'I used a meet-and-greet parking service and then came back from my holiday to three fines - what can I do?'

Every Saturday, we help a reader with their consumer issue or personal finance dilemma in our Money Problem series. You can send yours to moneyblog@sky.uk. Today we're taking a look at this one...

"Reading your article on airport meet and greet spurred me on to tell you about our experience. We went on holiday to Dubai leaving my car in the care of Heathrow Meet and Greet on 25 February. As a result of the war, we were stranded in Dubai for an extra six days before we could get home. My wife picked up my car from Heathrow and Meet and Greet as we did not know how long we were going to be stranded for. When my wife picked up the car it had no fuel in it, it was a complete mess inside, my coins for parking were missing and they had removed my phone charging cable. Eventually we got home on 4 March and opened my post the next day to find I had received a penalty notice from Hounslow Council on 26 February when I was way. A few days later, I receive further two penalty notices from Slough Council for parking in the wrong place on 27 February. Slough Council have waived my two penalty notices. However, Hounslow is continuing to try and extract a penalty of £160 from me even though I proved that I was out of the country at the time of the offence. I thought you needed to know that this issue is endemic in the UK and no one is doing anything about it!"
Andrew

Money live reporter Jess Sharp investigates this one...

Well, Andrew - this problem led us down a rabbit hole that took us from Heathrow Airport all the way to Germany's Handelregister.

We had lots of people get in touch with similar issues to yours after our East Midlands Airport Money Problem a few weeks ago, but yours is the most serious we have come across so far.

You sent me copies of your booking confirmation, and I could see that it was through Heathrow Meet and Greet, also known as HMG Parking - not to be confused with the airport's official parking service, called Heathrow Meet and Greet Parking, or the at least seven other meet-and-greet companies we could find operating at the airport.

While this isn't necessarily a problem, it does highlight the difficulty in making sure you are picking a trustworthy provider.

Despite its name, the company is not affiliated with the airport, and it acts more as a comparison site, with all services provided independently by different companies, which can also make it harder to fight back when something goes wrong.

While you booked through this site, your service was provided by an independent provider called Super Parking Limited.

Through our digging, we learned this company is being investigated by Trading Standards, facing being struck off the Companies House register, isn't officially accredited with a parking body and is at the centre of complaints.

Bear with me while I explain...

Down the rabbit hole we go

As with all complaints, we tend to start with the company we believe is at fault, so I tried to get in touch with Super Parking - but it didn't have a website, social media account or phone number.

What it did have was several scathing reviews left on Google with people complaining of receiving fines, long delays and returning to find the inside of their cars filthy.

I found an email address on one of your booking confirmation emails that was listed as being a point of contact for complaints, but every email I sent was undeliverable.

It became even clearer to me that we were dealing with a potentially dodgy company when I checked its listing on Companies House.

Its registered address had been changed to a default Companies House address - a sign that can mean the company has been flagged for fraud and is being investigated.

Every limited company registered in the UK must at all times make sure its registered address is "appropriate" - essentially, that it is real, not just a PO box and mail sent there can realistically reach someone acting for the company.

When this requirement has not been met, Companies House changes it to its own default address, and the company must provide evidence to change it within 28 days or the process to strike it off the register will begin.

Super Parking Limited has not done this and is now facing being struck off and dissolved within the next two months if it fails to do so.

We also understand that Trading Standards is investigating the company and has already worked to take down its website and its details from a comparison site.

Heathrow Meet and Greet has since removed it from its website and it is no longer a service provider on the platform.

Since this action has been taken, Heathrow Meet and Greet told me that it could not provide any current contact details for Super Parking.

It also said it was unable to help with the complaint, as responsibility sat with Super Parking.

"As the allegations relate to the operation of the parking service, the handling of the vehicle and events alleged to have occurred whilst the vehicle was in the custody of the parking operator, these are matters for the service provider to investigate and respond to directly," it said.

"We take customer concerns seriously and, where appropriate, request information from the relevant service provider. However, we are not in a position to verify or comment on the accuracy of the allegations, as we were not involved in the provision of the parking service or the custody of the vehicle."

It reassured me that operators were required to provide onboarding and compliance information before being listed.

This includes business details, operational information, contact details, insurances and supporting documentation where applicable. Operators are expected to confirm they are authorised to provide the services advertised and to comply with applicable laws and consumer obligations.

