A company director's sunny holiday has been ruined after his £105,000 Range Rover was stolen from an airport car park.
Alan Powell, 51, dropped his Range Rover Sport SVR, at Luton Airport Priority Parking on April 10 before jetting off on April 10 with his family. The next day, he got the dreaded alert on an app for his luxury motor saying it had been swiped because the tracker had been removed.
At that point, the car had already been driven more than 50 miles away. When Mr Powell rang the car park - which has been given a Park Mark by the Safer Parking Scheme in the UK - he claimed he had to tell them the car had disappeared before they confirmed its absence. Meanwhile, police and the vehicle manufacturers can find no further trace of the Range Rover and Mr Powell has been told it may even have been shipped abroad by thieves already.
Mr Powell said the situation had been a "nightmare", adding: "If I left the car in any old car park I wouldn't be crying about it, but then I leave it with the official car park that is why I'm upset." Police have since told him the car's keys were cloned and it was last tracked to a street in the Isle of Dogs, East London before the tracker was removed by the thieves.
Mr Powell, from Milton Keynes, says he paid about £180 to leave his luxury car in good hands before travelling to spend a week in Torrevieja.
He told the Mirror: "The police informed me that the key was cloned and that the tracker has been taken off they don't expect to find it. It's the airport car parks' attitude that is unbelievable. You put trust and pay a lot of money to park there, but the truth is if I had my key then my car would still be in the car park."
Before jetting off on holiday, Mr Powell dropped his car off at about 5.30am where he said he had to hand the car park operators his key for safekeeping. A day later, the tracker for the car, which is installed by Land Rover, subsequently notified him that it may have been stolen.
When he phoned Bedfordshire Police, they spoke with Land Rover who provided information on where the vehicle was. On April 11 it was shown to be in the area of Stebondale Street in East London, about 54 miles away from the priority car park.
In correspondence seen by the Mirror between Bedfordshire Police and Mr Powell, Metropolitan Police were sent out to the area but couldn't find the vehicle. Police said Land Rover provides daily checks on "outstanding vehicles" to try and get a response from the trackers on the car, which has so far "proved negative".
The email adds: "We have placed a marker on the vehicle so if it is driven on the correct index plates it will activate the ANPR camera system which will then give any police force in England and Wales a location, at this time there have been no ANPR hits. It is possible that the thieves have deactivated the tracker or already shipped it abroad and therefore preventing any attempt to retrieve it."
APCOA, the firm that owns the car park, say on their website: "Most of our car parks have been awarded the Safer Car Park award. The car park may be monitored by CCTV. Instead of relying solely on the car park attendants, CCTV cameras monitor the car parks. CCTV images may be also monitored on-site by our APCOA staff who may be in attendance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For more information please refer to the relevant page for each site."
Mr Powell said: "It's just disgusting. The reason I am talking is I don't want anyone else to have to go through this. I'm going to be carless - my insurance company is giving me a car for 14 days.
"From the second day of my holiday, it's been a nightmare."
An APCOA spokesperson said told the Mirror: “Theft of high-value luxury vehicles via key cloning is a well-documented issue. APCOA takes the security of vehicles parked in our car parks very seriously and we have a number of measures in place including CCTV, number plate recognition cameras and regular patrols by parking staff, airport security and police. In addition, vehicle keys are stored securely.
"We have been in contact with Mr Powell to provide information and support and are assisting the police investigation.”
A Bedfordshire Police spokesperson told the Mirror: "Bedfordshire Police was made aware of a theft of motor vehicle in Airport Way, Luton, on 11 April. An investigation is ongoing, and several lines of enquiry are being carried out.
"If you have any information call 101, or online, and quote reference 40/19263/23."
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