Meet-and-greet rogues driven out
DOZENS OF COMPLAINTS FROM AIRPORT PASSENGERS
A ‘ROGUE’ meet-and-greet car park near Manchester Airport has been shut down after a police crackdown.
Two sites in Styal were targeted in an operation this summer after a wave of complaints. Holidaymakers had often found the firms through online comparison sites, giving the impression that they are booking with professional, secure airport parking linked to the airport, Cheshire Police say.
Cheshire Constabulary led Operation Cicero, as part of a multi-agency purge against rogue airport meet-and-greet car parking firms. In June, it resulted in two people being arrested.
Officers swooped on two sites in Styal, just three miles from the airport, after 55 complaints in just six
months. They included reports of cars being stolen, damaged and even driven thousands of miles. Many of the complaints related to a makeshift car park which had been set up in the grounds of a former country house at Lode Hill.
Fifty police and council officers attended the site on June 21. They included officers from both Cheshire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police.
Following the operation, officers have continued to work closely with their partners to explore what action could be taken. As part of this, the force has been in liaison with the owner of the Lode Hill site, who had agreed to remove the current tenants, meaning that the car park operating at the site will be permanently closed.
Inspector Andrew Baker,of Macclesfield Local Policing Unit, said: “This is an absolutely fantastic result both for holidaymakers and for the local community, and I would like to thank the owner of this site for their co-operation.”
A Manchester Airport spokesperson added: “We are grateful to Cheshire Constabulary and its partner agencies for the work they are doing to tackle this issue and will continue to work with them to raise awareness of the risks posed by booking airport parking through these unscrupulous companies.”