A dad of two has explained how his £30,000 BMW was written off after it was crashed by Manchester Airport valet staff.
Andrew Swindells handed over the keys to his BMW One Series for the airport's valet-style "meet and greet" parking service before he jetted off to the US for a business trip. The 47-year-old from Widnes was enjoying dinner in Chicago when the car's on-board telemetry system sent a notification to his phone that he had been in a "serious collision".
The IT manager said: "I just thought the sensors had gone at first and ignored it, then I got a call from BMW about 20 minutes later. They phoned me to ask me if I was ok - I was completely unaware of what was going on. I tried to phone the airport but couldn't get an answer."
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Andrew eventually got through to the airport was told the car had been in an accident, but given no details. He arrived back to Manchester Airport on January 27 to be greeted by managers with bad news as a valet had crashed the car into a concrete block in the multi-storey car park - as the MEN reports.
He said: "There were two managers waiting for me. I have to say they were really good. They said 'yes, your car has been in a crash. We need to show you what happened'.
"We went up to the car park and it was smashed into a post. I was just completely surprised. They said the driver misjudged a turn.
"The telemetry said it was being driven between 20 and 30mph at the time. They had to leave it in situ for the insurance assessment. It was up there for weeks."
Andrew bought the car 12 months ago and he explained it had been written off in the accident. He said: "The airport team told me the car was being driven slowly and safely, however the car has been written off by the insurance company. They managed to completely write it off by crashing it into a concrete block."
Andrew said he was given a hire car while the situation was dealt with by his insurers and the airport's. He said: "Eventually they came back and said the car's a write-off. They offered to pay me market value and we went back and forward for weeks. Eventually they made me an offer which I agreed to."
Manchester Airport has since apologised for the incident and has settled with insurers. A spokesperson said: "We apologise to Mr Swindells for the damage to his car and have worked with his insurance company to ensure he is fully compensated.
"Thousands of passengers use our Meet and Greet products every week and incidents leading to any kind of damage are extremely rare."
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