All Valet Parking (Meet and Greet) contractors at Gatwick Airport have now received Approved or Non-Approved status for trading at Gatwick Airport. At long last the Valet Parking Industry is now being regulated by the Police, Trading Standards and Gatwick Airport in a bid to rid itself of the rogue element and bad practice.
Approved Contractors have achieved the criteria as enforced by Gatwick Airport. This includes the Safer Parking Award (ParkMark) from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the British Parking Association (BPA) and the Buy with Confidence Award from the Trading Standards Office. All Approved Operators must achieve all of these awards.
AMAG Parking is proud to announce that it has achieved all of these Awards and now has Approved Operator Status.
AMAG Parking Customers have traditionally used the forecourts for the drop off and pick up. This facilitates simple and easy to understand access to the meeting points. Only Approved Operators will continue to use the Forecourts and have dedicated bays marked ' Permit Holders Only' available to their Customers.
It should be noted that only a few operators have achieved 'Approved Status'. The level of charges that will be applied are approximately £6 per vehicle. Most if not all Valet Parking Contractors will have no option but to pass this charge on to their Customers. AMAG Parking have managed to absorb most of this cost into their system of charges. Our prices at Tudor Rose already include this new surcharge as of 1st July.
Non-approved valet parking operators will only be able to collect and deliver vehicles in the Multi-Storey Car Parks outside of the dedicated zones for Approved Operators and will be subject to the excess charges in force at the time.
There are a number of web sites now advertising Gatwick Valet Parking on the web. We don't want to bore you with the detail but just suffice to say that you should check the authenticity of claims made on these web sites. Here are a few pointers that should help you choose a good operator of 'Meet and Greet' parking at Gatwick.
Make sure the location of their car park is published on their web site. It is no good just to state that the facility is 'close to the terminals'. Cars are being parked on fields, public car parks and all manner of locations to avoid paying business rates.
Make sure the car park is located close to the terminals. This will ensure you can retrieve that 'teddy bear' and receive a prompt service.
Make sure the web site displays; A company number, a VAT number, a landline telephone number, an insurance policy, a complaints procedure and adequate security protection.
Make sure the web site displays its own photos of the car park and NOT images easily downloaded from the internet.
The Park Mark® is awarded to car parks that have passed strict accreditation procedures by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). AMAG Parking has held the award 4 years running and was awarded its last certificate on December 17th 2012 for another year.
On passing your vehicle over to the custody of AMAG Parking in every case we will photograph your vehicle on each side. Our driver will then ask you to enter your mileage and sign it off. A copy of this inspection document is given to you.
Due to the number of classic and vintage cars that we have looked after for our Clients we have created a FULL CAR BODY INSPECTION. It only differs from the above normal inspection in that ALL marks are recorded including small stone chips, scuffs and scratches including those to alloy wheels (if any). This takes about 5 - 10 minutes so should you choose this option in the booking procedure please allow extra time on arrival at the terminal. The Inspection document is checked and signed by the owner and signed by the inspector. A copy is given to the owner. The price of the full inspection is £10.
Please note that we park all undercover cars at our hotel The Hookwood Lodge. This site does not hold the coveted ParkMark award that we hold at Hookwood Park. However, every step is taken to ensure the security and integrity of the site and to adhere to the 'ParkMark' principles.
We reserve the right to decline to carry out a full inspection where the vehicle is so marked it would be unreasonable to do so.
Office Hours - Our office is open 7 days a week to deal with any questions or special requests.
Our third party payment handler uses industry standard SSL (Secure Socket Layers) Encryption. This means that all parking payment details are encrypted before being sent and only de-encrypted when it reaches their server. You can tell the site is secure by the appearance of a padlock at the top of your browser. You will notice the padlock immediately you start the booking process.
Here are few pictures of our Secure Car park.
Some of the 'Team' in front of the security office. ALWAYS have the full address of where your car will be parked for the FULL duration of your holiday.
Our Car Park Staff with the Officers.
In co-operation with the Anti-Terrorist Squad at Gatwick Airport, The Tudor Rose team attended an anti-terrorist instructional seminar held at their hotel Hookwood Lodge.
PC Andy Blackstock and PCSO John Chisholm delivered a fine demonstration on how the staff at Tudor Rose could make an effective and concerted effort to help reduce the risk of a terrorist attack on the airport.
Subjects discussed were suspicious activity, ground to air missiles, rocket launchers, laser beams and a lot more.
Tudor Rose would like to thank Sussex Police for their time and effort in bringing to the team here a new awareness of the risks the public face every day.
Our hotel is located directly opposite our car park and offers excellent accommodation with free fast transfers to Gatwick airport.