Hundreds of furious holidaymakers fly home to Gatwick to find their cars dumped on industrial estates and fields after parking firm CLOSED while they were away
More than 100 vehicles left with Gatwick First Parking have been abandoned at locations across Sussex and Surrey
FURIOUS holidaymakers have been left stranded after returning to Gatwick Airport to find a private parking company shut down while they were away.
Sussex Police said they have been forced to help return more than 100 abandoned vehicles after Gatwick First Parking had closed its operations.
The meet-and-greet parking company, which has no relationship with the airport, appears to have ceased trading.
Officers said around 120 vehicles had been found parked at sites around Sussex and Surrey.
Keys were discovered in the company's vacated office and around 30 sets of keys are still yet to be paired with vehicles.
Matthew Waring, 29, from Gloucester, paid £60 to leave his car with Gatwick First Parking and was returning from a dream holiday in Cape Verde with his girlfriend Carly Hale on Monday when they discovered their Honda Civic was missing.
The couple were forced to stay at the airport overnight in a 14-hour wait to be reunited with their vehicle which had been abandoned on an industrial estate in Crawley.
Matthew told Sun Online: "We landed at about 10pm. We tried ringing but we weren't getting through, we checked the website but it was down, eventually we went to the point where we were meant to pick up the car but there was no-one about.
"We live three hours away and all the hotels were booked as far as Portsmouth so we just had to wait it out until the rest of the world got up.
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Matthew added: "We were totally in limbo. Police were telling us it was a civil matter and to contact Trading Standards.
"We'd arranged someone from home to come and pick us up and an hour before they arrived the police finally said they could help us.
"The car was meant to be securely parked but it was found on an industrial estate with lorries having to squeeze past it. We haven't been able to get hold of the company since.
"The whole thing's been a nightmare. We're glad to be back home and have the car back but if feels like we haven't been on holiday at all now."
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Gatwick First Parking has been in business for around 10 years - keeping vehicles in a CCTV-covered secure compound - but its website has been shut down and police are understood to have been unable to contact anyone from the organisation.
Kyle and Libby Augustin had to fork out £130 on a taxi to take them home to Tenterden, Kent, after their Audi Q7 seemingly vanished into thin air.
She said: "I thought our car had been stolen and that it had been stripped for parts and shipped off so it was sort of a relief to find out the firm had just gone bust.
"But when we first landed it was absolutely horrible. The kids were tired and we had hoped to just get them in the car and drive home and that they'd fall asleep on the way.
"Instead we had to run around the airport looking for our car and then had to get a taxi all the way home.
"We tried to get hold of the firm where we'd dropped off the car but there were no signs up, they had just disappeared into thin air."
Meanwhile many holidaymakers may be in the dark about what has happened and face turning up in the busiest time of the year expecting to have their car picked up.
Mum of two Danielle Georgiou, from Rainham, London, only realised at the last minute that something was up.
The 31-year-old beautician, who has two sons Liam, 8, and Tyler, 4, had tried to contact the firm about an extra booking she had made ahead of her flight to Turkey on Monday.
After ringing the firm, she was told she would be called back.
But she has not heard from them since.
She said: "I thought I had been scammed until I read about what happened."
To make matters worse her bank is refusing to refund her without evidence, even though trading standards had confirmed the company was in trouble.
Danielle claims her bank has told her proof would be if she and her family turn up on Monday at the airport and not be picked up.
Even with this evidence it may take 48 days for a refund.
Danielle now faces having to shell out a further £100 to another parking firm.
"Quite frankly we have not got it," she said.
"It will take money away from the holiday which we were struggling to pay for."
Sergeant Darren Taylor said: "It's essential that Gatwick Airport passengers use official on-airport parking, or companies registered with Gatwick's off-airport approved parking operators scheme only, to avoid this sort of thing from happening.
"We're carrying out further inquiries to locate the outstanding vehicles, and the owners of those vehicles will be contacted and kept up to date. Our priority is to find and return their vehicles to them as soon as we possibly can."
Sun Online has attempted to reach Gatwich First Parking for comment.
Have you been affected by Gatwick First Parking situation? Contact Sun Online on 0207 782 4346