t5 valet parking warnibg

[jampot]

I thought I’d share a warning from a recent experience with T5 valet parking – shortly after returning home we receive d an £80 fine for using the departures drop off zone (the only place to be able to drop for valet parking).

No one at valet parking would respond to me about the fine (or apologise) and while I have finally managed to get it cancelled by APCOA they indicated this is a one off and I would be expected to pay the £5 drop off charge – this is not mentioned anywhere when you book and is a something of a nasty surprise once you have theoretically the gold plated service…

[JDB]

If you use the Official Heathrow Valet parking, you are not liable for the drop off fee, or as they put it, you get 100% discount.

[Andrew.]

Was this with Official T5 Heathrow Valet Parking?

If so, you’ll get a keen interest from the Daily Mail or Evening Standard if you want to give them your story.

[jampot]

Thanks – yes, it was the official valet parking. They did not respond to emails requesting support for the fine to be cancelled; I had to mange this with APCOA. Not a fan of the mail (!) but I think it is worth publicising the story not least given how difficult APCPA have been.

[Londonsteve]

I suspect it’s a manual process by which valet parking staff input your number plate into the system to avoid a fine going out. They might even have to formally pay it for each collection and the cost is written off in HAL valet parking’s accounts – HAL will get most of that £5 back as revenue. In your case, someone forgot to do it and APCOA issued an automatic fine. The parking contractor, APCOA, doesn’t care who or why they were there, as far as they’re concerned the £5 charge was not paid on that number plate and that’s all they are interested in.