Heathrow airport’s £5 drop-off and taxi fee delayed to 1st November

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• gordon says:

  29 Sep29 September 06:02

  Luckily for us this charge is not in force as of yet as we missed the turn off to bath road last week and had to go up and around the drop off point, Hopefully Won’t make the same mistake after 1st November.

  • Darko says:

    29 Sep29 September 08:00

    Is Bath road where the long term parkings are? How would you reach T5 from there?

• Mike says:

  29 Sep29 September 07:05

  I cant see what additional value Heathrow is offering for the additional £5 charge ie what has changed better parking for drop off etc I don’t understand why taxis have to pay – surely they could get an exemption

  • TM says:

    29 Sep29 September 07:33

    No added value at all, just trying to recoup lost revenues

    • gordon says:

      29 Sep29 September 07:42

      The world over……..

    • Lady London says:

      29 Sep29 September 14:35

      Like their customers haven’t “lost revenues” too? It’s a scandal the regulator is even allowing this money grab in exchange for nothing on top of other increases in charges.

      Not having it reviewed alongside other charge jncreases at some important annual review meeting is probably why it’s been pushed back to November

  • John says:

    29 Sep29 September 09:19

    It’s a deterrent, and if the demand remains it’s free money.

• MP says:

  29 Sep29 September 07:44

  I dropped off a couple of friends two weeks ago and an employee stopped by to explain the new fee. Even him was saying it was a stupid cash grab thing.

• BJ says:

  29 Sep29 September 08:05

  A whole article for this little bit of a bit … folks must be pretty protective of their fivers inside the M25 🙂 Just wait until they start tinkering with the rules, rates and the time and the fivers soon turn into tenners…

  • simon says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:19

    Wait until it takes you longer than 10 mins to unload luggage and say your goodbyes and the charge will jump to £25 like Manchester.

    • Ken says:

      29 Sep29 September 13:44

      How can anyone able bodied take more than 10 minutes to unload luggage when you know you are on the clock ?
      Are you embarking on a 18th century Grand Tour ?

  • Dubious says:

    30 Sep30 September 07:02

    I’m all for nudges but this is a slippery slope…particularly when there are often no meaningful alternatives.

    I find it difficult to reconcile the cost versus value, particularly when you add in the existing Passenger Service Charges one must pay when departing Heathrow:

    £14.72 (Domestic)
    £19.72 (Europe)
    £42.07 (Beyond Europe, e.g. IST)

    …and compare them with the real amount one pays to the airline for the seat on the flight – the flight being the reason you were at the airport in the first place.

    It feels like the airports and tax collectors are the ones eating the airline’s lunch.

• Peter says:

  29 Sep29 September 08:16

  So once you land at T3 there is no way to get out from there for free. You can’t walk, buses no longer free, drop of £5, taxi or tube paid..

  • John says:

    29 Sep29 September 09:21

    Shuttle bus to parking and then walk out

    • Oh! Matron! says:

      29 Sep29 September 12:52

      Shuttle to Purple Parking on the eastern Perimeter. Or to the parking closest to McDs near bath road. A popular spot for uber drivers to congregate. But, yeah, cash grab as it is, a £5 is nothing for the convenience

  • Memesweeper says:

    29 Sep29 September 09:32

    Tube to T5 and walk?

  • Dubious says:

    30 Sep30 September 06:52

    You’ll need to plan ahead and park up a bicycle for when you come back – granted this might not be feasible if you want to travel with more than panniers!

• Brian says:

  29 Sep29 September 08:24

  Same as previously. You can get the long stay car park shuttle bus. This car park has free parking for 30 minutes. In theory it was only drop off that was free previously. Pick up wasn’t allowed.

  • John says:

    29 Sep29 September 09:21

    Picked up many times – they don’t want cars waiting as it blocks space for drop-offs, but it seemed to be fine for people to wait

• CH says:

  29 Sep29 September 09:17

  I really think taxis should be exempt – at least black cabs (which would make the cab driver lobby happy).

  • John says:

    29 Sep29 September 09:20

    If you take a black cab you’re either desperate or won’t notice the difference.

    • Memesweeper says:

      29 Sep29 September 09:35

      It’s a very significant tax on a local taxi journey. Absolutely disproportionate.

    • CH says:

      29 Sep29 September 10:54

      There are many times that black cabs are the right answer, and not more expensive than, say, Addison Lee.

• David S says:

  29 Sep29 September 09:37

  Can you get dropped off at the Sofitel at T5 for free ?

  • insider says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:31

    You have to go through a parking gate so I suspect not

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