AoT orders firm to end dispute after car park seizure

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AoT orders firm to end dispute after car park seizure
Published: 2/10/2010 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post: Newspaper section: News

Airports of Thailand Plc has given the firm handling its parking services until Oct 11 to settle a dispute that it says led to the brief seizure of Suvarnabhumi airport's car parks by armed men.

About 200 men dressed in black blocked the entrances and exits to the airport's parking lot buildings at 4am yesterday.

The men also seized ticket booths and collected fees from visiting motorists. The group dispersed after an hour.

AoT president Serirat Prasutanond said the incident was tied to an internal conflict at Parking Management Co, which is contracted to operate the airport's parking space, covering a total of 160,000 square metres, for five years, from April 1 of this year to March 31, 2015.

An internal dispute has arisen at the highest levels of the company after one of its directors, identified as Thas Pojpraphan, allegedly complained about an illegal change to the registration of the company's authorised directors.

AoT has given Parking Management Co until Oct 11 to settle its internal dispute or risk having the Suvarnabhumi contract scrapped.

Meanwhile, AoT officials will investigate further to determine whether the contract is viable.

Transport Minister Sohpon Zarum backed the AoT, saying if the firm was unable to resolve the dispute, the contract should be terminated. The terms of the contract require the company to give 75% of its gross income to AoT every month, and the minimum guaranteed payment is 15.5 million baht. The company must also place a contract guarantee worth about 120 million baht and a guarantee for the lease of the parking space worth 19.2 million baht with AoT.

Parking Management Co has reportedly failed to install a system to manage the collection of parking fees, which it was contractually obliged to do by June.

It remained unclear how the internal rift at the company led to the brief seizure of the parking lots.

The AoT president and the transport minister said the situation at the parking lots did not impact passengers seriously but was harmful to the airport's reputation.

Airport security officials and police were sent to secure the airport at 5pm to prevent any attempt to seal off the parking lots again.