A man has claimed his BMW was severely damaged after valet parking staff at the airport took it for a ‘joy ride’, urging others to take a much ‘safer’ option to avoid the same fate. Watch his TikTok video here:
Leo Wood (@leo mcph03) shared a video on TikTok about his experience, writing in the caption: “Never trust ‘cheap’ airport parking.”
Wood claimed that he had left his ‘new BMW’ with a valet service at Heathrow Airport.
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As his car was one of the latest models, it had technology that would tell him ‘exactly’ what the valet staff did with his vehicle – which he says left him with thousands of pounds worth of damage on the car.
In the TikTok video, which has racked up 1.9 million views, Wood said: "This is your sign to never ever use an airport valet service.
"Left it with them with 150 miles of range and had left it with 14 miles.
"As it's a new BMW, it has an app that tells us exactly what they did.
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"They took it for a joy ride and have left thousands of pounds worth of damage.
"Just pay the extra money to park it at the official car park, much safer."
The video has also garnered 81,000 likes and hundreds of comments from shocked TikTok users.
“I hope you’ve taken/going to take them to court over it,” one wrote. “This is insane."
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Someone else said it was ‘shocking’, while a third commented: “Be careful at all airport parking, I’ve had mirror glass and headlight washers stolen on BMW and Audi cars and they tell you to claim YOUR insurance.”
Another with slightly less sympathy added: “Find it funny you spend this much on a car then skimp on parking.”
When one person suggested he should have left the car at home and got a taxi or lift from friends or family to the airport, Wood replied: “I live 100 miles away from Heathrow, it’s like £150-£200 for a family taxi.”
Someone also said he should try a parking app that would allow him to ‘park on someone’s driveway next to the airport’, to which Wood responded saying he’d give it a go next time.
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Wood did not specify the exact company he left his car with.
A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport told LADbible in a statement: "Heathrow only promotes official Heathrow parking which is bookable via the Heathrow.com website.
"We do not endorse any other operators, but under competition regulations we do have to allow them to operate, and if any incidents occur with a third party operator we would always advise customers to contact their chosen operator directly.
"We would also advise them to register a complaint with their local Trading Standards if the complaint is serious as they can then investigate."
Jess Hardiman