Tourists said they'd been given no warning about what was about to happen before arriving back in Bournemouth
HUNDREDS of holidaymakers were left stranded when a carparking firm suddenly shut up shop - dumping hundreds of keys in a holdall at the airport for them to search through.
Three hundred car keys were left on a desk for shocked families to find as they returned to Bournemouth.
Holidaymakers claimed the keys had been abandoned by a man who "immediately left" the off-site parking firm BOMO Parking Services.
But some said they hadn't even been able to find their keys after searching through the bag.
Bournemouth Airport has since stepped in to try to minimise the chaos as bewildered families return from holidays to be told the news about the parking company.
Lisa Russell, from Southampton, returned from a holiday in Malaga with her husband Michael and friends Charlotte and Aidan Thorn early yesterday morning to find there was no trace of her car key.
She said: "We have had no warning and no message from the company explaining what's happened.
"We used them once before and had absolutely no problem and even when we were leaving they were very friendly - there was no worry about anything going wrong.
"But to come back and find that your keys have been lost and you can't get home is really upsetting.
"It's just such a shame that we've had a wonderful holiday and then this happens as soon as we come back."
She said the airport itself wasn't at fault, with staff at Bournemouth Airport faced with the task of trying to match up keys with arriving families.
But many keys are still sitting there, with holidaymakers yet to return home.
The BOMO Parking Services company said in a statement on its website says "BOMO Parking Services has ceased trading with immediate effect.
"All vehicle keys have been hand delivered to Bournemouth Airport information desk for customers to collect on their return from holiday. All future car park bookings have been cancelled with immediate effect.
"BOMO Parking Services has been the target of a sustained attack online and offline by a known individual, which has had a catastrophic effect on the trading position, causing closure."
Last month several cars parked at the firm's compound, next door to the Adventure Wonderland theme park in Merritown Lane, were targeted by vandals with damage cause estimated to be in the thousands of pounds.
The company's director, John Smith, said that he "feared' for his employees" safety after the attacks.
In yesterday's chaos, Lee Skinley, who had returned from a holiday in Spain with his family, was taken to his car by a security employee at the airport.
He said: "It's shocking. We have had no information from BOMO and arrived back here to be told that they have stopped trading today.
"We've still got to drive back to home Weymouth so having these issues causing more delays is very annoying."
Anne Rafferty, who had gone on holiday in Spain, said: "This was the first time I'd flown from Bournemouth and everything went really smoothly going out.
"Everyone we dealt with from the company was really friendly and helpful - we had no idea they were in any sort of trouble."
Another tourist, Mike Shaw, said: "Thankfully the airport staff have been really great trying to sort out collecting our car and have been so helpful.
"No thanks to BOMO, who have really left us stranded."
In a bid to ease the chaos, the airport waived fees for using the drop-off car park.
The airport's managing director, Paul Knight, said yesterday: "Earlier this morning a representative, purportedly from BOMO Parking Services, an independent business which provided off-site parking and is not related to the airport, deposited a holdall at the airport information desk and left immediately.
"The bag contained a large number of keys.
"Our staff are proactively assisting affected passengers by ferrying them from the airport to collect their cars from the site.
"A number of passengers have already been assisted back to their cars this morning, with this number likely to increase significantly throughout the day and coming weeks.
"Given the circumstances, we are waiving drop-off charges if they need to return to the airport to collect fellow passengers or visitors."
