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Gatwick Airport becomes UK's most expensive for drop-off fees as it hikes charges to £10 - DAILY MAIL
Gatwick Airport will tomorrow become the UK's most expensive airport for drop-off fees as it hikes charges to £10.
London City Airport is also set to introduce a drop-off fee of £8 and Bristol Airport also increased its cost by £1.50 as of today, bringing the total to £8.50.
Gatwick currently charges £7 per entry to the drop-off zone which is enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras at the entrance to the airport.
But from tomorrow, the charges will rise by some 43 per cent to £10 for the first 10 minutes.
The price hike, which brings them well ahead of any other UK airport's fees, has been defended by the airport - blaming the increase on higher operating costs, stoked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves' rising business rates.
A spokesman for Gatwick said: 'This increase in the drop-off charge is not a decision we have taken lightly.
'However, we are facing a number of increasing costs, including a more than doubling of our business rates.
'The increase in the drop-off charge will support wider efforts to encourage greater use of public transport, helping limit the number of cars and reduce congestion at the entrance to our terminals, alongside funding a number of sustainable transport initiatives.'
It is still possible to avoid the fee when dropping people off at the airport by going to the long stay car park where travellers can then catch the free shuttle bus to the flight terminals.
Blue badge holders will also be exempt from the drop-off charge at both Gatwick and London City Airports, as before.
However, the charge will likely be added to taxi and minicab fares.
When it was initially introduced, the drop-off fare was £5 in March 2021.
Airports will be hit very hard by the increase in business rates from Rachel Reeves' November budget which is due to come into effect this April.
Gatwick is expected to see an £11.9million hike in its business rates bill, bringing the total to £51.6million in the 2026-27 tax year, according to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) data by global tax firm Ryan.
Heathrow is also due a massive hammer blow in business rates with a gigantic increase of £35million, bringing their bill to £151.5million for 2026-27. The airport has also increased its drop-off charge from £6 to £7 as of January 1.
These massive hikes in tax also take into account the 30 per cent cap on increases in place for business rates under transitional relief which the government has allocated £4.3billion towards.
A government spokesperson told the BBC: 'We're delivering a £4.3bn support package to cap business rates bill increases at 30% before other reliefs for the largest properties, including airports. Without intervention those would be up to 500%.'
Rod Dennis, senior policy officer at the RAC, which tracks airport drop-off fees, spoke about the fee increase at Gatwick.
He told AOL: 'A more than 40 per cent increase in the cost to drop-off is the largest we've ever seen and represents a doubling of the fee first introduced in 2021.'
Adding: 'Drivers tell us the main reason they use drop-off facilities at airports is to help people with bulky or heavy luggage – something that can be incredibly impractical on public transport, especially if elderly relatives or young children are in tow.
'Sadly, it looks like drivers are going to have to get used to coughing up increasingly exorbitant sums for doing so.'
Drop-off fees are 'almost unheard of' at other major European airports, Mr Dennis pointed out.
London City Airport was the last of the UK's top 20 airports not to have a drop-off fee, but, as of tomorrow, January 6, announced they would be introducing an £8 charge for the first five minutes, then an extra £1 for any additional minutes with a maximum stay of 10 minutes.
The charge is meant to 'help London City meet its wider sustainability goals by reducing the number of vehicles travelling to and from the airport', an airport spokesperson said, helping contribute to Sadiq Khan's plan for 80 per cent of journeys in the capital to be done by walking, cycling or public transport by 2041.
Only around 10 per cent of travellers who use the airport arrive by car currently, with two thirds coming in via public transport.
The charge will also be added to taxi fares, the airport said.
Mr Dennis said: 'For drivers, this is an unwelcome watershed moment. It's enormously disappointing to see the airport introduce a drop-off fee, the last of the UK's top-20 airports do so.
'Compared to many, London City has excellent public transport connections so arguably most people dropping off are only those that really need to.
'The demise of free airport drop-offs in the UK is in sharp contrast to what's normal elsewhere in Europe, with RAC analysis earlier this year finding eight of the EU's top-10 airports by passenger numbers still allowing drivers to say goodbye to friends and loved ones at terminals free of charge.'
Bristol Airport is joining the trend in hiking drop-off charges, increasing theirs from £7 to £8.50 from today, making it the second most expensive in the country after Gatwick's.
They too blame Rachel Reeves' hikes in business rates as the reason behind the increase.
Those using the drop-off zone and attending the short stay car park, a short walk from the terminals, will incur the £8.50 charge.
Parking charges in the Minibus and Over Height car park at the airport will also go up from £7 to £8.50 for five minutes, and from £9 to £10.50 for five to 20 minutes.
Blue badge holders dropping off family and friends will still be allowed to use the drop-off car park for up to 40 minutes, but for an increased cost of £8.50.
An airport spokesperson said that the new business rates would become its 'single biggest non-operational cost'.
