Ad description
A website for Skylink Parking, www.skylinkparking.co.uk, seen in March 2022. The page for parking at Gatwick Airport stated, “While you’ve checking in, a fully qualified driver will take your car to a secured car park for the duration of your trip”. Beneath the heading ‘Safety and Security’ text stated, “We ensure that security is a top priority at the car parks we offer, so you can rest assured your car is in good hands during your time away. Awarded with park mark, regular patrols and CCTV”.
Issue
The complainant, who believed their car was not parked at a secure location, challenged whether the claims were misleading.Response
Skylink Parking Services Ltd said their car park was fully secure with a 24-hour manned presence and that they had updated the terms on their website.Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered consumers would understand “secure car park” and “awarded with park mark, regular patrols and CCTV” to mean that their car would be kept within a car park that was registered with the park mark scheme and was monitored by CCTV and human patrols at regular intervals across a 24-hour period, for the duration of their booking. We therefore expected to see evidence relating to the car park’s location, CCTV and human patrol schedule, as well as evidence of the car park’s accreditation with the Park Mark Scheme. However, we did not receive any evidence to substantiate the claims, and we therefore concluded that the claims were misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Skylink Parking Services Ltd to ensure that they did not imply cars were parked at secure locations that had CCTV, were patrolled or were part of the Park Mark scheme or any other car park registration schemes unless they held evidence to substantiate their claims.
