After returning from his holiday, a man was shocked when he saw that his car was ‘written off’ after leaving it at the airport meet and greet.
Ioan Williams drove his white Range Rover to Manchester Airport on 9 August with his two children, Ela and Sion, as they were travelling to the popular Spanish holiday destination of Alicante.
The father left his Range Rover with the meet and greet service, and highlighted later that it ‘didn’t have a scratch on it’.
But to his dismay, just one week later, he arrived back to news that there was ‘an incident’, and while he expected to find something minor, he found that the driver’s side wheel was at a weird angle.
That doesn’t quite look right (Reach)
He explained: “I left the car with them on the ninth of August. This is the official meet and greet and Terminal 2 and a camera goes around your car before you get in to the car park to assess if (there’s) any previous damage.
“My car didn’t even have as much as a scratch on it. I dropped my keys off inside the terminal where they give me a receipt for. We then went away on our holiday.”
But on 16 August, Ioan landed back in Manchester at 1am, and was greeted by three men in a van who broke the bad news to him.
The 44-year-old said that upon landing, he went to get some coffee with some friends who had also parked at the meet and greet.
After scanning his barcode to access his keys, it read ‘seek attention’, and knowing that something wasn’t right, he thought the worst.
“I instantly knew something was u,p and thought that my car had been stolen but he said one of ‘our drivers have kerbed your wheel’. I thought ‘oh God’ and said ‘I hope you’re going to paint it’.”
Chillingly, the man replied: “I think you need to have a look at it,” and that’s when it really hit the fan.
Ioan revealed: “When we walked up to the car, I noticed that the angle of the wheel wasn’t right, and obviously been involved in a high impact and I stated this to him. He agreed and said that the driver has been dealt with but there weren’t any cameras in that area.”
Repairs would cost Ioan near £16,000 (Reach)
Noting that the car wasn’t drivable, the dad said that they paid for the family’s taxi as they had to leave the Range Rover behind, only getting home at 5am.
Despite Ioan revealing that he has been in discussions with his insurance company, who have been helpful, the cost of repairs essentially meant that his off-road car was a write-off at £15,800 in total.
Ioan added: “I loved that car, I bought it for myself for my 40th. Although I’ve been paid out for the car, it’s not the point, I didn’t want to get rid of it.”
“Manchester Airport refunded the £149.99 I paid to park there. But I haven’t had an apology email/letter from them or an offer of compensation whatsoever. I’m there quite often but I’ll never use their meet and greet service again,” he damningly stated.
Manchester Airport are currently in discussions with the customer, as their insurers are working to find a resolution with the customer’s insurance company.
They declined to comment to Reach on the specific case, but detailed that it was normal for an apology to be issued after the situation has been 100 percent resolved.
LADbible has reached out to Manchester Airport for comment, who said: “We can’t comment on specifics because it’s an ongoing process – it’s being handled by our insurers at the moment.
“We’ve been in touch with Mr Williams to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
Featured Image Credit: Reach
Joshua Nair
Company launches ‘game-changing’ product for your smartphone and 90s kids will love it
The service has received thousands of rave reviews
This article contains affiliate links and LADbible Group might make a commission on anything purchased.
If you grew up in the nineties, you’re sure to remember late nights spent whispering on the house phone, hoping your mum doesn’t listen in on the call. But with the arrival of shiny smartphones, we’ve slowly disconnected from the landline and swapped hour-long natters for communication by way of memes.
So, you can imagine how chuffed we were to learn that a tech company has launched a nostalgic product for your smartphone — and it’s perfect for small businesses and nineties kids alike.
Air Landline
With thousands of five-star reviews on Trustpilot, the unique service has been called ‘absolutely brilliant’ by customers who are thrilled with the ‘game-changing’ invention.
One happy customer wrote, “Does what it says on the tin” whilst another raved about the cost, commenting: “Cheap as chips”. A third agreed, simply writing: “Impressed with these guys.”
