'My car drove 178 miles while I was in Spain - but airport says it never moved'

East Midlands Airport has denied a furious Nottinghamshire customer's claim that his car was driven 178 miles when it was supposed to be parked in a secure storage area

East Midlands Airport has refuted claims by a disgruntled Nottinghamshire customer who alleges his car racked up 178 miles while it was meant to be parked.

Ashley Hopkins, 74, from East Bridgford, handed his Toyota C-HR over to the airport's Meet and Greet service on September 9, anticipating a relaxing week in Majorca. However, upon his return to the UK on September 16, the puzzled pensioner noticed an unexpected increase in mileage and a significant drop in fuel.

Spurred by his wife, who had insisted he notes the odometer reading after watching a documentary advising such precautions, Mr Hopkins discovered an additional 178 miles on his car when he resumed driving. Despite the airport's insistence that no misconduct occurred, with tracking and CCTV evidence supporting that the vehicle remained in secure storage, Mr Hopkins remains sceptical.

"I only use it for piddling about and it had almost a full tank when I dropped it off, but when I came back it was at just over half," he said. The airport maintains there is no proof of misuse, yet Mr Hopkins claims: "They say there's no evidence to support what I am saying, but my odometer and fuel tank can't be wrong. It must have been taken off the premises, unless the car was just driven around the car park or the storage area is just miles away."

He revealed his car's battery went flat and stopped charging shortly after retrieval, which he found "strange" given the four year old vehicle had never shown issues before. Mr Hopkins detailed that upon raising the issue with EMAs customer service, he was informed that to escalate it further, contacting Leicestershire Police for a criminal investigation would be necessary, reports Nottinghamshire Live.

"They told me to go to the police so they could start a criminal investigation, but they'll just say it's a civil matter. It's about the principle of it all, I want to know why someone has been driving around in my car without my permission. Had they just said sorry I would have said fine and got on with it. They have just denied it and implied that I am a liar or reading something wrong."

Moreover, Mr Hopkins pointed out that his queries about the distance between the storage area and drop-off point, as well as how driver key usage was tracked, had gone unanswered by the airports customer service team. An East Midlands Airport spokesperson said: "We have looked into the matter raised by Mr Hopkins and can find no evidence to support the suggestion that his car was driven 178 miles while he was away.

"We move hundreds of vehicles around our site every day and have systems that keep track of which vehicles are driven by which drivers, as well as recording all key movements and monitoring our site with CCTV. This shows that Mr Hopkins' car was driven straight from the Meet and Greet area to one of our secure storage locations and remained there until he returned. His key was kept securely in a separate location throughout this time. We would like to assure customers that our Meet and Greet service is operated to high standards of integrity and security, offering peace of mind that vehicles are looked after carefully and safely while they are away."