Featured Image Credit: BPM Media
Topics: Travel, Technology, Cars, UK News
Joshua Nair
A man that left his car with a 'meet and greet' parking service at an airport was woken up in the middle of the night to find out it appeared to be being driven around.
Guy Adams, who lives near Bristol, UK, had left his vehicle with concierge service, Parking 4 You at Bristol Airport before jetting off on his travels.
He revealed that the employees at the company had no idea that he had a tracking and communication system installed in his £100,000 car.
Describing it as 'everyone's worst nightmare', Adams said that an app on his phone notified him about the stunt, and monitored his car's movements for 40 minutes.
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The incident happened when Adams left his Range Rover with the Parking 4 You staff at the airport last month, according to Bristol Live.
He was flying to Spain, and all seemed well until he was suddenly woken up at 4am with his phone going ballistic with notifications.
It turned out that his Range Rover Sport, which was equipped with a high-tech tracking and communication system, alerted him that his vehicle was under use, despite him being over a thousand miles away.
He could tell where exactly where the vehicle was, what speed it was going and if the windows were down, all through an app on his phone.
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Adams saw that, for the next 40 minutes, some concierge staff appeared to have taken his car for a joyride around a car park adjacent to the A38, which is operated by private company Parking 4 You.
After the Range Rover came to a stop, it was left unlocked with the windows down, which worried Adams.
He then tried to get in touch with the firm, but didn't get through to them.
The next morning, his app told him his car still had its windows down while being unlocked, and was still not able to get in touch with the firm.
He utilised his high-tech features to set his car's alarm off from Spain, again using his phone, continually setting it off while trying to get someone to pick the phone up.
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After this last-ditch attempt, he finally got a reply and started communicating through messages, telling staff that he would continue to trigger the alarm until they could show him photographic proof that the car was locked and the windows were down.
Adams was then sent screenshots of pictures from someone else's phone as proof - the whole episode resulted in the man promising to never use the company's services again.
He explained: "These people didn't realise there's a tracking system on the car, which lets me know if it's moved, someone's tried to get in, anything.
"I'd been away for a week when suddenly my phone starts going mad in the middle of the night. The car was being driven around.
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"You hear about cases where that happens, but I thought that was with those airport parking places away from the airport - I thought this one was reputable, it's a meet and greet service from the airport itself."
He claims it was later revealed that his car was actually driven to a field near Winscombe, eight miles from the airport
He concluded: "It never left the car park at all, but it's more the fact that they left my car open and the windows open.
"I couldn't get through to anyone and this felt like everyone's worst nightmare.
"The last resort was to set the alarm off - I thought 'at least that will get their attention back in Bristol'."
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LADbible has contacted Parking 4 You for a comment.