Hundreds of sets of car keys were dumped at Bournemouth Airport overnight after an off-site parking firm ceased trading without warning.

The keys to 300 vehicles were given to airport staff by a BOMO Parking Services employee and the company has said that the decision was taken due to the “catastrophic effect” of “a sustained attack” by an individual.

Dozens of people returning to the airport yesterday were impacted with airport security staff driving them to their cars.

A statement on its website says: “BOMO Parking Services has ceased trading with immediate effect. All vehicle keys have been hand delivered to Bournemouth Airport information desk for customers to collect on their return from holiday. All future car park bookings have been cancelled with immediate effect.

“BOMO Parking Services has been the target of a sustained attack online and offline by a known individual, which has had a catastrophic effect on the trading position, causing closure.”

Last month, several cars parked on the company’s site adjacent to Adventure Wonderland in Merritown Lane were targeted by vandals with damage cause estimated to be in the thousands of pounds.

Its director, John Smith, said that he feared for his employees’ safety after the attacks.

The majority of people have so far been reunited with their cars, but one group of friends discovered that their keys had gone missing.

Lisa Russell, from Southampton, returned from a holiday in Malaga with her husband Michael and friends Charlotte and Aidan Thorn, early on Wednesday morning to find her car key was missing.

“We have had no warning and no message from the company explaining what’s happened,” she said.

“We used them once before and had absolutely no problem and even when we were leaving they were very friendly – there was no worry about anything going wrong.

“But to come back and find that your keys have been lost and you can’t get home is really upsetting.

“It’s just such a shame that we’ve had a wonderful holiday and then this happens as soon as we come back.

“The airport staff have been really helpful, it’s not their fault in the slightest that this has happened.”

Lee Skinley, who had returned from a holiday in Spain with his family was taken to his car by a security employee at the airport.

He said: “It’s shocking. We have had no information from BOMO and arrived back here to be told that they have stopped trading today.We’ve still got to drive back to home Weymouth so having these issues causing more delays is very annoying.”

Also impacted by the firm’s decision to cease trading was Anne Rafferty, who had flown to Spain on holiday from the airport.

“This was the first time I’d flown from Bournemouth and everything went really smoothly going out,” she said.

“Everyone we dealt with from the company was really friendly and helpful - we had no idea they were in any sort of trouble.”

Fellow customer Mike Shaw praised the efforts of staff at the airport but criticised the company for leaving him “stranded”.

“Thankfully, the airport staff have been really great trying to sort out collecting our car and have been so helpful,” he said. “No thanks to BOMO, who have really left us stranded.”

Customers’ keys are being distributed by airport staff and fees for using the drop-off car park have been waived for people affected by the firm’s closure.

Paul Knight, managing director at Bournemouth Airport, said yesterday: “Earlier this morning a representative, purportedly from BOMO Parking Services, an independent business which provided off-site parking and is not related to the airport, deposited a holdall at the airport information desk and left immediately.

“The bag contained a large number of keys.

“Our staff are proactively assisting affected passengers by ferrying them from the airport to collect their cars from the site.”

“A number of passengers have already been assisted back to their cars this morning, with this number likely to increase significantly throughout the day and coming weeks.

“Given the circumstances, we are waiving drop-off charges if they need to return to the airport to collect fellow passengers or visitors.

“We have 2,300 secure car parking spaces at the airport, with CCTV and patrols, and can accommodate extra bookings from customers who may have booked with BOMO Parking Services over the summer.”

Messages have been posted around the airport with announcements to make people aware after the arrival of flights.

A spokesman for the airport added that the keys had now been sorted into arrival dates to “minimise disruption”.

The owner of the land on which BOMO Parking Services has been based insisted that customers of the firm will be able to access their vehicles.

The land off Merritown Lane is a part of Merritown Farm which is run by the owner of Adventure Wonderland, Russell Lucas-Rowe.

In a statement, Russell Lucas-Rowe said that the theme park was not connected to BOMO Parking Services saying that it had operated “entirely independently under a wholly different ownership”.

He added that they would be ensuring that people returning from flights whose cars have been parked by the company would be able to access their vehicles.