Car crash meant airport parking wasn’t used, but we were still charged

I BOOKED short stay parking with Heathrow’s Official Airport Car Parking for £106. However, on the way to the airport, we were involved in a road accident, for which I wasn’t to blame.

Our car was written off and we ended up back home. British Airways moved us on to a later flight with no charge and we paid £60 for bus tickets to and from the airport.

But, when I contacted Heathrow to ask for a refund of the car park booking, I was advised to ask my insurer, as they didn’t think they could help.

My insurer, Post Office, said it could help only with the bus tickets, not the parking.

After the excess is taken off, we’ll get just £10 back. I still feel Heathrow could have been more helpful. G. W., Oxford. i ToTally agree — i, too, found Heathrow Parking unhelpful. in a statement, it said: ‘unfortunately, we were not made aware of this issue until the passenger returned from holiday, so we were unable to offer a refund in this instance.

‘We encourage all passengers to get in touch with us immediately and we will do everything we can to cancel or amend a booking.’

it referred me to its terms and conditions, which say: ‘ you can cancel a car parking booking up to 24 hours before your time of arrival to the car park using the online booking feature.

‘you will qualify for a full refund, as long as we receive notification of your cancellation in time.’

if there are problems on the day, it adds: ‘it depends on the particular circumstances, but you should call lHr airports on 0344 335 1000 and we’ll do everything we can to help.’

other terms and conditions say the airport must receive notice of your cancellation at least two hours before car park entry.

But when were you supposed to go online or call Heathrow? When you were at the roadside, in shock, straight after the accident?

you had enough to worry about — sorting out your car, alternative travel to the airport and a new flight time — so it’s hardly surprising if it slipped your mind.

i think, in these circumstances, phoning when you got back from holiday was reasonable, however Heathrow Parking disagrees.

Clearly, it has an inflated sense of its own importance.

i was also surprised Post office turned down your insurance claim. it confirmed your policy covered your travel to the airport following the accident and that, if you had needed to rebook the flight, the insurance would have also covered this.

But there is good news. a spokesman says: ‘ although we were surprised to hear the car park will not be refunding our customer, we have reviewed this case and are happy to cover this irrecoverable cost as a gesture of goodwill, especially given the unfortunate and stressful circumstances.’

So, full marks to Post office for coming up trumps — and zero to Heathrow for its thoroughly intransigent attitude. I RECEIVED a letter from my phone company, saying it was sorry to hear that I was leaving.

When I queried this, it said there was nothing it could do, as another provider had requested a transfer of my services. I then lost telephone and broadband for a short period and was surprised to receive a TalkTalk router.

I have contacted TalkTalk nine times, only to be told no record can be found because it has no customer number for me.

I have now been reconnected with my original provider, but TalkTalk has gone into overdrive, sending letters saying that I owe it a £21.84 set-up fee. M. R., Arbroath, Angus. THiS is strange. on February 15, TalkTalk received an order via a store. Then, on February 26, you contacted it saying you hadn’t made the order and your mobile phone had been hacked. you were advised to contact your bank to be sure your details were safe.

The services were disconnected on March 26, but TalkTalk wrongly left charges outstanding on your account, which then prompted the debt collection activity.

on May 24, you faced further frustration when you contacted TalkTalk, but could not pass data protection checks — obviously, this was because you hadn’t set up the account in the first place.

on July 12, the case moved to its fraud team. Finally, you contacted me. now, the balance has been cleared and the negative mark removed from your credit file.

a TalkTalk spokesman says: ‘We apologise for the problems Mr r experienced. We removed the charges and negative markers and he is satisfied with the outcome.’