A HOLIDAYMAKER was left perplexed and seriously out of pocket after paying £85 for an airport parking service that “didn’t exist”.
David Wright, 72, was set to make his regular trip to Limoges in France last month – until he was met with a nasty surprise.
To his horror, the retired researcher was told by staff at Leeds Bradford airport that the meet and greet service he’d booked through budget airline Ryanair didn’t actually exist.
David said: “We went to the meet & greet desk in the terminal and was told that they do not deal with Ryanair bookings.
“We searched for the service at Leeds Bradford Airport on my phone, and found a webpage saying that it service was not available.”
David, who was travelling with wife Angie, 73, say they were then forced to shell out an eye watering £229 to leave their Hyundai in the airport’s long-stay parking, ChronicleLive reported.
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This was despite the fact they had already shelled out £85.57 to Ryanair when they booked their flight to head out to their holiday home, which they visit around six times a year.
But the bizarre situation did not only catch the former Newcastle University worker out, as other passengers fell victim to the mess-up and had to pay a heavy price for it, too.
When David and his wife returned to their home near Durham, they desperately set about looking into the issue and trying to get their cash back.
It turned out that it was Looking4Parking that provided a separate meet and greet service to the airport, a system the couple were unfamiliar with as they usually fly from Manchester Airport.
He explained: “As we booked the flight and parking together with Ryanair, we assumed it would be a relatively simple matter to get a refund from Ryanair.
“But we were wrong and it proved to be quite difficult. I contacted both Ryanair and Looking4Parking but it took a while to get a response from either company.”
He is yet to receive his money back
A spokesman from Leeds Bradford Airport said it was aware of the issue with Ryanair booked parking, but was not affiliated with it.
They added: “Leeds Bradford Airport does not offer a parking service that entails dropping off a vehicle at the one-hour free parking zone and any company that is is not affiliated with the airport.”
A Ryanair spokesman said: “We apologise to this customer for this processing issue with Looking4Parking’ which has since been rectified, and a member of our customer services team has contacted him directly to arrange a refund.”
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The airline said that when it receives the Leeds Bradford Airport receipt, the airline would reimburse David his £229 fee for the long-stay parking.
The Sun Online have approached Looking4Parking for a comment.
