Whenever I go on Holiday I always like to think that the Holiday has started as soon as I turn the key in my front door, so it is always important that the journey to the Airport and onto my destination goes smoothly.
I recently spent seven days in Tunisia with a friend. It was a last minute booking and one thing that we needed to arrange at short notice was how to get to the Airport. We were flying from Manchester Airport which may only be 45 miles from our hometown of Sheffield, but without a Car it is not an easy journey.
There is a Train that runs between Sheffield and the Airport but since we had a 6am flight this was not an option as the Trains stop running before Midnight and do not start up again until 5am. We looked at the cost of a Taxi but £75 split between just two of us seemed a little steep, and so it seemed that the only option was to take the Car.
The Internet seemed like the logical place to start our search and we quickly found a selection of Websites which gave comparative prices for Airport Parking, after a short while we settled for a company called Ringway.
THE DECISION PROCESS
The
difference in price between the various different companies offering Airport Parking did vary a lot more than I expected. We paid £38.25 for seven nights Parking which was at the lower end of the scale, with the most expensive being £53.55.
The distance from the Airport itself was obviously important but not critical since we were aware that we would be run into the Airport on a Courtesy Bus, so the frequency of the Buses was one of the things that we looked at. According to their Website Ringway run Courtesy Buses every 15 minutes and the journey time is approximately twenty minutes. Their buses operate 24 hours a day.
The final factor was the location and the how easy the place looked to find. After studying the directions to our final three choices Ringway won in this particular category since it was right beside the Dual Carriageway that we would be approaching on.
We paid Online by Switch for which there was no processing fee, but they also accept all major credit cards without a fee. As soon as the transaction was processed we received a confirmation email which we printed out. This had our unique booking reference on it plus directions to the Car Park.
A BIT ABOUT RINGWAY
Manchester Ringway Car Park was established in 1991 and is one of eight Airparks within in the UK. All Airparks are now operated and owned by Q-Park. Q-Park have over 55 years of experience in providing secure Airport Parking throughout both the UK and Europe.
The Airparks division of the Company in the UK takes over 300,000 bookings a year, and has an annual turnover of over £5 million.
The Ringway Airpark at Manchester has space for 12,000 Vehicles so even at busy periods it is seldom fully booked and it is possible to just turn up on spec.
THE LOCATION
Approaching from the M60 take the exit at Junction 8 onto the A6144 signposted Carrington. At the second set of traffic lights turn left onto Isherwood Rd. Ringway is located 700 yards on the right.
Approaching from the M61 and M62 follow the signs to South Manchester & Stockport. This becomes the M60 from the A57 or A628 joining M67 at Junction 1. Turn left onto M66 towards Stockport, then follow directions above.
Approaching from Buxton follow the A6 to Stockport. In the centre of Stockport follow the signs for Manchester Airport Joining the M60, then follow directions above.
The address including Postcode for those with sat nav is as below:
Manchester Ringway Airpark Isherwood Road Carrington Manchester M31 4RA.
We found that the Car Park was very easy to find and when we arrived we were pleased to note that it was completely fenced in with plenty of CCTV cameras scattered around. All new arrivals follow the signs to the Reception which is well signposted but it is a rather slow journey across Gravel and there are a fair few Pot Holes to manoeuvre around, which I suppose will fill up with rainwater in bad weather, but since the weather was fine during our stay this was not a problem. The check in procedure was quick and easy with the minimum of fuss and only took a couple of minutes.
There was a Courtesy Bus already waiting for us when we had checked in but we did have to carry our own bags onto the Bus and it was quite full. I understand however that if you are Disabled or Elderly they will load your bags onto the Courtesy Bus for you, but this usually has to be by prior arrangement.
The Reception itself is rather basic in appearance and resembles a large Porta-cabin but there are Toilets here, including ones with Disabled facilities and Baby Changing facilities so I suppose that it serves its purpose.
On our return journey however this is where things went rather pear-shaped. On clearing Customs you are told to ring Airparks who will then send a Bus to you. After 20 minutes of trying to phone and constantly getting the engaged tone I eventually got through and we were told to turn left out of the main Airport entrance and wait at Bus Stop number 3 and that a Bus was on its way.
We had not cleared Customs particularly quickly so by the time that we arrived at the Bus Stop there was around a dozen people or so already waiting there. From overhearing the conversations from the front of the queue it became apparent that some of these people had been waiting around 15 minutes so we stood and waited patiently in the knowledge that a Bus would be along any minute now. More and more people arrived and still we waited. By now 30 minutes had passed and several people in the queue were trying to ring the office again, but to avail as all they got was an engaged tone, and so we waited and we waited......
I checked the call log on my phone and noted that it was now 50 minutes since I had made my call and still there was sign of a Courtesy Bus. A further 15 minutes passed and eventually a Bus turned up to cheers from the queue, which now stretched as far as the main Airport entrance.
As we began to board the Bus it quickly filled up and since the Luggage Racks were only small the only place to leave the Luggage became the aisle. The queue shortened and the Bus became fuller and fuller, it soon became obvious that the Driver had no intentions of moving until the entire queue was on his Bus. When we finally set off I counted 31 people standing in the aisles (all with Luggage), needless the say the situation was a sham.
Unfortunately when we arrived back at the Airpark things did not improve and although we were near to the front of the queue and got our Car Keys fairly quickly when we set off to row 7 as instructed we found that our Car was completely blocked in by other Cars and so we went back off to Reception to complain. In the end it was a further hour before all of the Cars surrounding ours and others had been moved and we drove away.
So to conclude we had a fairly smooth outward experience but unfortunately our experience on the return leg of the journey which was a mid afternoon landing has led me to conclude that I can not recommend this place to others and unfortunately the end of our Holiday was ruined by Ringways Airpark.
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Jul 17th, 2006
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (95%):
