Airport warns of rogue car parking firms

Gatwick Airport bosses are warning that rogue parking firms are continuing to operate in its car parks with the number of complaints nearly doubling over two years.

A BBC investigation found holidaymakers having long waits for their cars, some of which were damaged, at the hands of third party car parking operators.

Trading Standards statistics show that 130 customers reported issues with car parking companies at the West Sussex airport in 2024, up from 73 in 2022.

Oliver Bedford, car parking director at Gatwick Airport, urged passengers to be vigilant when booking ahead of the busy Easter and summer period, adding the airport was "taking steps to combat this".

Mr Bedford said: "The challenge we have is that these operators can operate in the airport as long as they don't break any of our bylaws.

"Although they may have Gatwick in their name there's no association between those operators and the airport."

He said some operators opened up over peak holiday periods, and then closed down.

Mr Bedford added that an operation with Sussex Police to clamp down on the car parking companies had recently seen two arrests made.

A spokesperson for West Sussex Trading Standards, said in extreme cases cars were being "left in fields and on local highways".

Mr Bedford said passengers should look for the ParkMark - an accreditation mark issued by the British Parking Association, as well as Trading Standards information to ensure that the businesses they use are legitimate.

He added that customers could also look for independent reviews online, and be wary of prices which are "too good to be true".

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