'Passengers told to report cars stolen' while stranded at airport following parking firm's collapse

John Woodward was among dozens of passengers who were left standing in the torrential rain outside Birmingham Airport in the early hours of Wednesday unable to access the meet and greet service he had booked with Blue Circle.

The 71-year-old from Bridgnorth said he and his wife Jill had booked the meet and greet service via TuiUK and Birmingham Airport and dropped their car off 10 days ago, leaving their keys with Blue Circle, then landed at 4.15am from Turkey and described trying to contact Blue Circle, but with no answer.

He said: "When Jill and I booked our holiday to Turkey we booked 'Meet and Greet' parking via TuiUK and Birmingham Airport and we dropped our car off there 10 days ago.

"I was handed a slip with the name Blue Circle Parking on it with three phone numbers to call when we returned to the UK plus our booking reference FVTNQK.

"At 4.15am this morning, two TuiUK flights landed at Birmingham from Turkey (our flight) and Cape Verde and, on collecting our luggage, I rang all three numbers for Blue Circle to find all lines out of order.

"I had seen on social media that Blue Circle Parking had gone bust yesterday so I expected that calls would not be answered and we would have to walk across to the meet and greet and wait whilst they got the car."

Mr Woodward said he had handed in the parking slip and was then told by the representative: "We are Maple Parking and we run the parking now, but you need to see that man outside next to the ticket machine to get your car."

He said the enormity of the situation not just for him, but for other people accessing the service, became clearer when he joined the queue and heard people being told different things.

He said: "I walked round to the machine and stood in the queue.