Bangalore: Valet parking costs software engineer his laptop and windshield

On the 7th of February at the Taj MG Road, Aditya Ghatage (30), an employee in a MNC. Had found that the car parking was packed up, as he handed over the car keys to the hotel valet parking attendant and went in to attend the conference.

Ghatage in his complaint had mentioned that, the valet parked the car near Conrad Bengaluru, which is down the road from the Taj hotel. But as Ghatage was done with the conference, he gave his card to the valet parking attendant and waited for the car. However, for his surprise the parking attendant returned empty handed. And he was told that the windshield of the car had been shattered.

Ghatage and the attendant rushed to the car and soon he realised that not only the windshield had been broken, but also a laptop which was kept in the car had been stolen. Ghatage then registered a complaint at the Halasuru police station.

Ghatage told a source that, “The security officials of Taj MG Road were sorry about the incident and I’m not blaming them for it. When I entered the hotel in the morning, parking was full and I had no other option but to give the car key to the valet parking guy. He parked my car on a small road behind hotel Conrad Bengaluru (which is also close to Bazaar street). Noticing the laptop bag inside the car, I’m sure the miscreants would have broken the windshield to steal the laptop. This is a first for me. I work in a software company and I attend conferences at hotels all the time. But I’ve never become a victim of a theft.”

Police officials of the Halasuru police station told a source “The miscreants are yet to be traced. We are verifying footage from CCTVs installed on the surrounding roads. The car was parked on a small road, where there are no CCTV cameras. Guests’ vehicles are usually parked at the compound of the hotel, but since there was a steady flow of customers that day, the attendant parked the car at Bazaar Street. 

Deputy Commissioner East Rahul Kumar had said that, “The investigation is on but we are yet to identify the miscreants. They will be arrested soon.”

A spokesperson from the Taj MG Road Bengaluru said, “We have provided full support to the guest and are cooperating with the authorities in this matter.”