Luton Airport car park operator APCOA Parking says it has collected data of all the vehicles inside Terminal Car Park 2 during Tuesday night’s fire to kickstart insurance claims.
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) is acting as a central point to begin the process.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service believes the newly refurbished car park contained as many as 1,500 vehicles at the time of the blaze, and estimates around 1,200 of those could have been damaged. It has installed a temporary ramp to enable the removal of driveable vehicles.
“We are working with London Luton Airport and the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) who will co-ordinate with the various vehicle insurance companies,” APCOA said today (13 October) in a post on the Luton Airport website.
“MIB was provided with the necessary data about vehicles in Terminal Car Park 2 on 12 October and will provide the relevant content to each of the insurance companies later today.
“This will enable your claim to be progressed by your insurer within the next 48 hours; please check directly with your insurer for updates.
“We are working hard to provide more updates as quickly as possible, though this will take some time.”
Furious passengers say they have been left in limbo by the on-going confusion, with no way of accessing the devastated scene or of even finding out if their car has been destroyed.
In a statement, the airport apologised to customers, but stressed that because the site still cannot be accessed safely, it was ‘unable to confirm the condition of any individual vehicle’.
“We understand the distress this incident has caused for our car parking customers, and that many are still anxious for more detail,” the airport said.
“We’re sorry that we have not been able to respond as quickly as we would have liked. We have contacted all customers who have booked with us directly and are working hard to provide more details as soon as possible.
“However this a complex, and ever-changing situation and as the car park cannot be accessed safely, we are unable to confirm the condition of any individual vehicle at this time.”
It went on to say: “We are working with APCOA Parking and MIB who will co-ordinate with the various vehicle insurance companies.
“We will be providing regular updates to all customers and responding to all other queries in order of priority.”
Speaking to PA, Thomas Willett, a 29-year-old estate agency worker, from Essex, said he is due to return from Gran Canaria with his partner on Sunday, but has no way of getting home from Luton.
“We don’t know if our car has been damaged or not, or how we will be getting home from the airport,” he said.
“Their duty of care should be to those whose vehicles have been impacted, but they seem to be replying to everyone else with other queries instead.”