A holidaymaker has claimed he had his car “written off” after entrusting it to the Meet and Greet service at Manchester Airport. Ioan Williams, flew out from the airport on August 9 for a trip to Alicante with his children Ela and Sion, leaving his pristine white Range Rover in the care of the airport’s Meet and Greet service.
However, upon their return a week later, he was informed of an incident involving his vehicle. Expecting a minor issue, he was shocked to find the driver’s side wheel hanging off at an abnormal angle. The repair cost was quoted at £15,800 by insurers, effectively writing off the vehicle.
While both the airport and his own insurers are cooperating over the matter, Ioan expressed frustration at the lack of apology or compensation offer. He said: “I left the car with them on the 9th of August. This is the official meet and greet at Terminal 2 and a camera goes around your car before you get into the car park to assess if any previous damage.”
“My car didn’t even have as much as a scratch on it. I dropped my keys off inside the terminal where they gave me a receipt. We then went away on our holiday”, reports North Wales Live.
They returned at 1am on August 16. Ioan, 44, from near Caernarfon, said: “I went to get some coffee while my friends, who also parked there, went ahead of me. When I arrived at the pick-up for meet and greet, I saw my friends loading their luggage into their car. I went to scan my barcode to access my keys. But it said seek attention.”
Ioan shared his shocking experience, noting: “I instantly knew something was up and thought that my car had been stolen but he said one of ‘our drivers have kerbed your wheel’. I thought ‘oh god’ and said ‘I hope you’re going to paint it’.”
He continued with concern in his voice: “To which he replied ‘I think you need to have a look at it’. When we walked up to the car I noticed that the angle of the wheel wasn’t right and obviously been involved in a high impact and I stated this to him. He agreed and said that the driver has been dealt with but there weren’t any cameras in that area.”
The situation worsened as Ioan recounted: “The car was obviously not drivable as something had snapped. They paid for a taxi home for us and I had to leave the car there. I wasn’t home until 5am.”
He also mentioned dealing with the fallout: “The cost of the repair came up to £15,800 to fix, making the car a write-off. I loved that car, I bought it for myself for my 40th. Although I’ve been paid out for the car it’s not the point I didn’t want to get rid of it.”
Feeling let down by the lack of customer care, he added: “Manchester Airport refunded the £149.99 I paid to park there. But I haven’t had an apology email/letter from them or an offer of compensation whatsoever. I’m there quite often but I’ll never use their meet and greet service again.”
Manchester Airport said it was liaising with the customer and their insurers are working with the customer’s insurance company. It told North Wales Live it could not comment further on the specific case. They did mention that in these situations it was standard for an apology to be issued once the situation has been fully resolved.