Beware Rogue Traders!

With the ability of 'get rich quick' schemes building professional looking web sites overnight, we thought it would be a good idea to put together a few pointers to assist you in your choice of car park at Gatwick Airport.

 1.  Avoid web sites that only display mobile numbers for your only point of contact.

2.  Ensure the web site displays a land line number in case of dispute or otherwise.

3.  All good web sites will display a Companies House Number, VAT Number and Registered Address. This is a requirement of the Trading Standards Office.

 Ponder this!
If the web site does not state a Company Number or VAT number then it is most likely that the web site is owned by a sole trader with a turnover of less than 60K a year. In this event they could not possibly have 1. a licensed car park, 2. effective insurance or 3. run the maintenance on a fully secure car park. Where would this leave you, the vehicle owner, if something happened!

4.  All good and reputable Airport Parking Companies will publish the location of their car park on their web site. Your Insurance Policy may be invalid in the event you are unable to ascertain the location of your vehicle should something happen. Only recently, 28 vehicles were burnt out on a farm that was unauthorised!!!

5.  Make sure the car park is LOCAL to the Terminals. If you leave your passport or that 'teddy bear' in the car you will want to retrieve it quickly. Besides, It is hardly environmentally friendly if the car park is 'miles' from the terminals or indeed easy on your fuel tank!!

 See article The Argus - 5th March 2007

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  Below is a picture of the old Gatwick Race Course Grandstand taken c.1930. It is now buried underneath the South Terminal.