Meet and greet airport parking - how safe?

[andyA700]

Is this a case of cloned plates, or given the pictures, a clear case of the meet and greet team having fun with someone's car? I know what I think.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/couple-s-car...

[wiliferus]

And that is why when parking at airports I only use the ones where you park your own car, lock it up and take the keys with you.

[CraigyMc]

andyA700 said:

Is this a case of cloned plates, or given the pictures, a clear case of the meet and greet team having fun with someone's car? I know what I think.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/couple-s-car...

Daily fail masquerading as msn.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

Police are looking for two school aged white males and one white female.

[Muzzer79]

As I understand it, Manchester Airport's initial investigation has indicated that the couple's car never left the compound and the keys were securely locked away.

So, it points to a cloned car, which doesn't stop the media desperately trying to intimate it's a couple of people from the parking company doing joyrides.

This was the top story on the Wail website this morning. Must be a slow news day.......

[CharlieCrocodile]

I've never had a problem with it, always used the official ones at heathrow & gatwick. Yes you pay more, but you get what you pay for.

[Dog Star]

dibbers006 said:

Absolutely never use valet parking. The st they get up to is unreal.

If you give even one st about your car, park and lock it yourself.

I used to use the Manchester Airport meet and greet (the "proper" one). Parking the car in a carpark yourself is all well and good, but so are thousands of other buggers and that means you're potentially coming back to scrapes and dings in your doors. No thanks.

In my case it's a moot point, and would imagine it's similar for a lot of people who live up to 50 miles away; the parking is now so expensive it's just as easy to get a local taxi and have them pick you up on your return. Also means you can have a drink on the return flight.

[craig1912]

Stopped using it when the tracker in my car recorded my it doing 95mph on the M25 whilst I was away. Reported it and got my money back and valet. It was a company car so wasn’t that bothered but would never let them have my own car.

[Nickbrapp]

Piss poor writing from the daily Mail, it doesn’t mention how much the car cost, or how many BHP it has, nor how much their house is worth!

Simple but very important things for them surely

[Vixpy1]

Nickbrapp said:

Piss poor writing from the daily Mail, it doesn’t mention how much the car cost, or how many BHP it has, nor how much their house is worth!

Simple but very important things for them surely

Its a story about the North, the average Daily Mail ready will assume these values to be so low as to be not worth reporting

[Alorotom]

Ive used Meet and Greet in lots of airports across the UK and never had any issue at all - normally the car records less than a mile being driven and the service convenience is great.

I always book the official airport licensed meet and greet.

[Hol]

Dog Star said:

dibbers006 said:

Absolutely never use valet parking. The st they get up to is unreal.

If you give even one st about your car, park and lock it yourself.

I used to use the Manchester Airport meet and greet (the "proper" one). Parking the car in a carpark yourself is all well and good, but so are thousands of other buggers and that means you're potentially coming back to scrapes and dings in your doors. No thanks.

In my case it's a moot point, and would imagine it's similar for a lot of people who live up to 50 miles away; the parking is now so expensive it's just as easy to get a local taxi and have them pick you up on your return. Also means you can have a drink on the return flight.

The cars either side of you aren’t likely to change more than once in a two week stint, as they typically cycle through the parking zones, so that they fill and empty in turn.

It’s not usual to find that the same cars are parked nearby when I come home. Although when I arrive, I do a circle around the currently open zone for a few minutes to find an end of row or wider that normal space.

Given the choice, I will usually get a taxi anyway.

Edited by Hol on Monday 22 August 10:23

[z4RRSchris]

My RRS was damaged at heathrow T5 official valet. It had obviously been parked in a field and they had damaged the side skirt. To be fair they paid up quickly.

[BS62]

I've used it but only with company cars. It's probably very safe, and we've never had an issues (car is always back as expected, with the correct amount of fuel and mileage), but I'd be far less comfy handing over my own car and wouldn't use it for that.

The "news" article (if you can use that word for anything from the Daily Heil) is either cloned plates or the parking company telling porkies.

[Reginald Molehusband]

I've used Manchester's official meet and greet a couple of times now with nothing but a good service.

I prefer that to hunting for a space in a multi storey. Those spaces are always very tight and I can imagine the tired returnees either side scraping their suitcases down my car and dinging doors.

It's a 510bhp Jaguar but I doubt very much that an an employee would risk his job for a joyride. How does he know what tech I've got fitted to monitor its use?

[CraigyMc]

Reginald Molehusband said:

I've used Manchester's official meet and greet a couple of times now with nothing but a good service.

I prefer that to hunting for a space in a multi storey. Those spaces are always very tight and I can imagine the tired returnees either side scraping their suitcases down my car and dinging doors.

It's a 510bhp Jaguar but I doubt very much that an an employee would risk his job for a joyride. How does he know what tech I've got fitted to monitor its use?

He has nothing at all to lose. You do.

[Mr Squarekins]

Just Uber to the airport. Not cheap, but neither is parking.

Zero door dings, scrapes or worry.

Or go Emirates business and get free chauffeur pick up

[CraigyMc]

Mr Squarekins said:

Just Uber to the airport. Not cheap, but neither is parking.

Zero door dings, scrapes or worry.

Or go Emirates business and get free chauffeur pick up

I st you not, I always go in a limo. It's usually a lwb S-class.

The price difference between that and a normal taxi isn't very big, and it's a nice way to start and end a journey.

Edited to add: I won't park in long stay any more, since the time I left my car at Heathrow business T2 and came back to find it plastered in deicer from the wings of whatever was taking off using 27R.

Edited for speeeeling

Edited by CraigyMc on Tuesday 23 August 14:41

[twing]

Only ever use local hotels to stay in the night before flying. Park up in their car park and leave it for the duration, keys safely in my pocket.

[gotoPzero]

Given the area around the airport is covered in ANPR cameras I expect they boys in blue will find out pretty quickly if it was their car or not.