

Chris Fox, cp24.com





A valet service at Pearson International Airport has issued a formal apology after hundreds of customers had to wait upwards of eight hours to pick up their vehicle Sunday morning.

The delay at Park'N Fly Toronto saw about 250 customers in line at one point Sunday, prompting employees to contact Peel police amid fears that the crowd would become unruly.

"We were staffed up for our normal midnight volume, which would usually be about 40 or 60 cars over the course of the night, and due to the number of flights that had been cancelled previously we saw about 10 times our normal volume and frankly we were overwhelmed," Park’N Fly Chief Operating Officer Peter Amiraulte told CP24 Sunday. "We had twice our normal crew here yesterday getting ready, but just the sheer volume we had just pushed us past our limit and we disappointed our customers."

All customers that arrived at the facility between 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday will be refunded and provided with a voucher for a week of free parking, Amiraulte said.

Affected customers are urged to contact Park'N Fly directly for their refund.

Man waited five hours

The lineup was at its peak at around 1 a.m. when several delayed flights arrived at one time.

The backlog was finally cleared at around 10 a.m., but not before some customers grew upset with the wait and the treatment they recieved.

“They haven’t told us a single word and that is one of the frustrating things,” Kevin Shea told CP24 Sunday morning. “There have been people here since 1 a.m. who still don’t have their cars.”

Shea had been vacationing in Mexico and landed at Pearson International Airport at around 4 a.m. following a lengthy delay. He then immediately called Park’N Fly to have them ready his car, but arrived at the facility to find a swarm of people and no sign of the car.

“There was anger, shouting matches and frustrtation over lack of toilet paper. You name it,” he told CP24 at around 9 a.m. “It’s a bit of a dilemma, but it’s getting better and we are down to about 150 people now who are waiting for their cars.”

Shea's car arrived near the end of his conversation with CP24.

"Wait a minute, our car just pulled up," he said. "Some good news. If we could just get everybody else's too."

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