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Returning from a recent holiday in the Canary islands I was shocked and stunned by what I encountered when I retrieved my car from one of the popular Gatwick Parking lots.

My girlfriend and I had the opportunity to stay for a week at a friend’s villa near Puerto de la Cruz. We’ve been to Tenerife many times before and always have a great time. When our friends called to invite us to stay for a week we jumped at the opportunity.

But finances being a little tight I decided, sensibly I think, to do a little research to find out what would be cheaper. Taking public transport to Gatwick airport or drive the car, that was the choice.

Public transport would involve either a bus or taxi from our house to the train station and then a relatively short journey directly to Gatwick. For convenience we would have opted for the Taxi and train option but when I added up the cost it was clear that driving to the airport and then leaving the car in one of the secure Gatwick Airport car parks was clearly the cheaper option, as long as we booked our parking space in advance.

I was actually astounded by how much cheaper it is to park when you book your parking space in advance online. We saved over 60% on what it would have cost if we had just turned up at the airport, and this was more than enough to cover the cost of the petrol we used. But I digress.

It was when we returned to collect our car that the surprise occurred. If you have ever parked at Gatwick airport you will know how vast some of the car parks actually are. We returned from our Tenerife trip late in the afternoon on a wet and windy winter’s day. The sun had gone down and we had some trouble recalling exactly where our car was parked. Luckily the lovely car park operators had provided us with a location reference but as we approached our car we noticed that a neighbouring vehicle was rocking violently from side to side.

Now what would you have done? Ignore the car that appeared to have a life of it’s own or, as my girlfriend did, walk up to the vehicle, put your hand against the side window and peer inside to see what was going on.

What she saw caused her to leap back with a gasp and an exclamation of ‘Oh my god, they’re having it off!’ Now I didn’t go and look myself and it was too dark to see from where I was standing, but apparently the occupants had reclined the driver’s seat and a man was laid on his back with his love-partner bobbing up and down with her top pulled up and her skirt around her waist. Quite a shocking surprise for my girlfriend.

It was clear that they were oblivious to the fact that they were being observed and continued to make their car rock from side to side. It prompted me to recall an old saying from I don’t know where: ‘If the van is-a-rocking, don’t come knockin’. It certainly looked like they were having a good time, but they might have been more comfortable in a hotel room.