Airport travellers hit with £33,000 of fines after car park workers ‘put their motors in council pay-and-display spaces’
Holidaymakers paid car valeting firms to look after their cars but returned home to find thousands in fines
AIRPORT travellers have been hit with £33,000 fines after parking workers put their motors in pay-and-display spaces.
Around 275 vehicles were left ticketless in two car parks five miles from Heathrow.
Easter holidaymakers had paid up to £150 a week to car valeting firms to park their motors. But they returned to find they had been hit with £60 fines.
The penalty rises to £120 if not paid within a month. A shopper who saw the vehicles in one car park said: “Some had five parking tickets plastered on their windscreens.
"I looked through one of the windows and there was a receipt on the seat for Terminal 2.”
A council spokesman said: “We are aware of reports that some vehicles were parked in the car parks by a Heathrow parking company and not the vehicle owners.
“Our trading standards team has launched an investigation.”
Officials at Heathrow said: “We are working with the Met Police and the local community to investigate this further. We encourage passengers to use parking services which are British Parking Association accredited.”
One company, Connect Parking, based behind a lap dancing club in Colnbrook, Berks, admitted putting some vehicles in the car parks in Yiewsley and West Drayton.
Boss Tahir Zama said: “Only five of the cars belonged to us.
“What happened was the drivers left the cars, went for lunch and then got the tickets. The company contacted the council to pay the tickets.”