Family fuming as firm 'loses' car at airport

A FURIOUS Oldham family have told how their "amazing" holiday in Crete ended in Greek tragedy thanks to the bungling incompetence of a heartless airport parking firm.

Teresa Trenell, her partner Kavan Simmonds and nine-year-old daughter, Kiara Tomoye, were left stranded outside Manchester Airport in the early hours of the morning for four hours as part of an incredulous saga during which their car was "lost", police had to intervene and they're now almost £300 out of pocket.

Upset and angry Teresa approached the Chronicle in desperate attemptto resolve the family's appalling airport parking experience and warn others not to use the firm which she booked for £45 through a deal on Wowcher.

After landing at Manchester Airport at 2am, on July 30, they called "A Meet and Greet" parking service to arrange for their Kia Picanto to be returned so they could head to their Greenacres home.

But what followed, says Teresa, was hours of lies, fob-offs, verbal abuse and trauma which ended with them having to collect their car themselves from A Meet and Greet's Wilmslow depot.

"We called A Meet and Greet after we'd collected our baggage and we were told it would take 20 minutes or so for our car to be returned," said school administrator Teresa (29).

"We'd actually landed an hour early and were looking forward to getting the car, calling at Tesco to get some food for breakfast and getting home. Everything had gone so smoothly and we'd had a great family holiday.

"They told us to wait at the drop off/pick up point outside. We were freezing cold and we didn't have any coats but we just thought they wouldn't be long.

"Half an hour later no sign of the car so we called again and were told they were trying to find the key, it would be 10 minutes. Forty-five minutes later still no car. They said they were trying to contact the driver and he wasn't answering his phone so he must be on his way.

"Every time we called we were just told something else and I was getting more and more worried and thought this just can't be happening.

"After two hours they must have changed shift and we realised we'd just been fobbed off. The next person on shift was really rude to us and said, 'I'm sick of this, I'm not dealing with it,' and put the phone down and no one answered for an hour!

Distraught

"I called the police but they said they couldn't do anything because they hadn't refused to give us our car back. They said they'd had a lot of calls about these meet and greet companies."

Three hours later the distraught couple finally managed to speak to the owner of the company, Marcus O'Hara, who told them they couldn't find their car but he would pick them up himself if the issue couldn't be resolved. "He said they couldn't find my car but as it was getting light they would have another look," said Teresa.

"We were gobsmacked they'd lost the car. If they'd said that in the first place we would have got a taxi home and resolved it from there. Kavan was so angry, I was just in tears.

"We were tired and freezing cold and just didn't know what to do next.

"He rang back an hour later and said, 'Are you sure you booked it with us?'. He said to ring other firms to see if they had it and there was nothing more he could do! I was in shock. I said should I call the police and report it stolen and he said, 'yes'."

Teresa then spoke to Manchester Airport Police who checked CCTV of their arrival at the airport which showed them handing their keys over to an A Meet and Greet driver.

They said they'd had numerous complaints about these firms in recent weeks and would deal with the owner on their behalf.

Believing the drama would now be resolved, they took a taxi home.

"We put Kiara to bed but we couldn't sleep," added Teresa. "At 8am police rang to say Marcus O'Hara admitted they had the car, the person who picked it up from us had just come on shift, and the police told them to return the car, reimburse our taxi fare and offer us compensation. We thought the nightmare was finally over."

Little did they know another was just beginning and five hours later there was no sign of their car.

They rang A Meet and greet yet again only to be told by a "laughing" Mr O'Hara that they had now lost the keys. "He told us they couldn't find the keys and was actually laughing when he said: 'This nightmare never stops does it?'!

"He asked if we had a spare key and said we could come down and find it ourselves if we wanted.

"I was fuming and said there was no way I was driving all the way to Wilmslow but Kavan convinced me to go saying we'd never get the car if we didn't. We'd still not slept or eaten by this time.

"We had to get a friend to take us. When we arrived Marcus O'Hara was there on the phone but as soon as he saw us he jumped in his car and drove off.

"He left us with this scruffy-looking guy who took us to this muddy gravel pit yard behind a garden centre in Altrincham Road. You've never seen anything like it . There were hundreds of cars ­- some expensive, top of the range ones ­- parked just centimetres away from each other with their bumpers touching.

"I spotted my car but I could see it wasn't going anywhere. It was eight cars deep. We were taken to a Portacabin where keys were kept and there were hundreds of keys on the floor and lying around everywhere. We didn't know where to start, they were in no order at all.

"The guy suggested we look under our car as sometimes they get left there. There were keys on car roofs or in ignitions.

Scratched

"After an hour and a half we gave up looking and told him we just wanted our car. He told Kavan he could move the others himself if he wanted to but there's no way we would've driven someone else's car and asked him to do it. As he was moving mine he scratched it on a Range Rover. He used his sleeve to rub the blue paint off my bumper but I was more concerned about the Range Rover. He said don't worry we'll just T-cut it. We do it all the time!"

Teresa is still without her key which will cost £220 to replace and says she hasn't received an apology let alone being reimbursed for the taxi fare. She's pursuing a refund through Wowcher and has reported A Meet and Greet to Manchester trading standards.

The Chronicle approached Mr O'Hara for a response to the claims but he refused to speak to us.