Airport parking - late arrival surcharge

Kip65 · 23 September 2014 at 9:43PM

Hello. I booked 15 days of airport parking (meet and greet) via an online comparison agent. I chose a cheap one and booked it. The confirmation I received was from the agent. In the small print it mentioned a £10 surcharge over Christmas. There is also some small print saying the company is only an agent and that you are subject to the car parks own T&C's but no mention of what they might be or where to find them.

Anyway as I turned up at the airport and was met and greeted, the driver eagerly circled a section on their paperwork saying that there was a £10 surcharge if I got back after 00.20 am (my flight was due in at 11pm, so this was a bit of a worry - had I known I wouldn't have booked this car park.

Sure enough my flight was delayed and I was met and greeted at about 1am. The driver told me I had to pay £10 cash before I could have my keys. I insisted on a receipt (that he didn't have) and after being held up for about 15 minutes due to phone calls they arranged a receipt.

Do I have any legal grounds for a complaint? First off I wasn't made aware of the car parks t&c's , secondly can a car park hold your car hostage until you pay the fine? Also can they charge so much? I paid under £5 a day for car parking, so a £10 charge was equivalent to over 2 days car parking for being 40 minutes beyond their 00.20 cut off?

Any help appreciated.

Coupon-mad · 23 September 2014 at 9:46PM

I would complain via the booking website if you went via Booking.com or Purple Parking, etc. And put a complaint on TripAdvisor right now, you should find them on that website so you can add a bad review. Also see if the firm has its own Facebook page or Twitter and use social media to your advantage by complaining publicly.