The ‘rogue’ airport parking lot on Moss Lane, in the village of Styal, Cheshire (Picture: Cheshire Constabulary/SWNS)
Two men have been arrested at an ‘unofficial’ Manchester airport car park over claims they threatened a customer with a knife.
The customer allegedly challenged the pair, aged 21 and 52, over the safety of the minibus used to transfer people to the airport in Styal, Cheshire, on August 12.
A third man aged 48, was arrested the following day on suspicion of vehicle theft after he used a customer’s car to collect his two arrested colleagues.
Cheshire police said they had received a spike in calls during August about the ‘off-the-record’ venture, based at a site on Moss Lane, in the village of Styal.
Drivers who used the service, which ferried them to and from the airport in a minibus, reported damage to their vehicles, lost keys and cars being seized by creditors.
Many of these unofficial car pars are ‘muddy fields’ on land bordering the runway.
Police seized the ‘unsafe’ minibus, and also found a number of damaged vehicles at the site.
Operation inspector Andrew Baker said: ‘Sadly, despite our previous warnings about these rogue car parks, people are still using the sites resulting in lots of unhappy customers and placing unnecessary pressure on local police officers.
Many of these unofficial car pars are ‘muddy fields’ on land bordering the runway (Picture: Cheshire Constabulary/SWNS)
‘Many people using these car parks make their bookings through online comparison sites, believing that they are booking professional, secure airport parking which are linked to the airport. In reality, many of these car parks are simply muddy fields on land bordering the runway and have no affiliation to the airport whatsoever. ‘
A Manchester Airport spokesman added: ‘Whether you’re going away on holiday or on business, you don’t want to be worrying that your car isn’t safe where you’ve parked it – that’s why we offer our own official parking products to suit a range of budgets and back a number of reliable and reputable third-party providers located near the airport.
‘It’s important that passengers do their research before they hand over their keys. We encourage customers to use initiatives such as Park Mark and the government-backed Buy with Confidence scheme to find a provider that has undergone a series of detailed checks and is committed to trading fairly.
‘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.’
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The customer had challenged the driver over the ‘safety’ of the minibus.