Holidaymaker’s fight for ‘lost key’ compensation
HOLIDAYMAKER Neil Shepherd says he was among the last customers to be let down by Cheshire Meet and Greet – and he’s still battling for compensation.
The delivery driver from Stretford landed at Manchester Airport and says he returned to find the firm had lost his car key.
He had booked Cheshire Meet and Greet so his father-in-law, an amputee, could have the easiest possible journey from Tenerife.
They paid £49 for the service via Groupon, and the parking firm were at the airport ready to take the car at Departures.
However, when Neil, his wife Vanessa and her father Edward Smith were preparing to leave Tenerife after a 12-day break, he says they received a call from parking staff saying they had lost the key to his Mercedes ML270.
It meant that when the family arrived into Manchester at 11.30pm, they had to be picked up and taken home by parking firm staff, who arrived more than an hour late in a ‘scruffy car that looked like a customer’s’.
Ian then picked up a spare key from home before returning to Lymm to pick up his car, eventually arriving back home at 3.30am.
But despite battling since last September for the firm to pay for a replacement key, Neil says that Cheshire Meet and Greet have failed to compensate them.
Neil, 55, said: “I was appalled by this.
“This meant that my father-in-law, who we were planning to take home to Formby, had to stay at our house without the disability access he needs.
“The fact the firm lost my key and won’t replace it is also shocking.”
When Neil asked for a refund and a replacement key, he says that a staff member told him the key ‘may turn up’.
A month later, Neil tried again to get compensation.
This time, a locksmith sent out by the firm said it would not be possible to replace the key with an electric fob.
But when Neil found his own locksmith who said it was possible, he claims Cheshire Meet and Greet refused to co-operate.
Even though the firm has now ceased trading, Neil has continued his battle for compensation. The M.E.N. has seen an email exchange between Neil and the company.
In it, Neil was told his ordeal was a ‘nightmare for them also’ and that his ‘attitude stinks’.
Neil added: “We had booked the service so my father-in-law could travel in dignity. The exact opposite happened.”
The M.E.N. tried to get a response from Cheshire Meet and Greet about Mr Shepherd’s ordeal.
Our reporter was told to ‘f*** off’ and labelled a ‘tramp’.
An email read: “Here’s one for you f*** off.”
A follow-up message said: “Manchester Evening News, go and report some news you pathetic journalist the company no longer in business because of little tramps like you.”