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Avoid Airport Parking Blues

With the holiday season in full swing, new research suggests nearly 50,000 drivers across the UK and Ireland are likely to forget where they parked their car at the airport this year.

According to the research by ŠKODA, Manchester Airport has the highest number of forgetful parkers, with an estimated 9,671 drivers returning to the wrong parking zone*. London Luton has the second highest number of families, couples and motorists scurrying around looking for their car, with an estimated 6,630 drivers each year forgetting where they parked. Although Heathrow has the highest visitor numbers in the UK, ŠKODA’s research found only around 3,911 drivers are likely to need help as they search for their vehicle.

ŠKODA has developed the perfect solution to avoid the holiday parking blues. Via the ŠKODA Connect app, customers can use the ‘Last Parking Position’ to locate their ŠKODA vehicle. Drivers can also use the ‘Honk and Flash’ function to remotely honk the car’s horn and flash its headlights to help them pinpoint its exact position.

The 12 largest airports across the UK and Ireland saw a combined 252,763,000 passenger trips in 2018, with nearly eight million cars parked across the various airports. With one in every 170 drivers who visit an airport forgetting where they parked*, the total number of motorists forgetting the location of their vehicle last year could have reached around 48,000.

To combat the issue, airports such as Dublin Airport, have introduced luggage tags at all of their long-term car parks on which drivers can write down their parking zone, row and space number.

James Snowden, Product Marketing Manager ŠKODA UK, said: “Forgetting where you parked your car is an easy mistake to make – especially when leaving it somewhere for a longer than normal period of time. With the ‘Last Parking Position’ and ‘Honk and Flash’ ŠKODA drivers will no longer be in the minority who have to embarrassingly admit to forgetting where they parked.”

Airport	Number of Passengers**	Percentage of Drivers parking their car***	Number of passengers parking their car	Number of passengers forgetting where they parked****
Manchester	28,200,000	5.83	1,644,060	9,671
Luton	16,600,000	6.79	1,127,140	6,630
Bristol	8,500,000	10.78	916,300	5,390
Stansted	27,000,000	2.8	756,000	4,447
Birmingham	12,500,000	5.59	698,750	4,110
Heathrow	80,100,000	0.83	664,830	3,911
Edinburgh	14,300,000	4.43	633,490	3,726
Gatwick	46,000,000	1.3	598,000	3,518
Glasgow	9,600,000	4.01	384,960	2,264
City (London)	5,000,000	4.74	237,000	1,394
Leeds	4,000,000	4.74	189,600	1,115
Belfast Airport	963,000	1.11	106,893	629