A grandmother has been told she is “at fault” for the destruction of her car on 10 October, after leaving it in the multi-storey car park at Luton Airport which burnt down.
Cath Glaze is now stranded as she can’t get to work or pick up her grandchildren. She told The Mirror her insurance company has judged the car’s demise as her own fault, meaning she will lose her no-claims bonus.
It comes after a huge fire in one of the car parks at Luton Airport, which took more than 12 hours to put out. Firefighters described it as a “significant structural collapse” and led to the demise of more than 1,400 vehicles.
Miss Glaze has been offered a pay-out which is £13,000 less than what she paid for the car. She praised Luton Airport and easyJet for keeping her in the loop, but is “no nearer to knowing if our car is one of the possibly 1,200 cars still in the wreck, or if it’s salvageable”.
Along with her husband Martyn, the couple were not given a courtesy car as the insurance company is “assuming our car has been written off”. They have at least been given a final settlement offer, but it’s “lower than what we need to buy a comparable vehicle and doesn’t include value for personal items”.
They bought the car seven years ago for £20,000, and have been offered a £7,000 payout.
She added that the ordeal had been “very traumatic and upsetting”. They explained that they “weren’t planning to change their car for the foreseeable future”, having serviced it regularly.
“We now don’t have access to a vehicle, so it’s very difficult to do our normal day-to-day activities such as shopping, helping with the grandchildren, or going to test drive potential new cars.”
Luton Airport has said it’s responded to almost 16,500 customer queries so far, while investigators think the fire was probably started by a diesel car, thought to be a Range Rover, when it suffered an electrical fault.
Neil Thompson, operations director at London Luton Airport, said: “We are continuing to focus on the safety and integrity of the car park. This will enable us to carry out a full assessment which, as we have previously said, can only happen once safety can be assured.
“It’s pleasing to have heard from some customers that insurance companies have received the information they need and are progressing, or have already, settled claims. We are continuing to work incredibly hard to provide insurers with this information as quickly as we can to assist them so, in turn, they can help those affected as quickly as possible.
“We’re not able to offer a definitive timeline on what will happen to cars and their contents. However, this isn’t a process we can rush and we must place everybody’s safety at the heart of this complicated operation. We remain grateful for the patience and understanding of all our customers.”
