A holidaymaker has told how he returned home to find his car was among a dozen luxury motors to be broken into at Manchester Airport’ ‘safe and secure’ car parks.
Peter Rawlings arrived back in England from a trip to Benidorm with his partner on Thursday to find his car had been smashed into by thieves.
It comes as Greater Manchester Police confirmed they had received at least four reports from flyers who had returned to find their cars raided in the last fortnight.
Around a dozen luxury cars, including Mercedes, BMWs, Audis and Range Rovers, were broken into at the Terminal 1 multi-storey overnight on July 7.
Peter Rawlings returned from a trip to Benidorm with his partner on Thursday to find his car (pictured) had been smashed into by thieves
Several vehicles including a Range Rover Sport, pictured, worth £55,000 was targeted in a raid on July 7
The broken passenger window of a BMW has been covered up following the Sunday night raid
Mr Rawlings, from Middlewich, Cheshire, had paid £96 for seven days at the car park.
When he returned, he found his rear window had been completely smashed and a jacket had been stolen from the back seat.
Peter, 45, said: ‘I came back from holiday last Thursday and went to go and put our suitcases in the boot of the car and then saw the glass on the floor and my side window had been put through.
‘As I was stood by my car another family came through and found that about 11 cars had all had their back windows smashed through.
‘I rang the airport security immediately and they said they had had a spate of break-ins and told me not to worry about it.
‘On the way home I then received a text message from GMP to say they couldn’t take my case any further even though there is CCTV in the car park.
‘I spoke to airport security again, but they just advised me to fill out a complaint form and someone should get back to me within ten days.
‘The car park is advertised as a safe and secure and that your car is left in safe hands so when you return from holiday you expect it to be in the same condition.
An £18,000 Mini Cooper was left damaged by the thieves during the Sunday night raid
A Mini Cooper, left, and an Audi A4, right, parked in the long-stay Manchester Airport car park
‘I had a beautiful jacket that my late wife left me and that was taken from the back of my car.
‘I have had to pay £85 to get the window fixed and I was forced to take the day off work so overall I’ve had to fork out about £600.’
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: ‘We are aware of a number of vehicles being damaged and we are assisting GMP with their enquiries.’
According to Manchester Airport’s website, the multi-storey car park is ‘safe and secure’, so owners can ‘rest assured’ their cars are in ‘safe hands’.
Located just a few minutes’ walk from the airport check-in desks, customers can pre-book a space online.
A spokesperson for GMP said: ‘We are aware of a number of cars being damaged this month and we are working with security at Manchester Airport.
‘We also have targeted operations in place.’
A passer-by documented the damage after being alerted by the sound of security alarms