AN AIRPORT parking firm that guarantees safe and secure bays is actually dumping cars on roadsides.
Customers are promised their vehicle will be kept in one of three off-site car parks around Heathrow Airport, all of which are said to have CCTV.
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But a Sun investigation has revealed that A2Z Airport Parking is taking holidaymakers’ cars and leaving hundreds of them on a residential road near Heathrow.
Locals and nearby businesses have been left fuming as vehicles are parked in spaces outside their buildings.
Our Sun reporter paid £56 through A2Z for Kangaroo Parking to leave his Vauxhall Adam in their “secure” compound from Friday to Sunday.
He also had to pay a £6 charge to get into the airport’s short stay car park to drop off the car, and then £6 to get it out again on his return.
There was also a £10 amendment fee when he picked the car up a couple of hours early.
The extra charges took the total cost to £78.
But an Apple AirTag tracker hidden in the vehicle showed it stayed in the airport car park for just a couple of hours.
It was then driven one mile to a street immediately off a dual carriageway, which had parking restrictions from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm.
The valet left the car on this unsecured road, which had no cameras, for free while our reporter was “abroad”.
Buses went down the street and cars were seen speeding past our reporter’s Vauxhall as they came off the carriageway.
We also saw parking valets leaving posh cars on a lay-by off another dual carriageway.
A2Z, which finds the best deal from rival firms, repeatedly told us when booking that the car would be left in a secure location.
The representative avoided questions about where that was on three separate occasions, instead just telling us it was “within a five-mile radius of the airport”.
When we arrived at the airport to drop off the car, a Kangaroo Parking representative said they keep cars in a compound near Terminal Four, but they have two other car parks if there is overspill.
When asked if it was secure, he said: “Yes.” When asked if there was CCTV, he said: “Yes.”
When we picked up the car and showed proof it had been left on a residential road, the agency driver tried to claim it had only just been moved there to bring it closer.
Local resident Lucy Jones, 36, said: “It’s disgraceful. The road gets busier on a Friday afternoon when the restrictions end. It’s very frustrating.”
And David Murray, 50, added: “We can’t park on this road after 6pm on a Friday. People can’t get their cars in.”
A pre-booking at Heathrow’s secure business long-stay parking would have cost just over £90 for the same period.
A2Z and Kangaroo Parking are not endorsed by Heathrow Airport, which encourages travellers to use its own official parking spaces.
Heathrow Airport declined to comment.
When The Sun rang Kangaroo Parking for a comment, a representative insisted they keep cars in compounds.
Asked in what circumstances they would leave cars on the road, he insisted: “We don’t leave cars on the side of the road.”
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