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Gatwick Airport will raise its drop-off fee to record high £10

2 days ago New York State Comments Off on Gatwick Airport will raise its drop-off fee to record high £10

Drop Off Charges Apply sign at North Terminal, London Gatwick airport, England, UK.
Gatwick said the new higher drop-off fee will make more passengers opt for public transport (Picture: Universal Images Group)

Gatwick Airport has announced it will increase its drop-off charge to £10, meaning stopping in the zone will cost £1 per minute.

Motorists taking a loved one to the airport to say goodbye this holiday season face rising rates to enter the drop-off zone, also known as kiss-and-fly fees.

Heathrow Airport announced last week it will hike up the drop-off charge to £7 in the new year and limit the maximum stay to 10 minutes, which drivers criticised as ‘unjustifiable.’

However, Gatwick will soon take the prize for the most expensive drop-off stint after the UK’s second busiest airport said it will increase the fee from £7 to £10 from January 6 – a 43% rise.

Passengers loading their luggages in the trunk of taxi and going to airport.
Although airport drop-off fees are steadily rising at the majority of UK airports, some places still offer it for free (Picture: Shutterstock)

A spokeswoman for Gatwick said the decision to increase the charge was not taken lightly, but the airport is facing increasing costs like a higher business rate.

She said: ‘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.’

The upcoming £3 increase comes just months after Gatwick increased the fee in May, which private taxi campaigners already labelled a ‘cash cow on the public.’

Taxi drivers told Metro that higher drop-off fees are always passed onto the customer, while stricter maximum stay limits will make many drivers skip airport jobs.

Rod Dennis from the motoring group RAC said that more than 40% increase is the largest ever, and drivers should get used to ‘coughing up increasingly exorbitant sums’ to drop off loved ones.

He said that drop-off fees at European airports are ‘almost unheard of.’ A quick drop-off of under 10 minutes is free at airports like Dublin and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

How much does drop-off cost at other airports?

Research has ranked the UK’s most expensive and cheapest airport kiss-and-fly fees.

Latest London news

To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro's London news hub.

Before Gatwick announced the January hike, Southend Airport in Essex took the top spot for the highest fees.

Drivers have to dish out £7 for a 5-minute stay in the drop-off zone, according to research by Select Car Leasing.

The airport, with flights by airlines like easyJet, Aer Lingus and TUI, charges £15 for goodbyes lasting longer than 5 minutes. It does offer a mid-stay option, with stays up to 30 minutes costing £8.

Elsewhere, Gatwick Airport, Leeds Bradford and Bristol Airports already charge £7 for 10 minutes near the terminals.

Gatwick, the UK’s second busiest airport, announced the fee increase in the spring as part of its expansion plan, which private hire taxi campaigners labelled a ‘cash cow on the public.’

Stansted and Southampton Airports charge £7 for a drop-off, but motorists can stay up to 20 minutes.

But some airports are bucking the trend of rising fees and stricter limits.

Drop-off charges at London airports

Gatwick Airport – The fee increased to £7 in May. The charge must be paid by midnight the day after parking. Late payment will incur a Parking Charge Notice (PCN). The charge will be £10 from January 6.

Heathrow Airport – Its fee increased to £6 in January this year, with another £1 increase in the pipeline from January 1, 2026. The drop-off fee can be paid after a visit or prepaid.

Stansted Airport – Drop-off costs £7 for up to 15 minutes, with anything over 15 minutes costing £25.

London Luton – Pick up and drop-off at Luton costs £7 for up to 10 minutes. Each further minute costs £1, with a maximum stay of 20 minutes. The charge can be paid online only. A longer stay than 20 minutes in the express zone will incur a penalty charge.

Luton also has a mid-stay car park around a 10-minute walk away, which is free up to 15 minutes.

City of London – Drop-off at the terminal is free, but drivers are not allowed to wait. Blue Badge holders can park up for free for 30 minutes.

The pick-up charge is £6.90 for up to 20 minutes, increasing to £14.90 for up to 30 minutes.

A 24-hour visit costs £74.90.

London City Airport in Newham offers a free drop-off, while at Exeter International Airport the drop-off is free for 30 minutes.

Birmingham International and Newquay Cornwall Airports have a free drop-off for the first 10 minutes, while Inverness Airport in Scotland offers it for free for 15 minutes. If drivers stay longer, fees will apply at most of them.

In some cases, like at Heathrow starting from January 1, any stay longer than 10 minutes in the drop-off zone will result in a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Swarm of 20 earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 3.3 rattles California

2 days ago New York State Comments Off on Swarm of 20 earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 3.3 rattles California

A collection of 20 minor earthquakes have struck Southern California. The quakes, which began at 12.33pm ET, less than 50 miles from millions of residents in Los Angeles, continued to shake an area near the small city of Fillmore on Thursday. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquakes registered between 1.1 and 3.3 in magnitude. (Picture: Getty)
USGS has received reports of minor shaking from as far away as Los Angeles after Thursday's earthquake swarm, which included a magnitude 3.3 quake (Pictured)
Of the 20, six registered between 2.5 and 3.3 in magnitude, but all of them struck in a 10-minute stretch from 1.21pm. The most intense shaking was felt closest to the quakes’ epicenters near Fillmore, but USGS has noted that a handful of residents in West Hollywood experienced minor shaking. However, there have not been any reports of injuries or damage to property at this time. (Picture: US Geological Survey)
The US Geological Survey has detected 20 minor earthquakes (Circled in orange and red) which struck Southern California within a two-hour period on Thursday
Usually, earthquakes of this strength can be felt for several miles in all directions but typically cause only minor damage, such as knocking objects off shelves. This is the latest swarm to strike California following at least four other notable swarm events in the last two weeks. On Monday, seven earthquakes stronger than magnitude 2.5  struck California’s Bay Area, just miles from San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. (Picture: US Geological Survey)
15314861 Mysterious burst of 90 earthquakes jolts California's Bay Area (U.S. Geological Survey record of earthquakes for the 30 days leading up to Nov. 19, 2025)
Before that, the Bay Area withstood three straight days of earthquake swarms, with over a dozen minor quakes striking the region during the week of Thanksgiving. Experts are keeping an eye out on seismic activity throughout the state over fears of ‘The Big One’, which is a massive earthquake over magnitude 7.0 that could cause mass devastation. (Picture: USGS)
It is predicted that this mega quake could take place along the San Andreas Fault, a massive 800-mile plate boundary responsible for much of the state’s seismic activity. However, Thursday’s 20 quakes were centered along a portion of the Southern California Coast which is roughly 50 miles away from the San Andreas. (Picture: Getty)
This swarm was closest to the Red Mountain–Mission Ridge Fault system, an active network of faults in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. This system of faults is smaller that the San Andreas, but researchers are aware that it could still unleash a major earthquake stronger than 6.5 in magnitude. For example, the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake is said to have reached magnitude 6.8 and has been largely attributed to a rupture along the Mission Ridge segment of this fault system. (Picture: Getty)
The ‘Big One’, hypothetically, could cause roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries, and $200 billion in damages, according to the Great California ShakeOut, with the last one occurring in 1906 in San Francisco, about 380 miles north of Los Angeles. The closest the San Andreas gets to downtown LA is about 35 miles. (Picture: Getty)

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Hinge CEO says he bribed students with KitKats to get the $550 million-a-year business off the ground: ‘I had to beg and borrow a lot’

2 days ago New York State Comments Off on Hinge CEO says he bribed students with KitKats to get the $550 million-a-year business off the ground: ‘I had to beg and borrow a lot’

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