A COUPLE from Barnsley say they are devastated after their £14,500 car went missing after they had dropped it off with an airport meet-and-greet service at Manchester Airport.

Lisa Hook and Anthony Smith, of Cudworth, dropped their silver Mercedes C-class 220 CDI AMG Sport off with a representative from Meet and Greet Manchester Airport Services Ltd, before heading on holiday to Turkey for two weeks.

However, after returning on October 8, the couple rang the firm to get their car, but were told a variety of different things, including saying the vehicle ‘could not be found’ and there was ‘no record of it on the system’.

And after close to ten hours trying to find out what had happened to their car, the couple rang Greater Manchester Police, who are now working with the company to locate the car, which they have confirmed as stolen.

The couple said they paid £77 for the meet-and-greet parking, which was booked via the Fly Park Plus website and is not affiliated with Manchester Airport.

“It has completely devastated us,” said Lisa. “We don’t want this to happen to other people. It was ten hours of absolute hell and I just broke down. I was phoning the company and then Anthony was and it was just going nowhere.”

Lisa and Anthony went to the car park where they believed the Mercedes to have parked, which turned out to be a muddy field, before being told there was nothing else they could do.

“We are devastated and we couldn’t talk about it for three days afterwards. My stomach was turning all the time.

“We didn’t see the car park until after we got back off holiday because someone came to pick it up from us before we went away,” added Anthony.

“We did go up to the car park on the Tuesday we came back and it was a muddy field, but when I booked it on the website it showed it was a tarmac one.

“There were hundreds of cars up there and there were some that were really high value too.”

Anthony said he and Lisa are now waiting to find out if they can get compensation for what happened, but he believes he will never see the car again.

“It’s possible that we won’t ever get it back. I have been on to my insurance and it has been listed as stolen. I do have a courtesy car but that Mercedes was one that had been saved up for and I had bought it hoping to keep it for a good few years. It’s a beautiful car in immaculate condition.

“It’s very sad as I don’t really expect to see it again.”

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said enquiries regarding the Mercedes are still ongoing. They said:

“Officers were called shortly after 8.30am on October 8 after a vehicle left with a third-party meet and greet company unaffiliated to Manchester Airport failed to be returned to its owner and was subsequently reported stolen.

“Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 629 of 08/10/2019.”