Airport valet parking company ‘left unlocked cars in muddy field’
An airport valet parking service left hundreds of customers’ cars in a muddy field with their doors unlocked and windows open, it has been claimed in court.
Prosecutors claimed London Parking Gatwick advertised that vehicles would be kept in a secure compound but in fact they were driven to a field with a gate but no padlock.
Officers from Trading Standards, which is bringing the case against London Parking Gatwick and owner Asad Bashir Malik, made a test purchase with the firm and placed a tracker in their vehicle, which indicated it had been kept in the field near Crawley.
When officers visited the site, they found hundreds of other vehicles, some of which had plastic wallets attached to the cars containing the vehicles’ keys. Some car windows were open and their doors weren’t locked, claimed the prosecution.
There was no CCTV and inside a caravan officers found boxes containing more keys, according to the prosecution’s lawyer Richard Heller.
London Parking Gatwick and Malik are deny the charges of fraudulent trading being brought against them. The case continues at Brighton Crown Court.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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