contract with the provider, removes it from its website and where appropriate, makes a report to the police.
My Parking Limited told Watchdog:
“The booking was originally with another company and was forwarded to us by EZY book, however customer never called us to drop off his vehicle.
“Only the Customer can explain that who collected his car.
“As far as we are concerned, we contacted the customer via email and phone and explained them to discuss the matter with ‘EZYbook’ or the company who provided them service.
“I believe the best people to answer about the company and booking are the ‘customer’ and ‘EZYbook’.
“But we did not collected/dropped this vehicle.”
Watchdog also contacted 365 Valet Limited, but it did not respond.
