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Park’N Fly apologizes for holdups at Pearson lot

Park'N Fly has apologized to customers who faced longer-than-usual wait times when they landed at Pearson International Airport and tried to pick up their vehicles between 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.

A company that provides parking services for air travellers is apologizing to Toronto-area customers who faced "unacceptable wait times" this weekend, and insists it will improve its record.

Park'N Fly has offered a full refund to all customers who landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport and then tried to pick up their vehicles between 10 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday. Customers are also being offered a voucher for complimentary parking on a future trip.

The reason for the refund? Customers had to wait hours to get to their vehicles as staff scrambled to deal with an influx of people who landed at unexpected times.

The company's chief executive, Ron Bresler, released a statement Sunday apologizing to affected customers.

"A combination of the snowstorm, flight delays and cancellations created an abnormally high flow of returning customers. This situation resulted in unacceptable wait times," Bresler said in the statement posted on the company's Facebook page.

Peter Amirault, chief operating officer of Park’N Fly, said the company will be better prepared in future.

"We've learned a lesson," Amirault said during an interview Sunday.

"Obviously, in that midnight shift, we’ve got to make sure that when we've got unexpected flights coming in, we've got to be more ready."

Kevin Shea, of Ajax, Ont., was among those waiting to pick up their vehicle Sunday morning.

Shea landed at Pearson at about 4 a.m. Sunday after vacationing in Mexico.

When he went to pick up his car from the Park'N Fly facility on Airport Road, Shea found out it was going to be a while before he could head home.

"They were way behind and the cars were coming slow as molasses," he told CBC News by telephone.

He believes there were "about 400 people" waiting for their vehicles at the peak of the delay.

Shea said he wasn't able to get to his car until 10:30 a.m.