TikTok/@miss2005
The service, which is designed for small businesses, comes off the back of a recent resurgence of the landline phone on TikTok. Gen Z are of course the culprits behind the trend, proudly showcasing their ‘retro’ phones on the social media platform.
So, where can you get your hands on the landline number service everyone is talking about?
@woonteague
How does the landline service work?
- All you need to do is choose your local area code to create a new telephone number. If you’d prefer, you can sign up to a national 0330 number for the same price.
- Then, provide the company with the mobile number you’d like your new landline number to link up to. Your new number will arrive in your email inbox in minutes.
- Then, jump into your account, set up a welcome message (AI can even do this for you if you’re shy), choose hold music, and turn on call recording if this is a feature you’re interested in.
- If you don’t feel like talking, you can message mates using your new landline WhatsApp account at any time.
TikTok/@brooktheshopaholic
How much does it cost?
You can sign up to the service for free with a seven-day trial. This will give you access to everything from custom welcome messages and hold music to a personalised voicemail.
If you like your new landline number, it’s only £9.99 a month moving forward.
The best part? You don’t need a contract and can cancel at any time.
We hate to admit it, but this is a Gen Z trend we don’t mind getting on board with.
Visit the website to find out more.
Featured Image Credit: @miss2005/@ainomagdalena
Topics: Technology, Phones
Danielle Fowler
Disruption set to last ‘for days’ after burning car thought to have caused fireball through UK airport car park
Luton Airport has reopened but disruptions will last for a while yet
Flights have resumed at Luton Airport after a massive fire tore through the car park and destroyed pretty much everything there.
The blaze began on the evening of 10 October at Terminal Car Park 2, and videos showed flames tearing through the car park which had been constructed in 2019.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident at 9.38pm, explaining that they believed the blaze had been accidental.
Over 100 firefighters arrived to deal with the inferno and flights in and out of Luton Airport were halted to give crews time to get the situation under control.
At one point, a fireball was seen tearing through the car park, destroying hundreds of vehicles parked there.
PA
Although flights from Luton Airport have since resumed, with planes able to depart again since 3pm today (11 October), the disruption to passengers has been significant.
Thousands of journeys have been thrown into chaos with as many as 30,000 passengers affected by the inferno.
Many flights were diverted to airports in Cardiff, Manchester and Liverpool, spreading the disruption to other parts of the UK.
Some passengers are stranded at Luton Airport with their cars in the neighbouring Terminal Car Park One, which was blocked off during the emergency services work.
As many as 1,500 vehicles were in the car park which caught fire and the knock-on effect of so many delays and disruptions is likely to be days of chaos, according to BBC.
With so many planes cancelled or diverted because of the disruption, you’re advised to check with your airline to make sure you know what their advice to passengers is.
While Luton Airport has resumed flights, the consequences of the wrench which was thrown into people’s travel plans means it is likely to be several days worth of difficulties for some travellers.
PA
Chair of Luton Rising, who own the airport, Javeria Hussain told the BBC: “This is a major operation and we are working extremely closely with the operator to ensure it’s business as usual for the airport as quickly as possible.
“Disruption is likely to continue until travelling to the airport becomes normal again and passengers should check with their airline.”
Earlier this year, when a ‘technical issue’ affected air traffic control and left planes grounded it caused days worth of issues which took a long time to resolve.
In general, anyone worried about the problems their travel plans might face should check, double check and triple check with their airline whether anything has changed.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s chief fire officer Andrew Hopkinson said the blaze likely started from a diesel-powered vehicle as he suggested that an electrical fault with the car’s 12 volt battery system would be the most likely reason.
Diesel is much less flammable than petrol so it would have taken ‘intense pressure or sustained flame’ to trigger the inferno.
Featured Image Credit: X/@justanevguy/X/@lisasfb
Joe Harker
All flights halted at UK airport after massive fire causes terminal car park to collapse
The blaze began on Tuesday evening
All flights have been halted from a UK airport after a massive fire.
A blaze tore through one of the multi-storey car parks at Luton airport, causing it to collapse.
