Gatwick Airport has stepped up its fight against rogue meet-and-greet parking firms after a multi-agency operation uncovered around 150 cars dumped bumper-to-bumper next to a scrapyard, roughly four miles from the terminal.
The joint operation, involving Gatwick Airport, West Sussex Trading Standards and Sussex Police, went looking for fraudulent parking services after a string of complaints from holidaymakers who’d paid for what they thought was “premium parking” close to the airport. Instead, many found their cars had been left in poor conditions at unofficial sites, with some drivers even returning to find their vehicles dumped in fields or left on local roads.
It’s not just poor storage causing problems either. Some customers have come home from their trips to discover their car had simply been left in Gatwick’s short stay car park the whole time, landing them with an unexpected parking fine on top of whatever they’d already paid the rogue firm.
One holidaymaker, Dani, needed police help to track down her car after a parking company failed to return it following a trip to Italy. When she finally got it back, she found it filthy inside and out, with items missing from the glove box. Thankfully the car itself wasn’t damaged and she avoided a fine, but she said she knew plenty of other people who hadn’t been so lucky.
Oliver Bedford, Gatwick’s Director of Airport Access, Marketing and Commercial Products, described the state and placement of the vehicles as “shocking” given the impact on passengers. He confirmed the airport is continuing to work with Trading Standards and police to root out the rogue operators, and urged travellers to be cautious with any parking deal that sounds too good to be true.
The numbers back up the growing concern. West Sussex Trading Standards received 130 complaints about car parking companies serving Gatwick in 2024, nearly double the 73 recorded in 2022.
For drivers who work the airport run regularly, this is a useful reminder to steer clear of unofficial “meet and greet” outfits when dropping off or collecting your own vehicle. If you’re looking for a properly licensed transfer instead of gambling on a dodgy parking deal, DM Airport Transfers offers a reliable alternative for getting to and from Gatwick and other UK airports.
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Sources:
BBC News (via Yahoo News) — Investigators tackle rogue Gatwick parking firms
More Radio — Crackdown On Rogue Airport Parking Operators Near Gatwick
