| Durham Tees Valley Airport |
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This is not the official site for Durham Tees Valley Airport. It is a web site dedicated to the Managing Director and those responsible for "Customer Service" at Durham Tees Valley Airport, to highlight their approach to the general public. In September 2007, the airport revamped it's car parking - as described in their News Release of that month (copied from their web site); this brought with it, in their own words, some "customer confusion". You have been warned! |
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Dear Sir On the evening of Returning by car from
On entering the airport environment, I saw a sign for "Car
Parking and Hire Cars". "Hire
cars" - the very reason why we were there - that would be the way to go. Following the sign, I then drove through what turned
out to be a barrier that was open (but not evidently so in the dark to a
stranger) and into your car park, at which point I was trapped. My son then collected his car from Hertz and
drove off to XXXXXX. Having waited to
ensure that he was safely on the road, I then discovered that the previously
open barrier was now closed and there was no way out - a minor inconvenience
surely. I then went to your information desk, where your
representative, on listening to my story, assured me that the barrier could not
have been open, and that I was therefore (by implication) a liar; your
representative was programmed to give this story repeatedly until she finally
looked us up on her CCTV. I tried to explain to your representative that I had
brought my son to the airport to collect a hire car; she then asked if I had
followed him in - that I had delivered him in my car was a concept too far, and,
after a few loops round that one, the discussion moved on. Hertz were not empowered to give me a "get out of
the car park free" card, even though my reason for being there was to
deliver them a customer. On two occasions, a passing security man in a van
joined us at the gate; we explained our predicament, but he was unable to help
and drove off. Meanwhile, your representative had discovered that
thus far, my story was true, and announced, as though I would be as surprised
as she was, and without a hint of apology, that "the barrier had been
up". The explanation given for this
was that somebody had driven up to the gate, taken a ticket, caused the barrier
to lift, and then changed their mind and reversed off. This appeared not to exonerate me from any
blame for the predicament in which I found myself. On returning to the information desk, no longer
branded as a liar, I then qualified for a ticket; this entitled me to be in the
car park, but did not grant me rights of exit.
I was advised by your representative that I had entered a car park, and
was therefore required to pay £5; I advised her that it had been a mistake, and
that I had merely followed the signs for Hire Cars through a barrier that,
through no fault of mine, was open (and therefore not obviously a barrier);
this exchange also ended in an impasse. I suggested that your representative call the police;
she advised me that they would not be interested. My ex-wife who was in the car with me, returning, as
we all were, from her Mother's funeral, was now becoming not only cold but
somewhat distraught, at the end of a difficult day. I paid over £5 at your, somewhat triumphant,
"Information" Desk and was then allowed to exit. With hindsight, the solution might have been for my
son to drive up to your barrier, take a ticket, and reverse out followed by
us. My son felt that reporting the car
to the police as having been stolen (by yourselves) might have been
appropriate. The purpose of my letter is to You may wish to note that the signs on the A1 North
direct travellers to " I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully |
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Dear Sir/Madam I enclose a copy of a letter received from your Airport
Services Manager at In my original letter, I suggested that, in the absence of a satisfactory conclusion to the matter, I would obtain an internet domain on which to broadcast my grievances. I have now registered "www.Durham-TeesValley-Airport.co.uk" for this purpose, on which I intend to load my original letter and the response that I received, plus links to selected parts of your official Airport web site. My reason for writing to you now is to ask if there are any comments or links that you would like me to add to the site on your behalf; I anticipate that the site will be functional in early 2008. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully |
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So there you have it - simple theft, staff that accuse customers of being liars, and a Managing Director who is manifestly incapable of stringing together
an intelligible two-sentence letter. That, to the writer, sums up Durham Tees Valley Airport. |