The fire began on Tuesday evening (10 October) at the Terminal Car Park 2.
Videos on social media shows the enormous flames and billowing smoke ripping through the newly built car park.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident at 9.38pm.
They said the fire is believed to be accidental and started in a vehicle that arrived at the car park shortly before 9pm.
At the blaze’s peak, there were 15 fire engines in attendance and over 100 firefighters.
Flights have been cancelled since the fire broke out and were initially paused until noon, but they have now been halted further.
Luton Airport issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter) with the update: “Our priority remains supporting the emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff.
“Therefore, we have now taken the decision to suspend all flights until 3pm on Wednesday 11th October.
BBC/X/@mollythorne
“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted.
“For queries relating to a parked vehicle or future booking please contact luton.customerservices@apcoa.com.
“Passengers should contact their airline for information regarding their flight.”
With a capacity for 1,900, the car park reportedly had 1,500 cars in it at the time and hundreds are said to have been destroyed.
This has left many people stranded at the airport, with no way of getting home after their vehicles were caught in the blaze.
Four firefighters and a member of airport staff were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service also issued the following update this morning: “Crews have worked extremely hard throughout the night and into the early morning to control and extinguish the fire.
BBC
“Firefighting operations are monitoring the smoldering remains and will continue throughout the day.
“Currently four crews and an aerial appliance remain at the scene, and crews are working in conjunction with the airport fire service.”
It also gave advice to those planning to travel today: “All flights are suspended until 3pm. If you have a flight leaving before 3pm, please do not travel to the airport. Please avoid the area owing to severe traffic delays.”
The service has also said an investigation into what caused this huge fire will take place.
Flights from Luton Airport are currently halted until 3pm.
Featured Image Credit: BBC
Jess Battison
Uber driver stunned after being charged £3000 for three minute drop-off at major UK airport
It’s supposed to charge £5 for five minutes
An Uber driver was left astonished after he discovered he’d been charged over £3,000 for dropping off passengers at an airport.
Uber driver Mark Connor had been taking people from Liverpool to Manchester Airport on 1 December when he pulled up at the drop off zone.
The normal price for this is forking over £5 for the ability to stop off for five minutes and drop people off at the airport.
It’s expensive but what are you going to do, not have anywhere you can drop people off at the airport?
Anyhow, according to the Liverpool Echo, the driver later checked his bank account and found that he’d been charged £3,132 by the airport for a three minute stay, meaning he’d basically had the world’s most expensive parking space.
Mark Williamson/Getty Images
“I was shocked and couldn’t understand it. I thought we had enough to see us to the end of the month, and then we didn’t,” the Uber driver told the Echo about discovering the gargantuan charge.
And things got worse after Mark tried to get in touch to sort things out.
“I rang the airport who gave me a feedback form, which I sent back. I told them the time and the date, and they emailed saying they had no record of the transaction.”
Fortunately, Mark was able to contact his bank and the eye-watering amount was refunded just a few days later.
However, things took a turn for the worse again after Mark’s wife was out shopping afterwards and discovered that her card had been declined, as their account had been charged the figure again.
Even worse is he’s been charged on his overdraft, which can lead to other penalties, and is just not a good financial place to be in – especially with Christmas coming up.
Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
After weeks of hell, it sounds like the end is in sight for Mark as he’s supposed to be getting refunded by the airport.
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport told the Echo: “We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to this passenger. We are in touch with him and arranging a refund in full as soon as possible.
“Thousands of passengers use our parking services every day and instances like this are extremely rare. Where there are issues we work to make sure they are resolved as quickly as possible.”
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport told LADbible that Mark’s problems started when the car park camera didn’t pick up on him leaving, an error which is rare but can occasionally happen.
A further complication was thrown into the works when there was a bit of confusion over payment details, as the airport spokesperson said the taxi driver provided card details instead of Apple Pay information, having used Apple Pay to pay for the stay.
They then said that the airport had now refunded the man.
Featured Image Credit: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images/Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
