Airport drivers try to beat drop-off charges by parking in laybys

BBC News

5 days ago

It's a hot and sticky Friday in the middle of the summer holidays and cars are flooding onto Edinburgh Airport's approach road.There are few places to stop, but in almost every layby a steady stream of drivers await friends and loved ones touching down from their holidays.They are all parked in a half-mile radius from the entrance to the terminal building in a bid to beat so-called "kiss-and-fly" charges in the official drop-off zone.Research by the RAC, released this week, found that more than half of the country's busiest airports have raised drop-off fees in the last 12 months.
In Edinburgh, drivers face a £6 tariff for a 10-minute stay at a specific drop-off zone yards from the main terminal building.Every minute beyond that allowance will cost them an extra £1.
Instead, drivers here look to beat the system, waiting in nooks and crannies along Eastfield Road for a message that their passengers have arrived.They then drive a few hundred metres towards the Moxy or Hilton hotels and pick them up as they leave the airport complex, exiting hastily to avoid risking a fine for parking on double yellow lines.
Close to the Moxy, next to a farm gate by a grass verge, Caroline O'Brien, 52, is waiting in a layby for her husband and children after they returned from a holiday to Paris.She says she had previously been charged £24 for under 30 minutes in the drop-off zone and decided not to take any chances this time."You don't know if the plane is going to be early or late in and I don't want them to be standing around," she says."For pick-up and drop-off, I think a couple of pounds [would be fair]. You're only there a few minutes for them to get their cases and then right back in the car and away again."
Drivers approaching via Eastfield Road pass three roundabouts on the way into the main terminal, the closest of which leads them on to a one-way system which means they have to pass through the drop-off zone.There is no signage on the approach to inform them of the charges, however there is when they are already inside the drop-off zone.Drivers pay once they exit the drop-off area.
London Gatwick, Bristol, Leeds Bradford, Southampton and Stansted charged the top rate of £7 in the RAC survey.Edinburgh is level with London Heathrow, Birmingham, Liverpool John Lennon and Glasgow in charging £6 for the initial drop off.By contrast, at nine of the 10 busiest airports in the European Union there are no drop-off fees.Rontom Tschopp, 32, from Switzerland, had just dropped a friend off at the terminal but was unaware there would be a charge for doing so.
He says his local airport, in Basel, did not charge for the same service.He says: "I was a bit flabbergasted to be honest, because we don't have that in Switzerland."I think it creates a form of aversion to do the little things like drop off your friends. If I had known about the fees, we probably wouldn't have had such a heartfelt goodbye, it would have been: 'No, go now, there's extra fees'."
Edinburgh Airport does have other road links with the city centre through bus services, while the tram network also stops just outside.It also has a free drop-off zone about half a mile (0.8km) from the main terminal building, across the tram line and near a car rental service.Drivers can park there for 30 minutes free of charge, but it costs £10 up to an hour after that and £18 for between one and three hours.Up another side street, near a vacant commercial business, Shiela McPheely is waiting to collect her sisters from their holiday in Albufeira in Portugal.She says the cost of the drop-off zone is "appalling" and is planning to pick her sisters up at the free drop-off point, despite both having mobility issues."It's just greedy. You pay enough for your flights and when you get in there, you get a tea or a coffee, so they are getting money from you that way," Sheila, 79, says."There is a bit you can park in that is free, but that is all very well if you are young and fit, but one of my sisters has a sore back, the other one is waiting for a hip operation, so it's difficult for them."
Back inside the charged drop-off area, a multi-storey car park provides a roof and shade from the warm afternoon sun.Gavin Marshall, 45, has been waiting for some time for his in-laws to arrive on a flight from London, before driving them back to Stirling.He says he had not noticed the charge before he parked up.He says: "It's a bit extortionate, £1 per minute is a bit of a joke.""The flat £6 I think is fair, this £1 per minute seems a bit silly, it's a bit much."
Meanwhile, taxi driver Dean Carse, 31, says the charge has an impact on customers.He says: "Every journey is £6 more expensive."I pay it, but I get it back off the customer, which is ridiculous, it goes from the customer to me to the airport."The airport spin it like they care about pollution, but they don't. They're a business and they want to make money."
Edinburgh Airport declined to comment when contacted by BBC News, but said that a free drop-off area was available.They added that passengers could choose whether to use the free or paid areas.The industry body, Airports UK, said all hubs offered free drop-off options further from the terminals.It said "park and ride" facilities where people can leave their car and take a bus to the airport were provided.A Police Scotland spokesperson said it regularly gave "advice" to motorists in the airport complex, but was unable to be specific on what that was.They added: "Where necessary, appropriate action will be taken."