purpleparking.com

I travel from Heathrow a lot and thought I would give Purple Parking T3 a try for a change, BIG MIST

I travel from Heathrow a lot and thought I would give Purple Parking T3 a try for a change, BIG MISTAKE. I booked parking with Purple parking at Heathrow at the end of last year for 10 days parking between 26th Jan until 5th Feb at a cost of £133. At time of booking I provided my vehicle details and registration number and paid on my debit card. On the day I arrived 2 hours before my flight and parked up in a normal car parking space in there multi-storey car park and then headed to the purple parking reception to hand in my keys. When I gave my name to the Indian lady behind the desk I was told there was an additional £275 to pay before they could accept my booking. When I asked why I was told it was because my vehicle is a van, I said yes it is a van but it’s the same size as a car the only difference is that it has no back windows, in fact the new mini’s are larger. The woman wouldn’t have it and started to get funny with me and said the cost is regardless of the size and that I had to pay or I couldn’t park. Now let me be clear this was not mentioned at time of booking despite them knowing what vehicle it was and even having my registration number. My van is a small year 2000 Peugeot partner it is smaller than most modern cars and is not a transit or high sided vehicle and it fits with room to spare in any normal car parking space including under the height barriers at all Multi- story car parks. I could understand if it was a Transit van or motorhome or something but it wasn’t. My flight was now due in under 2 hours and I didn’t have the time to make alternative arrangements without possibly missing my flight so I had no choice but to pay up but I believe this is what they count on tell people at the last minute so they don’t have a choice. To top it all off on my return I checked my banking and I had been charged for 11 days not 10. All together it cost me £408 just for 10 days parking and I could have got it just around the corner with another company for £89 for the same period. I tried to phone up to dispute but you just get sent in circles or to automated answer systems with no option to speak to a real person. Avoid purple parking like the Plague I have 4 other flights from Heathrow this year and will never use purple parking again.

Date of experience: Feb 09, 2026