GATWICK Airport is introducing new charges for anyone being dropped off at the North Terminal.
All the passengers will face a £5 charge at the airport under the new plans.
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This will affect all vehicles, excluding blue badge holders, at North Terminal from March 8, when staying for up to 10 minutes.
Anyone staying longer will be charged £1 a minute up to £20, up to a maximum time of 30 minutes for £25.
The new rules will eventually be enforced at the South Terminal but an official date has not been confirmed.
Passengers who want to avoid the new charges will instead have to be dropped off at the long-stay car parks, where they will have to get a free shuttle bus to the airport.
Gatwick’s chief commercial officer, Jonathan Pollard, said the new scheme was to help passengers consider more “sustainable transport options”.
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He added: “We plan to use this charge to build on these services by using a proportion of the revenue raised to support new sustainable transport initiatives.”
They aren’t the only airport introducing the new charges – Heathrow Airport is in talks to start charging drivers £5 to drop off passengers, in a desperate attempt to recoup profits.
The airport has announced the plans will be a Forecourt Access Charge (FAC), starting from the end of next year.
It will apply to all drivers entering the terminals, excluding blue badge holders and emergency vehicles.
It is yet to be implemented, but it is expected to be finalised in 2021.
A study last year found London Stansted and London Luton to have the highest airport charges.
London Stansted now charge £7.00 to stay 15 minutes, while London Luton charges £4 for the first 15 minutes.
The only airports in England which didn’t charge were London City and London Heathrow.
