One UK airport charges £1 per minute to drop off loved ones, with Shadow transport minister Lord Moylan accusing bosses of raising prices with ‘great enthusiasm’
‘Out of control’ fees charged by airports to drop-off passengers could be reviewed by the government.
Most major UK airports charge motorists to drop-off or pick-up passengers outside the terminal, with Gatwick charging £1 per minute, while Heathrow asks for £7 per entry, and Manchester asks for £6.50 for 10 minutes.
The trio – Britain’s most popular airports – all offer free drop-off services further away from the terminal, using shuttle buses like most other major airports. But drivers’ charges could be reviewed after the House of Lords forced the government to re-examine the practice.
Liberal Democrat and Conservative Lords refused to back the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill, sending it back to House of Commons and forcing the government to conduct a review of the charges.
Shadow transport minister Lord Moylan accused airports of raising passenger drop-off fees with ‘great enthusiasm’, insisting a review was needed to examine the impact on users.
Lord Moylan told the House of Lords on Monday that drop-off fees are particularly damaging for families, as well as older and disabled passengers, who ‘do not have a realistic alternative to being dropped off at the terminal’.
“The Government has gone some way to improve protections for disabled passengers in aviation,” he said. “But it’s no good strengthening rights inside the airport while supporting surface access policies that make it harder and more expensive for disabled passengers or those assisting them to get to the terminal in the first place.”
Former UUP leader Lord Empey described the fees as ‘out of control’, arguing ministers need to step in.
“The fundamental point is that this is now a revenue stream that didn’t exist a relatively short period of time ago,” he said.
“It’s rapidly increasing, and it will continue to increase either because the airports feel it is a way of making money, or because some people think policies – that we force people away from the drop-off and onto public transport – that has its own advantages. But that only applies in limited cases, and it is certainly not universally spread around the country.”
Baroness Grender of the Liberal Democrats also offered her party’s support, saying airport users are captured and have no means of shopping around for cheaper parking.
However, transport minister Lord Hendy insisted the fees are already subject to consumer protection law. He added the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has previously found ‘insufficient evidence’ to justify an investigation.
He said: “Their arrangements are already subject to consumer protection law, competition law, and industry standards, with enforcement and redress where practices are misleading, unfair, or non-compliant.
“There are also established mechanisms to review airport drop-off charges where concerns arise, the CAA has already examined airport surface access, including competition, consumer issues, and the transparency of information options and charges, and found insufficient evidence to justify a competition or consumer law investigation.”
The rest of the Bill will give ministers the power to set new rules around when aircraft can take off and land, what airlines have to do when someone’s luggage goes missing, and price transparency. It will also give authorities new powers to fine airlines which fail to look after disabled people.