LGW Animal Reception and chip readers

Since DEFRA has been so good about providing different info to different people when we contact them, I was hoping someone could verify something for me firsthand. 

I wrote to DEFRA before we started the PETS process and asked if we would have to bring our own chip reader if we did not get an ISO chip.  They said no, the large Animal Reception Centres at the major airports have a variety of chip readers; however, if we were interested in maintaining enrolment in the PETS travel scheme we would need to take our own chip reader to our vet appointments.

Do the Animal Reception Centres really have an assortment of chip readers?  Will they really be able to read my AVID non-ISO compliant chip?  Or should I quickly plump for the $300 chip reader now, because it will be cheaper than putting my pets in quarantine and then having to order a reader to get them out anyway?

Also, while I'm at it, how is parking for the Animal Reception Centre at Gatwick?  My FIL is going to rent a transit van (?) to pick me and the three pets/cages up.  Can they park the van over near the reception centre?  How much cash should my husband plan to have on hand for things like parking? 

Thanks everyone.

First off, I can't believe a chip reader would cost $300!  I got mine for $75. I flew into Gatwick and it was a piece of cake!  Yes, they do have tons of chip readers. I didn't need mine at all.  When I took my cats to the vet here he was able to read them.

Parking at the animal reception is plentiful!  It basically looks like a warehouse and since it's not actually attached to the terminal you will be perfectly fine!  When you land you will have to collect your baggage and everything and then drive over the animal reception area.    If you need instruction on how to get there you can do what I did and go straight for the information desk and they put a call through to animal reception for me and I got directions from them.  Other than having to wait a couple hours to collect my cats, it was no problem at all!  When we did it, you didn't have to pay for parking at animal reception. Just for the main car park.

Where did you get your chip reader?

My vet back in the states was able to order me one.