Ultimately none of this helped us with trying to track down a representative of Super Parking - the only other option we had was to try to find the director listed on Companies House.

We found several other companies where the same person, we believe, was listed as a senior member that had also been moved to a default Companies House address.

We even found him linked to a German company listed on the Handelregister.

Despite this, we still couldn't find any contact information for him. We messaged two people that we could find on social media with the same name, and we haven't heard back from either of them.

While we appreciate all of this might seem unhelpful, it does show the complexity of using an untrustworthy company and how hard it can be to complain or get your money back if you get caught out.

Back to your initial complaint

Okay, let's get back to your actual complaint and what options you do have...

While the missing charger cable, coins and messy interior were obviously a concern, you were more bothered about the three fines you received in the post - all of which were from while you were out of the country.

Slough Council obviously recognised this and withdrew the fines, so we turned our attention to the fine issued by Hounslow Council for your car being spotted in a bus lane.

Usually, the owner of the vehicle is responsible for paying these fines, even if they are not driving the car at the time.

But this does not apply if the person driving the car was doing so without the owner's consent - and that's what happened in your case.

Helpfully, you have reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police. While they told you and us that it had "no reasonable lines of enquiry" to follow and that it had closed the case, reporting the problem to them will have given you a crime reference number, which will help in your next step: the appeal.

You have already launched an appeal and you have a hearing booked with an environment and traffic adjudicator on 12 January 2027.

The council told us you can set the hearing date yourself, so it might be worth checking if you can get an earlier date to get this issue sorted quicker.

To make it clear, you are not responsible for paying this fine and you need to stress this in your appeal.

Make sure you explain your reasons fully and carefully - the car was taken without your permission, and it couldn't have been you driving because you were out of the country - and be sure to mention that you have reported it to the police.

It's likely that you'll need to supply your crime reference number, so be sure to have that to hand.

Although it's a long time to wait, once you have proven that you weren't driving and the car was taken without your permission, the notice against you must be cancelled.

If your appeal isn't successful, you can escalate your complaint to London Tribunals which is independent of Hounslow Council and free for drivers to use.

You'll have a time frame that you're allowed to do this in - usually it's 28 days but the exact date will be given to you if your appeal fails.

Okay, so that covers the fines, but what about the losses you have incurred as a result? We would argue that you at least deserve to get your money back for your booking.

Can you get your money back?

We would suggest using a chargeback to get your money back for the booking - but you might be a little late to use this.

This is a mechanism whereby banks can reverse transactions made on a credit, debit or charge cards if there is a breach of contract.

You can make a request for a chargeback if the company is refusing to offer a refund. But bear in mind, this is a voluntary scheme card providers subscribe to, not a legal right and there is a 120-day limit for claiming.

The company will be given the opportunity to dispute your claim, but if you're unsuccessful, you can appeal to the financial ombudsman.

We would also encourage you to report what's happened to Report Fraud - we understand that no reports have been made to them yet. You can do that online here.

For future airport parking bookings, the British Parking Association encourages drivers to carry out checks on their provider before paying.

Isaac Occhipinti, a spokesman for the BPA, gave us this advice: "A good first step is to check whether the operator is a member of an accredited trade association such as the British Parking Association, which provides important safeguards and a clear route for escalation if something goes wrong.

"Where possible, motorists should consider using an airport's official parking or meet-and-greet service. These operators are subject to airport oversight, security requirements and operational standards, giving motorists greater confidence that their vehicle will be parked safely and handled professionally.

"Before handing over your keys, make sure you know who is taking your vehicle, where it will be parked and what security arrangements are in place. Reputable operators will be open and transparent about these details.

"Where a vehicle has been left with a meet-and-greet operator, a parking management company or on-street enforcement team would have no way of knowing that the registered keeper was not driving the vehicle at the time the parking event occurred. In most cases, they will only be able to identify that the rules of a car park, or parking restrictions on the road network, have been breached, which may result in a parking charge or penalty being issued.

"That's why you shouldn't ignore and the appeals process is so important. It gives motorists the opportunity to explain the circumstances, provide supporting evidence and outline any mitigating factors. It is only through this process that an operator or authority can fully understand the background to a case and, where appropriate, exercise discretion and reach a fair outcome."

(c) Sky News 2026: 'I used a meet-and-greet parking service and then came back from my holiday to three f