Holidaymakers’ vehicles wrecked in airport car park blaze
More than a dozen holidaymakers who parked at a low-cost car park near Edinburgh Airport are being contacted abroad to be told their vehicles are burnt out wrecks.
A total of 18 cars suffered extensive damage when a fire swept through the long-stay car park at Newbridge in the early hours of Friday, April 25.
Holiday Extras, an intermediary that sells discounted parking at airports across the UK, confirmed 13 of the damaged vehicles were owned by its customers, who are being notified of the damage ahead of their return to the UK.
Operations director Howard Dove said those affected would be met at the car park and driven home.
The company said customers would also be advised about how to deal with their insurance claims and how to get immediate access to a courtesy car.
Where necessary, this will be facilitated by Holiday Extras, at no charge, he said.
"We are very distressed to hear about this freak fire and would like to re-assure our customers that we will provide all possible support in these most upsetting circumstances," said Dove.
"We will be contacting all those customers who have been affected to ensure that the transition to normality is as easy as possible."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but is believed to be the result of a freak electrical fault in one of the parked cars.
Dove said the majority of those customers affected were still on holiday – only four have already returned – and the company was delaying contacting them until a couple of days before their return "to avoid spoiling their holiday".
Some return on May 1 and 2 and the last one is due back on the morning of May 3.
The car park is operated by Flying Scott and insured by Aviva who, Dove said, would pick up the bill for the damage to the vehicles. "Our customers will have absolutely not costs whatsoever," he said. "They will need to inform their insurers but we will be making it all as easy as possible for them."
Dove said the incident, though rare, was not unheard of. "I am aware of a couple of occurances like this in the past 15 years, the last one about eight years ago," he said.
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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