Motorists dropping off passengers in front of the terminals at London Gatwick airport must now pay £10 for the privilege.
Britain’s second-busiest airport is the first in the UK to raise its drop-off fee to double figures – an increase of 43 per cent on the previous £7 charge. The Sussex hub blames the increase on its surging business rates bill.
A spokesperson 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 in the recent Budget.
“Passengers can still be dropped off for free in our long-stay car parks, with a free shuttle bus to the terminal. Blue Badge holders remain exempt from the charge.
“We also have excellent public transport connectivity at the airport, with passengers able to connect directly with more than 120 train stations, while many local bus routes serve the airport 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“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 – such as our £1m investment in new and enhanced Metrobus routes in 2025.”
Gatwick has always been the best-connected in the UK for public transport; it was built adjacent to the main London–Brighton railway line specifically for good surface links.
Trains run to London every few minutes, with frequent services to Brighton and the Sussex coast, as well as to Reading for onward journeys to Wales and the West of England.
But the surge in the fee has sparked fury among motorists. One driver at Gatwick North Terminal said: “I live particularly close, which means I’m using the airport quite a lot with family, friends and even business. I was just having a look on the tariff – not happy.”
Gatwick’s £10 fee represents a doubling in less than five years; when the charge was first introduced in April 2021, it was £5. The cost increased in January 2024 to £6, and to £7 in May 2025
London City airport has chosen the same day, Tuesday 6 January, to bring in its first drop-off fee, of £8. The Docklands airport is telling passengers: “This move is part of our commitment to encourage more travel to and from the airport via public and sustainable transport modes, of which two-thirds of our passengers already use.”
The rises come a day after Bristol airport raised its drop-off fee by 21 per cent to £8.50. The West of England gateway also blamed the chancellor for the doubling of business rates.
The current top three drop-off charges are:
- Gatwick: £10
- Bristol: £8.50
- London City: £8
Drop-off fees were first introduced following an attempted attack on the terminal at Glasgow airport in June 2007, in which two terrorists tried to drive a Jeep laden with explosives into the terminal.
In the wake of the attempted attack, airport forecourts had to be reconfigured – and Birmingham airport decided to defray the cost by charging motorists. The idea quickly caught on. The West Midlands airport that started it all currently has a £6 fee.
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